John W. Mays was born in South Carolina in 1872.¹ As a young man, Mays worked as a barber in his hometown and later as a “Pullman Porter”– a group of African-American railway porters known for their impeccable service. Many Pullman Porters were tapped for White House positions; according to obituaries, Mays worked for presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt aboard these trains.² Mays started on William Howard Taft’s Inauguration Day and stayed for over four decades.³ He is listed filling multiple roles throughout this period, including doorman and messenger, but he was also informally barber to the presidents. In the words of Chief Usher Howell G. Crim, “The White House wouldn’t seem like the White House without Mays.”⁴ Indeed, Mays is among the longest-serving White House staff members in history. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9010, which exempted Mays from the compulsory retirement age; he stayed in his role until 1953.⁵ In the final years of his life, he struggled with his health– but his old friends from the White House supported him throughout. The Eisenhowers sent flowers and cigars to him at the hospital, and Harry Truman wrote him a letter just before he passed away.⁶ Mays died on August 17, 1957, and was buried at Columbian Harmony Payne Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Burials there were later disinterred during Metro construction and moved to National Harmony Memorial Park Cemetery in Maryland.⁷ It was a life well-lived; as he once said: “We are just little wheels in a great mill, the greatest wheel in the world, the home of the President of the United States.”⁸

“John William Mays,” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210238607/john-william-mays.
John W Mays in the 1900 United States Federal Census,Year: 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: 160; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0038, Ancestry.com; “John William Mays, Long at the White House,” Washington Post, August 17, 1957, pg. B2; “WHITE HOUSE AIDE ON JOB SINCE 1909,” New York Times, February 12, 1952, pg. 24; “Orangeburg Negro Serves in White House 36 Years,” The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC), October 16, 1947, pg. 10.
“He Knew 7 Presidents,” Kansas City Times, August 17, 1957, pg. 1.
“WHITE HOUSE AIDE ON JOB SINCE 1909,” New York Times, February 12, 1952, pg. 24.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 9010—Exemption of John W. Mays From Compulsory Retirement for Age,” Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/368025. Obituaries state that Mays retired in 1952, but he continues to be mentioned on the White House staff through 1953; see Merriman Smith, “They All Claim to Know Ike Now,” Daily Record (Durham, NC), April 15, 1953, pg. 4, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88063132/1953-04-15/ed-1/seq-12/.
“John William Mays, 85, Presidents’ Barber, Doorman,” Evening Star, August 17, 1957, pg. A-12, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1957-08-17/ed-1/seq-12/.
“John William Mays,” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210238607/john-william-mays.
“White House Aides Hailed,” New York Times, March 5, 1950, pg. 61.

Birthplace

South Carolina, USA

National Harmony Memorial Park (formerly Columbian Harmony Payne Cemetery)

Related Worker: Howell G. Crim
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, circa 1930 – 1957

Related Association Content: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/staff-at-the-roosevelt-household; https://www.whitehousehistory.org/roosevelt-white-house-ceremonies