Looking Over the President’s Shoulder

“Do not smile or indicate any interest in the conversations you may overhear.”

With those instructions from Mrs. Herbert Hoover in 1931, Alonzo Fields began serving his country. And what service it was: As the first African-American White House Chief Butler in history, Fields witnessed momentous events, both public and private. Before there was “The West Wing” there was Alonzo Fields, whose story is told with humor and warmth in Looking Over The President’s Shoulder, by James Still.