John J. Hans

John J. Hans was born on January 28, 1884, in Albany, New York.¹ As a teenager, he apprenticed at the Times-Union, an Albany newspaper. According to a newspaper article about his life, Hans’ job with the Times-Union was to visit the New York State Capitol everyday to gather “the hot stuff about the legislative doings written by the reporters of that paper” and bring them back to the newspaper office. While running through the halls of the Capitol performing this job, he collided with William Loeb, who was then secretary to New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt. The chance meeting allowed the two men to get to know each other. 

Three years later, once Loeb was working as secretary to President Roosevelt at the White House, Hans asked friends in D.C. to inquire if Loeb was hiring. When Loeb heard of Hans’ request, he hired him for the White House work force, reportedly stating: “If John is still the hustler he was at Albany I can use him here.”² Hans’ first job at the White House was messenger in the newly-constructed West Wing, but in 1905 he was promoted to serve as Secretary Loeb’s personal doorkeeper when the man who previously held that job, Arthur Simmons, transferred to a different role.³ 

As doorkeeper, Hans greeted visitors and delivered mail and packages to the secretary. A newspaper article from 1907 claimed that Hans “had a rough time at first learning the names and faces of the big men who daily came to see the President and Secretary Loeb. Sometimes he made embarrassing mistakes,” but he “improved rapidly” and gained a reputation as “a sort of unofficial hand-shaker and guest welcomer at the White House.” The same article noted that “Hans is also an unofficial member of the White House secret service staff. His sharp eyes are constantly on the lookout for mysteriously acting visitors . . . If Hans thinks a visitor is bent on making trouble, or if he observes ugly looking packages which might conceal firearms, or, possibly, a bomb, he gives a quiet signal to one of the secret service men on guard, and every precaution is at once taken to keep the stranger under surveillance.”⁴ Though Hans was assigned to work for Loeb, he also occasionally worked closely with President Roosevelt. In 1905 when President Roosevelt traveled to Texas to attend a reunion of the Rough Riders regiment, Hans accompanied him and served as a “handy man” who “looked out for the mail of the President’s party, dispatched telegrams, protected the President from ‘butters-in,’ and otherwise made himself indispensable.”⁵ Hans also played checkers with the president’s son Archie Roosevelt in the White House basement after school.⁶ 

While working at the White House, Hans trained to become a stenographer.⁷ At the end of Roosevelt’s administration in 1909, Hans left the White House, transferring to the Patent Office where he put his training to use as a clerk.⁸ He was still working there as late as 1942.⁹ Hans passed away on July 2, 1947 and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.¹⁰