Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Col. William H. Crook Body-Guard to President Lincoln

In November of 1864 after three-quarters of a century of Presidents and more than three years of the Civil War the first full-time Presidential body guards were finally hired. A promotion two months later left a job opening in the foursome and William H. Crook was hired away from the Washington Police Force (he had previously served in the Union Army during the Civil War). As one of the bodyguards Crook was in close contact with President Abraham Lincoln and his family observing the sixteenth President as a person and recording his observations.Following Lincolns assassination (Crook wasnt on duty at the time) he continued in the role for President Andrew Johnson. After Johnson left office President Ulysses Grant (whom Crook had grown to know during his service under Lincoln) appointed him Executive Clerk of the President of the United States and then dispersing agent in 1877. Eventually he became the Chief Disbursing Officer. In January 1915 President Woodrow Wilson celebrated Crooks half-century of service in the executive mansion presenting him with a cane and acknowledging his more widely but less official title White House Encyclopedia. Two months later Crook died of pneumonia at the age of 75 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.In that half century working in the White House directly for the Presidents William H. Crook grew to know the men who held the nations highest office and their families; their public and private lives. Though his experience lasted through twelve administrations his memoir only covers the first six (though he called it Through Five Administrations counting the 1881-85 term of James Garfield and Chester Arthur as one).