White House Historical Association

Monico Lopez Lara

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"Monico Lopez Lara," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/629.
Position
Valet
Years in President's House
1909 – 1913
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Asian
Presidency
William Howard Taft
Biography
Monico Lopez Lara was born in Bangar La Un, Philippines on May 4, 1878.1 He met William Howard Taft while Taft served as Governor-General of the Philippines. Taft hired him as his valet or personal attendant and upon returning to the United States in December 1903, Lara went with him. Lara also accompanied Taft on his international travels as secretary of war. In one letter from Taft to his wife, Helen Taft, he wrote about meeting the Japanese Emperor: “We all attempted promptly, although as usual on such occasions Monico was wanting in that he had sent my trousers to be pressed instead of pressing them himself and nearly delayed me …Attending an Emperor's luncheon without trousers would create a sensation but could hardly be called pleasant.”2 When Taft became president in 1909, Lara served as his valet and barber and lived with the family at the White House.3 According to Chief Usher Irwin “Ike” H. Hoover, “Taft came with two valets, [Arthur] Brooks, a Negro from the War Department and Monico, a Filipino. Brooks finally worked Monico out of a job, for there was not enough work for the two of them. Monico was placed in one of the Executive Departments." 4 In January 1913, shortly before leaving office, President Taft appointed Lara a messenger “in the office of the Chief of the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army.”5 Details about Lara’s life beyond the White House remains unclear. He appears on a Social Security application in 1943; however, additional documentation is scarce at this time.6
  1. The White House Workers History Project relies on the U.S. Census Bureau’s updated guidelines for collecting demographic data related to race and ethnicity published in 2024. Adhering to these categories, this project identifies this person as Asian; however, there is documentation or other evidence suggesting that they were multiracial or mixed race. It is important to recognize that historical terms such as “mulatto” and “colored” are problematic, as these reflect the document writer’s views and the historical period more than the individual’s preferences or identity.“Monico Lopez, in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” Ancestry, accessed May 11, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60901/records/12817925?tid=&pid=&queryId=8911cbbb-c1bc-4d52-a384-5a91e65feb54&_phsrc=OuO1126&_phstart=successSource.
  2. “William Howard Taft to Helen Taft, July 31, 1905,” in Gerard W. Gawalt, My Dear President: Letters Between Presidents and Their Wives, (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2006), https://www.google.com/books/edition/My_Dear_President/nozBYUTptxwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=monico+william+taft&pg=PT357&printsec=frontcover.
  3. “Gives Taft his Daily Shave,” The Pierce City Journal, (Pierce City, Missouri), May 14, 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1306266649/?match=1&terms="Monico Lopez Lara".
  4. Irwin Hood (Ike) Hoover, Forty-Two Years at the White House, (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1934), 240.
  5. William Howard Taft, “Executive Order 1685,” January 21, 1913.
  6. “Monico Lopez, in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” Ancestry, accessed May 11, 2026, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60901/records/12817925?tid=&pid=&queryId=8911cbbb-c1bc-4d52-a384-5a91e65feb54&_phsrc=OuO1126&_phstart=successSource.
Birthplace
Bangar La Un, Phillipines
Unclear from Context
Related Workers
Irwin H. Hoover
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, Trades, 1891 – 1933
Arthur Brooks
Housekeeping and Laundry, Valets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, 1909 – 1926