Sections
  • Best of Washington
  • News & Politics
    • Washingtonian Today
  • Things to Do
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • This Week
    • 100 Best Things to Do in DC
    • Neighborhood Guides
    • DC-Area Events Calender
    • Washingtonian Events
  • Food & Drink
    • 100 Very Best Restaurants
    • The Hot List
    • Brunch
    • New Restaurants
    • Restaurant Finder
  • Home & Style
    • Health
    • Parenting
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
  • Real Estate
    • Top Realtors
    • Listings We Love
    • Rave Worthy Rentals
  • Weddings
    • Real Weddings
    • Wedding Vendor Finder
    • Submit Your Wedding
  • Travel
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • Best Airbnbs Around DC
    • 3 Days in DC
  • Best of DC
    • Doctors
    • Apartment Rentals
    • Dentists
    • Financial Advisors
    • Industry Leaders
    • Lawyers
    • Mortgage Pros
    • Pet Care
    • Private Schools
    • Realtors
    • Wedding Vendors
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Subscription
    • Current & Past Issues
    • Features and Longreads
    • Newsletters
    • Newsstand Locations
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Very Best Restaurants
  • DC-Area Events Calendar
  • Brunch
  • Neighborhoods
  • Newsletters
  • Directories
  • Washingtonian Events
Washington’s Best
  • Apartment Rentals
  • DC Travel Guide
  • Dentists
  • Doctors
  • Financial Advisers
  • Health Experts
  • Home Improvement Experts
  • Industry Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Mortgage Professionals
  • Pet Care
  • Private Schools
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Restaurants
  • Retirement Communities
  • Wedding Vendors
Privacy Policy |  Rss
© 2025 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Skip to content
Washingtonian.com
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • Menu
Washingtonian.com
  • Subscribe
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Very Best Restaurants
  • DC-Area Events Calendar
  • Brunch
  • Neighborhoods
  • Newsletters
  • Directories
  • Washingtonian Events
More
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
Sections
  • News & Politics
  • Food
  • Things to Do
  • Washingtonian Events
  • Home & Style
  • Editors’ Picks
  • Events Calendar
  • Health
  • Longreads
  • Parenting
  • Real Estate
  • Shopping
  • Travel
  • Weddings
  • Best of Washington
  • News & Politics
    • Washingtonian Today
  • Things to Do
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • This Week
    • 100 Best Things to Do in DC
    • Neighborhood Guides
    • DC-Area Events Calender
    • Washingtonian Events
  • Food & Drink
    • 100 Very Best Restaurants
    • The Hot List
    • Brunch
    • New Restaurants
    • Restaurant Finder
  • Home & Style
    • Health
    • Parenting
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
  • Real Estate
    • Top Realtors
    • Listings We Love
    • Rave Worthy Rentals
  • Weddings
    • Real Weddings
    • Wedding Vendor Finder
    • Submit Your Wedding
  • Travel
    • DC Welcome Guide
    • Best Airbnbs Around DC
    • 3 Days in DC
  • Best of DC
    • Doctors
    • Apartment Rentals
    • Dentists
    • Financial Advisors
    • Industry Leaders
    • Lawyers
    • Mortgage Pros
    • Pet Care
    • Private Schools
    • Realtors
    • Wedding Vendors
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Subscription
    • Current & Past Issues
    • Features and Longreads
    • Newsletters
    • Newsstand Locations

John Ficklin’s White House Career

Written by Washingtonian Staff | Published on June 26, 2014
Tweet Share
One maître d’duty is to plan White House dinners—usually, as this photo with Rosalynn Carter shows, with the First Lady. The President most interested in menus in Ficklin’s time was Dwight Eisenhower, who cooked, chiefly soups, and grilled on the roof. According to Ficklin, he even suggested dinner wines.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the White House’s daunting formality, its transitory occupants form intimate bonds with the staff. Here Gerald Ford takes a moment with Ficklin under a portrait of Harry Truman, himself remembered as the most down-to-earth of the Presidents Ficklin worked for. When Ficklin’s brother Charles—his predecessor as maître d’—fell ill with pneumonia, Truman came alone to visit him in his hospital room.
The well-to-do President John F. Kennedy was used to domestic help but made little attempt to learn the service staff’s names, until Dwight Eisenhower came for a post-election lunch and addressed them by their first names. The Kennedy/Ficklin friendship grew in the First Family’s short tenure, enough that after JFK’s assassination, Jackie asked Ficklin to be an usher at the funeral, along with her stepfather and stepbrother, Hugh Auchincloss and Hugh Auchincloss Jr.
State dinners were highlights of the White House year, especially those not held at the mansion. One of the most memorable was a dinner the Kennedys hosted for Pakistani president Ayub Khan at Mount Vernon. The food was transported in field-kitchen vehicles as guests were ferried by boat down the Potomac River.
Ficklin, seated, with his staff. Eugene Allen, the inspiration for the recent movie Lee Daniels’ The Butler, is second from right.
Ficklin oversaw three White House weddings—Tricia Nixon’s to Edward Cox, Luci Baines Johnson’s to Patrick Nugent, and Lynda Bird Johnson’s to Charles Robb. President Lyndon Johnson butted into the cutting of the cake at Luci’s reception, Ficklin recalled, and tried slicing a cardboard piece propping up the multilayered concoction.
“Rosalynn and I want you and your fine staff to know we appreciate all your efforts. . . . Everything was perfect and we are grateful.” —President Jimmy Carter to John Ficklin
More: Photo GalleryPolitics & Personality
Join the conversation!
Share Tweet

Most Popular

1

Another Mysterious Anti-Trump Statue Has Appeared on the National Mall

2

Smaller Crowds, Big Emotions for Army’s 250th: What We Heard Around DC

3

29 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend

4

MAP: Road Closures for Trump’s Military Parade

Washingtonian Magazine

June Issue: Pride Guide

June Issue: Pride Guide

View Issue
Subscribe

Follow Us on Social

We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day

Follow Us on Social

We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day

Related

Catherine Merrill Williams addressing guests at Washingtonian's 500 Most Influential Celebration

Washingtonian Celebrates the 500 Most Influential People in Policy (PHOTOS)

Photos: A Look Back at 2021 Through the Lens of Our Photographer

Photograph by Evy Mages

Photos: A Look Back at 2020, a Very Long, Very Strange Year in Washington DC

Photos From Washingtonian’s 8th Annual Whiskey & Fine Spirits Festival

© 2025 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Washingtonian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy Policy and Opt-Out
 Rss
Get the best news, delivered weekly.
By signing up, you agree to our terms.
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs