Alonzo Fields

Alonzo Fields was former "house man" to MIT president Samuel Stratton during the 1920s. Fields went on to serve as Chief White House Butler at the White House under four U.S. Presidents--Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower.

While the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and eight other officials discussed the crisis in Korea that evening, they dined on fruit cup, fried chicken, shoestring potatoes, buttered asparagus, scalloped tomatoes, hot biscuits, hearts of lettuce, vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, and cupcakes. Within days, the American people learned that the United States had committed its military forces to help defend South Korea. Alonzo Fields wrote these notes on the preparations for that historic dinner.

National Archives, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum