At 9:55 a.m. Gary Walters ordered the evacuation of the White House. Administrative Assistant Claire Faulkner remembered the moment when Walters telephoned her from the South Grounds: “So as I was watching the Pentagon on TV, Gary called me, probably about three or four minutes after that, and said, ‘Claire, get out of the House. Get everyone out of the House that you can find, and run towards the south.’ And that was probably the most frightening thing of the whole morning, because Gary Walters would never leave the House. I mean, he’s so dedicated that he would never ask anyone to leave their office or their post for any reason, unless there was an emergency.” Twenty years ago only Executive Residence supervisors carried government-issued cell phones; many staff carried pagers, but not all. Two-way radios were used mainly by electricians and the engineers. There were no complex-wide emergency radios. Because staff members were working in different areas of the White House and Grounds and
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not everyone had communication devices, widespread emergency evacuation notification was difficult. Most staff received notice by word-of-mouth, and some by landline and mobile phone. Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier repeatedly tried calling his staff working in the Pastry Shop on the First Floor Mezzanine from a landline telephone in his Chocolate Shop off the Ground Floor hallway but received a busy signal because someone was on the phone. A Secret Service UD officer finally reached the Pastry Shop after Chef Mesnier was forced to evacuate. His tall chef ’s toque helped his staff identify and reunite with him and the rest of the Pastry Shop staff at Lafayette Park. There was a lot of confusion among the staff, and even a kind of paralysis when they were told to evacuate. Many left without their wallets or car keys. The Secret Service officers were also unnerved, not knowing what was going to happen next. Nancy Clarke, the chief floral designer, went to the Usher’s Office and found Claire Faulkner sitting
white house history quarterly
Heeding warnings that the White House was likely an imminent target, Chief Usher Gary Walters ordered the evacuation of the White House at 9:55 a.m. In the hopes that his staff would see him, Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier wore his tall chef ’s toque as he made his way through the evacuating crowds in Lafayette Park. His plan worked, and he reunited with the kitchen staff at the corner of H Street NW and Connecticut Avenue.
NATIONAL ARCHIV ES AND R EC OR DS ADMINISTRATION
THE EVACUATION