He worked for 11 US presidents: a former White House butler died of coronavirus

Former White House butler Wilson Roosevelt German died of coronavirus at the age of 91. He began his career with Dwight Eisenhower, and ended as a head waiter with Barack Obama. In total, he happened to work with 11 US presidents, writes Air force.

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German was noticed by Jackie Kennedy, the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. At the time, he was working as a janitor, and the First Lady helped promote him to butler. “She was the one who made it happen,” his granddaughter Jamila Garrett told Fox 5.

Many decades later, another US first lady, Michelle Obama, published his photograph in her book of memoirs, Becoming (in Russian translation, “Becoming. My Story”).

In response to reports of German's death, Michelle Obama said she was "lucky to know him."

“With his kindness and thoughtfulness, Wilson German has helped first families, including ours, feel at home in the White House for decades,” NBC quoted her as saying.

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Feeling of victory

“His passion for helping others, his desire to go above and beyond for the country he loved and the people in whose lives he was a part, truly represented the spirit of his generation,” Obama said.

Another first lady and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her condolences to his family on Twitter.

Wilson German died of coronavirus last weekend.

He began working in the White House in 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower was the president, and finally retired only in 2012. In parting, President Barack Obama presented German with several commemorative tablets with the names of each of the presidents with whom he worked.

German remains an important figure for experts studying the history of African Americans and their role in the political life of the country. Like many others of his generation, he gracefully held one of the few jobs available to him at the time, says Corita Mitchell of Ohio University, author of "From Slave Cabins to the White House."

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Racial segregation in many American states operated until the mid-1960s; racial discrimination was finally prohibited only in 1968.

According to Mitchell, Wilson German was probably very pleased that his career ended under this US leader. He worked for Obama, “a decent president and also an African-American,” she said, adding: “I think he saw it as a victory.”

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