Charles A. Reeder

Charles “Charlie” A. Reeder was born in Washington, D.C. in 1872.¹ He met Congressman William McKinley while working at Ebbitt House, a hotel and restaurant. Upon McKinley’s Inauguration in 1897, he hired Reeder as a footman.² His role entailed accompanying the president and first lady when they traveled as well as waiting table at the White House and performing other general household tasks. Reeder became close with the McKinleys and was so integral to the day-to-day functioning of the White House that the Washington Post reported in 1899: Reeder “is almost as much a part of the administration as Mr. McKinley.”³ When Reeder married Frances Belle Lee in 1899, the McKinleys gifted the newlyweds a china set, while other White House domestic staff members gave them a clock.⁴ 

After President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, Reeder remained on staff at the White House for the new president, Theodore Roosevelt. In addition to his footman duties, Reeder also oversaw many of the Roosevelt family’s pets at the White House.⁵ In fact, Reeder was the staff member responsible for loading the Roosevelts’ pony Algonquin into a White House elevator, bringing him upstairs to cheer up a sick Archie Roosevelt in 1903. He also presided over the funeral of their dog, Black Jack.⁶ Reeder became such a staple in the lives of the Roosevelts that he was invited to the wedding of the president’s son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., in 1910.⁷ 

Reeder briefly worked as footman for Roosevelt’s successor, President William Howard Taft, before leaving the White House in 1910 to work as a messenger at the State Department.⁸ In 1920, he contacted Admiral Cary T. Grayson and applied for a vacancy for a White House doorman position, though it appears he was unsuccessful and continued to work at the State Department for many years.⁹ There, he told stories about the Roosevelt children and his experience in the Executive Mansion to anyone who would listen.¹⁰ He was still working there as late as 1937 and had become personal messenger to the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull.¹¹ 

Charles Reeder passed away on August 29, 1942, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington, D.C.¹²