Alexander G. Pinard
Cite this Page
"Alexander G. Pinard," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/814.
- Position
- Chauffeur
- Years in President's House
- 1929 – 1937
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Biography
- Alexander George Pinard was born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 22, 1890. (1) He served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for over twenty years, including during World War I. (2) In 1929, he was detailed to Herbert Hoover’s White House Garage as a chauffeur. (3) He continued to work there during the next administration, driving “every member of the Roosevelt family with the exception of the president,” who was driven by chauffeur Montford “Monty” Snyder. (4)
In February 1937, Pinard was hospitalized after being “declared of unsound mind” by a local jury. This verdict was later reversed and Pinard was declared legally sane. However, he did not return to White House service. (5) Pinard later relocated to Oregon, where he died on July 2, 1960. He was buried there at Roseburg National Cemetery. (6) - (1) “Alexander G. Pinard,” The News-Review (Roseburg, Oregon), July 5, 1960, pg. 2; “Alexander G. Pinard,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3887246/alexander-g-pinard.
(2) Alexander George Pinard in the U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861-1985, National Archives at Washington DC; Washington DC, USA; Applications for Headstones For U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941; NAID: 596118; Record Group Number: 92; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Ancestry.com.
(3) Employees on Duty at the Executive Office, 1929, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1929, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
(4) “Sanity Verdict Upset By Jury,” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), August 25, 1938, pg. 25, Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83045462/1938-08-25/ed-1/.
(5) “Pinard Attacks Insanity Finding,” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), September 11, 1938, pg. 7; “Pinard Sane: White House Employe Cleared by Jury,” Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), August 25, 1938, pg. 21; “Jury Reverses Edict of Sanity Commission as Doctors Disagree,” August 25, 1938, pg. 16; “Ruling by Lunacy Board Reversed,” Washington Herald, September 30, 1938, pg. 21.
(6) “Alexander G. Pinard,” The News-Review (Roseburg, Oregon), July 5, 1960, pg. 2; “Alexander G. Pinard,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3887246/alexander-g-pinard. - Birthplace
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Related Worker
- Frederick M. SnyderTransportation, 1933 – 1945