White House Historical Association

Robert C. Neal

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"Robert C. Neal," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/772.
Positions
Pantryman
Butler
Years in President's House
circa 1930 – 1933
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidency
Herbert Hoover
Biography
Robert C. Neal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1896.1 Neal served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and later moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a butler.2 From 1930-1932, Neal was listed in Lou Hoover’s annual White House Christmas List as a pantryman.3 In his free time, Neal was a member of the Chandelier Club– a social group of African-American White House domestic employees who gathered outside of work.4 In 1933, he was listed in city directories as a White House butler, but the following year, documentation placed him at the War Department as a messenger. He continued to work there in the years that followed.5 Further information about his life is scarce.
  1. Robert C Neal in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) For the District of Columbia; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Box or Roll Number: 050, Ancestry.com.
  2. Robert C. Neal Family Tree, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/90446432/person/76013327873/facts?_phsrc=GAH324&_phstart=successSource.
  3. 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. Boyd’s District of Columbia Directory Vol. LXXIV (Washington, D.C.: R. L. Polk and Co., 1932), 1171.
  4. “Chandelier Club,” Washington Times, March 25, 1932, pg. 4, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062236/1932-03-25/ed-1/seq-4/.
  5. Boyd’s District of Columbia Directory Vol. LXXV (Washington, D.C.: R. L. Polk and Co., 1933), 1163; Boyd’s District of Columbia Directory Vol. LXXVI (Washington, D.C.: R. L. Polk and Co., 1934), 1169; Robert C. Neal in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00572; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 1-545, Ancestry.com.
Birthplace
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Unclear from Context
Related Association Content
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-chandelier-club