Margaret M. Carey

Margaret M. Carey, known as “Peggy,” was born on March 10, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois.¹ In 1933, soon after graduating high school, Carey bussed tables at a cafe at the Chicago World’s Fair.² She then started a career in the hotel industry that took her across the United States. She worked for the Hilton Corporation for twenty-three years; the company sent her to study at the American Hotel Institute at Michigan State University, after which they employed her in a variety of administrative roles. Next, she worked for the Sheraton Corporation as their western and southern regional director of housekeeping services.³

In September 1969, First Lady Pat Nixon hired Carey to be head housekeeper at the White House, replacing former head housekeeper Mary Kaltman. Carey was at home when she received the job offer via a telephone call. “When they said the White House was calling, I thought it was somebody selling something,” Carey told a journalist, before adding, “And then I thought they were putting me on, but it really was the White House. And even the telephone operator was excited.”⁴ As Carey did not know the Nixons or apply for the position, she speculated it was either a recommendation from her former employer, the owner of the Hilton company who knew President Nixon, or from when Nixon stayed at one of the hotels she worked at during the 1968 presidential campaign.⁵ Whatever the reason, Carey accepted the offer with a mix of awe and trepidation, telling a reporter: “I don’t think you could say I’m excited - scared and stunned are the words.”⁶

As head housekeeper, Carey helped maintain cleanliness within the White House and helped manage the budget for the first family. She met regularly with Mrs. Nixon to plan meals and prepare for State Dinners and other events. Though Mrs. Nixon appeared pleased with her work, Carey stated she felt stressed at times: “I must learn every piece of furniture and every item of artwork and where it belongs . . . I’m afraid to touch anything. I go home and have nightmares that something will be broken." Still, Carey expressed pride in her work, telling a reporter: “[S]o many ordinary people who know me as being ordinary - a onetime waitress and dishwasher who got ahead by studying - are writing me and saying that if I can do it, then anybody can. It’s been an inspiration to them. But every day I ask, ‘Am I doing all right? Am I adjusting?”⁷

Carey resigned her position after less than a year in order to move to California for family reasons.⁸ She was replaced as head housekeeper by Shirley A. Bender. Beyond her work at the White House, Carey served as president of the Hotel Greeters of America and the vice president of the National Executive Housekeepers Association.⁹

Carey passed away on April 1, 1998, and was buried in All Saints Catholic Cemetery in Les Plaines, Illinois.¹⁰ According to her obituary, for many years after her retirement “she exchanged Christmas cards with the Nixons.”¹¹