Encarnación Rodriguez
Cite this Page
"Encarnación Rodriguez," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/758.
- Positions
- Butler
- Pantryman
- Years in President's House
- circa 1923 – 1933
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Hispanic or Latino
- Biography
- Encarnación “Connie” Rodriguez, originally from Puerto Rico, began working at the White House during the Calvin Coolidge administration.1 He worked as a pantryman and butler at the White House, serving the first family and their guests under the supervision of Head Butler Ellis Sampson. In 1933, after Sampson’s departure, Alonzo Fields was promoted to chief butler instead of Rodriguez. According to Fields, “Encarnación was a most excellent assistant, but he was no longer a young man. He had served the Coolidges and Hoovers, and though these administrations were busy, there was a quiet routine about the entertaining. He was bewildered by this new lack of routine” in the Roosevelt White House.2 He may have departed or been transferred in 1933; a “Connie Rodriguez” was listed in the 1934 D.C. directory as a butler for the federal government.3 Further information about his life is scarce.
- Exact years are not given, but both Roosevelt-era staff lists and staff recollections cite Rodriquez starting at the White House in the Coolidge years. “Servants on the White House Staff,” Folder: Correspondence Relating to Inauguration Ceremonies, Tea at the White House, Receptions, etc. November 1932-March 1933, Office of Social Entertainments, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; Alonzo Fields, My 21 Years at the White House (New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1960), 51.
- White House Employees, 1932, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Xmas List 1931, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Christmas 1930, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1930, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Fields, My 21 Years at the White House, 51.
- Boyd’s District of Columbia Directory Vol. LXXVI (R. L. Polk and Co., 1934), pg. 1344. "
- Birthplace
- Puerto Rico, USA
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Alonzo FieldsKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1931 – 1953
- Ellis J. SampsonKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1929 – 1933