Those Who Stay On

When Irving Williams discusses Washington as a "transition environment," he is not talking politics. "The hot, muggy nights bring on fungus and disease," says Williams; yet the winters are neither cold nor wet enough for northern grass. As head gardener of the White House, Williams solves the problem by planting K31 fescue on the South Lawn and a mixture of bluegrass and fescue on the North Lawn, which faces Pennsylvania Ave.

Though most voters have the impression that a new President inherits a virtually empty Executive Mansion, hundreds of specialists remain, no matter what the Administration. For years Williams and his six-man detail have sown the turf, sprayed the elms and broadcast electronic squawks through a loudspeaker system to keep off the starlings and sparrows. The gardeners and more than 300 other permanent White House staff members--from Steve Martini, the executive barber since 1952, to White House Upholsterer Larry Arata--are likely to be staying on after Jan. 20.

There is no statutory permanent staff at the White House. But few new Presidents could easily survive in the 132-room mansion without its nonpartisan hired help. Thus, White House Calligrapher Sandy Fox will doubtless be busy scrawling banknote script on thousands of invitations for Nixon state dinners, as he has since the early days of John Kennedy's Administration, and Curator James Ketchum will continue to watch over the White House art and china collections.

Although many will be departing with their bosses, some secretaries will remain. Last week Lyndon Johnson gathered them to express his gratitude for their labors and present each with a charm bearing the presidential seal.

One Bequest. The dominant figure on the permanent White House staff is Executive Assistant William J. Hopkins, 58, a bald, self-effacing factotum who joined Herbert Hoover in 1931, and has been the presidential office manager since 1943. Hopkins commands a crew of 255 secretaries, stenographers, messengers and telephone operators. He is, says Lyndon Johnson, "an indispensable instrument" to the management of the presidency.

Lady Bird has already introduced Pat Nixon to Hopkins' domestic counterpart, Chief Usher J. Bernard West, who presides over some 70 cooks, butlers, maids, elevator operators, electricians and carpenters. Under his overall supervision are five housemen who constantly wax and buff the floors; a full-time window cleaner who has 147 windows and eight skylights to cope with; and three flower arrangers who keep busy adorning the twelve guest rooms. After 27 years of White House ceremonies--including J.F.K.'s funeral and Lynda Bird's wedding--West says with equanimity: "We never have crises."

Besides the workers who will be staying on, the Nixons may inherit another White House regular. Blanco, the President's sometimes shy and nervous white collie, has finally grown accustomed to the grounds, and L.B.J. is hesitant to transplant him to the nontransitional environment of Texas.

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