Known as ‘confidants of the wardrobe’, presidential valets often care for clothing in addition to being surrogate nurses, barbers, bartenders, waiters, PR agents, companions, personal assistants, messengers, confidants - and sometimes even box movers.

The earliest presidential valet, George Washington’s William Lee, was a slave as well as a devoted confidante. The loyalty appears to have been reciprocated as Lee was the only slave specifically freed in Washington’s will. 

With the swirl of interest around Donald Trump’s valet Walt Nauta, SPYSCAPE dug up seven secrets of Presidential valets.

1. Walt Nauta, Trump's valet and assistant ‍

Guam-born US Navy vet Walt Nauta joined Trump as a White House valet and Mar-a-Lago bag man after Trump left office in January 2021. Nauta is also an accused co-conspirator charged with mishandling US national security documents. The Atlantic describes Nauta as a cipher, "neither a political true believer like some of Trump’s confidants nor an obvious opportunistic grifter like most of the rest". Trump, who pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he illegally kept classified documents, accused Justice officials of trying to destroy Nauta's life to get more information about Trump. It’s not clear how close the two are or whether Trump staffers gently mock the former president in private. At one point in the indictment, Nauta and a coworker exchange texts, with one instructing the other: “Anything that’s not the beautiful mind paper boxes can go to storage”.
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2. Manolo Sanchez, valet to President Richard Nixon

Today’s presidential valets are either military or White House members assigned to the president. Not so when Richard Nixon was in power. Tricky Dick was the last president to bring his own valet into the Oval Office and relied heavily on Manolo Sanchez as a sounding board. They shared a coded system of communication, often using words only they understood. Sanchez was a Spanish-born, Cuban emigre to the US who began working for the Nixon family in New York in 1962. He stayed throughout the White House years (1969-1974) and beyond. Nixon once awoke Sanchez in 1970 to join him on a 5 am visit to the Lincoln Memorial where they met Vietnam War protesters. Nixon then stopped at the US Capitol, sat in the House of Representatives, and told Sanchez to make a speech. The cleaners applauded as Sanchez spoke of his pride in being a US citizen. White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman described it in his diary as "the weirdest day yet".
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3. George E. Thomas, President John F. Kennedy’s valet‍

JFK and his valet George E. Thomas joked on Air Force One before landing in Dallas on Nov. 23, 1963, William Manchester recalls in his book The Death of a President. Thomas began working for the young Congressman in 1947 and accompanied the president to the White House. Days after JFK’s assassination, Thomas dressed the US President for the last time in emotional circumstances - Kennedy lay before him in a coffin as Thomas adjusted the president’s handkerchief with the monogram concealed, just as Kennedy would have liked it.

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5. Irvin McDuffie President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Valet‍

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his valet had a close relationship over their 12 years together - so close Irvin ‘Mac’ McDuffie often lent the 'Chief' a dollar for the church collection box. Mac was a superstitious sort. After a 1933 assassination attempt on then-President-elect Roosevelt, Mac removed Roosevelt’s tie saying, “No sir, Mr. Roosevelt, this is one tie I won’t let you wear again.” Mac apparently did everything but pick out Roosevelt’s clothes. When he was wrongly detained by Brazilian police, Mac missed boarding the president’s ship, USS Indianapolis, so the Navy’s USS Chester was sent to pick him up. Before his death, McDuffie said of Roosevelt, "There's never been a nicer man to work for."

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5. Kosta Boris, President Herbert Hoover's Valet 

President Herbert Hoover's valet Kosta Boris was a Serbian and naturalized US citizen who fought in WWI and used his language skills to land a US government job in Paris. Hoover invited him to return to the US as a valet and he followed the family back to California - primarily packing for Hoover and looking after the Hoover’s sons. The family teasingly called him ‘Domestic Maestro’ as Boris also served meals and ran errands. When Hoover was elected president in 1928, Boris occupied a nearby room in the White House. In a 1966 oral history, Boris approvingly described Hoover’s impeccable wardrobe: “He had his full dress clothes in the White House, a tuxedo, a cutaway coat, two blue suits, one brown and, of course, pairs of white trousers, white shoes, blue coat; a Palm Beach suit. It had a little belt in the back.” 

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6. John Moaney President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Valet

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's valet John Moaney joined the US Army on the eve of WWII and was assigned to the household staff of Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces. Moaney’s job was to prepare and serve meals but he volunteered to care for the General’s dogs, Telek and Khaki, and their 25 Scottie pups. Moaney was so devoted to the dogs, he named all of the pups. Moaney elected to stay on with Eisenhower after the war and his wife, Delores, eventually joined the Eisenhower staff as a cook. When Eisenhower was elected President in 1952, the Moaneys joined the White House staff. Later, in 1957, the Eisenhowers invited the Moaney family to visit the White House. More than 30 extended family members showed up. After Eisenhower’s death in 1969, Moaney served as an honorary pallbearer.

7. Colonel Arthur Brooks served four presidents

It’s fair to say Colonel Arthur Brooks understood his role having served four presidents but he kept his secrets close to his chest. Brooks commanded a National Guard unit during the Spanish-American War and went to the White House in 1909 from the War Department, where he initially served Secretary William Howard Taft. Brooks remained at the White House until his death in 1924 after also serving Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge. Apparently, it was his taste in clothing that set Brooks apart, having advised all four Presidents on the purchase and wearing of clothes.