Harry L. Mickey was born in Virginia around 1872.¹ Mickey first joined the White House staff as a butler sometime during William McKinley’s presidency, but the exact years of his service are unknown.² He later worked for other agencies, including the Department of Commerce and Labor, before returning to the White House as a messenger in 1910.³ His son, Bushrod Mickey, later joined him on the White House messenger staff.⁴ As a messenger , Harry L. Mickey traveled with the president and delivered confidential and time-sensitive materials between the White House and other locations in Washington, D.C.⁵ In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order to exempt Mickey from the federal compulsory retirement age; as a result, Mickey continued to work at the White House until he was seventy years old.⁶ Upon his retirement in 1949, Mickey was one of the longest serving employees in White House history at that time, working a total of 46 years and 11 months.⁷ He died on May 6, 1952, and was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Maryland.⁸

There are discrepancies regarding Mickey’s birth date; census data typically places his date of birth around 1872, while his grave reads 1868. See Harry L. Mickey in the 1910 United States Federal Census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Precinct 8, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T624_153; Page: 2a; Enumeration District: 0150; FHL microfilm: 1374166, Ancestry.com; “Harry L. Mickey,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93005311/harry-l-mickey.
“Three Retire After Long Service At White House, Receive Gifts,” Evening Star (Washington DC), June 30, 1949, pg. 1; “Retiring Messenger Once McKinley Butler,” Atlanta Daily World (Georgia), July 7, 1949, pg. 4, Chronicling America, https://lccn.loc.gov/sn82015425.
“Three Retire After Long Service At White House, Receive Gifts,” Evening Star (Washington DC), June 30, 1949, pg. 1; Official Register of the United States Vol. 1. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903), 1110; Official Register of the United States Vol. 1. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911), 569; “Square Deal at the White House,” The New York Age, May 16, 1912, pg. 1.
Bushrod James Mickey in the U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Registration State: District of Columbia; Registration County: Washington, Ancestry.com.
“Approves Plans of Entertainment,” The Billings Gazette (Montana), September 19, 1911, pg. 3.
“Executive Order 8698: Exemption of Harry L. Mickey From Compulsory Retirement For Age,” March 1, 1941, US Government Printing Office.
“Three Retire After Long Service At White House, Receive Gifts,” Evening Star (Washington DC), June 30, 1949, pg. 1.
“Mickey, Harry L.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), May 8, 1952, pg. 34.

Birthplace

Virginia, USA

Lincoln Memorial Cemetery

Related Worker: Bushrod Mickey
Operations, Facilities, & Events, circa 1917 – 1939