While the world watches pomp and circumstance Opening day Unfolding in the US Capitol, a complex and highly orchestrated movement behind the scenes the white house.
Every four to eight years, within a few hours, a dozen members of the White House staff take out the belongings of the first outgoing family and move the belongings of the new one. first family.
This Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will wake up to a White House full of their belongings and personal mementos, from personal photos to their favorite foods from the kitchen.
At night, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will bed down in a White House, with everything from their clothes to their preferred toothpaste.
President-elect Donald Trump walks with Melania Trump at the Capitol on January 8, 2025 in Washington.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
“It’s an amazing day where they have five hours to get one family out and another family in.” Kate Andersen Browerauthor of “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House,” told ABC News. “They don’t hire movers to do it. They do it themselves, so it’s a hands-on situation where everyone on the staff comes in that day and helps out.”
The move traditionally begins in the morning, after the outgoing president and first lady say goodbye to the staff of the White House, including the operators, waiters, cooks and other staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The farewell at the State Dining Hall is often emotional because the first family and staff have formed a bond, according to Brower, author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of Modern First Ladies.”
Workers continue to put the finishing touches on the Pennsylvania presidential review post outside the White House, ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, January 16, 2025, in Washington.
Jon Elswick/AP
During the ceremony, White House staff presented the president with American flags that had been placed over the White House during the president’s first and last days in office. The flags, Brower said, are presented in a wooden box made by White House carpenters.
“The president and the first lady walk up to all the people and say hello and hug, and sometimes people cry,” Brower said. “It’s a really human moment on what seems like a very formal day full of pomp and circumstance.”
As the president and first lady leave the White House for the inauguration ceremony, a frenzy of activity begins inside.
The to-do list includes everything from changing mattresses and bedding, moving furniture, moving boxes, stocking refrigerators, stocking preferred toiletries, doing touch-ups, and stocking closets.
“There’s a one-way van that’s coming out of the White House to pick up the things of the president and the first family,” Anita McBride, who served as chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush. said ABC News eight years ago, on the eve of the first Trump administration. “And then you have the moving vans and trucks that are pulling in on the other side of the driveway south of the White House, which will be ready to unload all of the new family’s belongings.”
A moving truck is seen outside the West Wing of the White House at dawn on January 20, 2021 in Washington.
Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images, FILE
No external movers are hired to carry out the change between the first families for security reasons.
Instead, the Process is overseen by the White House leader, a historically non-political role that has recently changed with new administrations, according to Browe.
“They really are the chief executives of the White House,” he said, noting that a senior adviser, Gary J. Walters, worked in the role for decades, serving four different presidents from 1986 to 2007.
When Barack Obama became president, he hired a new chief initiator, the first woman in that role, and subsequent Trump and Biden administrations also hired a new initiator rather than keeping the previous one, according to Bower.
“‘It’s a really esteemed position, at least historically it has been inside the White House,'” Brower said. “You are the boss, and when there is a problem among the 100 employees, you are the one who will report it.”
When the Clinton family moved to the White House in 1993, for example, the main lodger had to deal with finding then-first lady Hillary Clinton’s inaugural dress that was lost during the move, according to Browe.
Workers carry a truck on West Executive Avenue between the West Wing of the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on January 14, 2021 in Washington.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images, FILE
The lead user is also the person who begins preparing the movement for Inauguration Day, when the parties nominate their presidential candidate. At that point, Brower says, the trigger begins to reach out to candidates’ inner circles to learn more about their likes and dislikes.
Once a candidate is elected president, the main holding polls the president-elect’s advance team to get details like their favorite brand of shampoo, favorite pillows, and more.
Donald and Melania Trump are unique among the first families in that they are returning to the White House after four years away.
Because White House staffers tend to stick around for decades, many of the Trumps’ first-term bosses, chefs, housekeepers and others will work with them again.
“It’s been four years off, but he’ll be back, and they’ll know exactly what he wants to provide,” Brower said. “I mean, they know everything, so that makes it a lot easier for the workers.”
