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Mall shares White House experience
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| By: Ryan D. Wilson, Staff Reporter |
November 04, 2009 |
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Clay Center resident Vicki Mall has heard it all answering phones for the White House during President Clinton's administration from 1993 to 1995.
In fact, she told Lions Club members on Tuesday that she and the operators had contests over who answered the most ridiculous, funniest and strangest phone calls.
"One day I had a lady call in and say tonight we're having a potluck dinner and we'd like President Clinton to come and all he has to do is to bring a vegetable," Mall said.
Most people don't realize that anyone can call in to the White House and leave a comment for the president, Mall said. A lot of people who do are lawyers who will call in and leave a comment on the issue of the day.
"Everyone thinks President Clinton is right in the next room, so I would have to tell them, no, he's really busy."
But Mall said she did see the president and vice president frequently. Often they would walk through and say hi. In fact, they worked next door to Vice-President Al Gore.
"We got to see a lot of familiar faces, but what you don't know is how they're so much like you and me," Mall said. "Yes, I met the president, and he knew me, but I doubt he would know me now, he knows a lot of people. They're wonderful people to be around."
When Mall worked there, 12 people were on the White House lines at all times in the east executive building. Computers would transcribe the calls and that night the president would receive a copy of what every person had said calling in.
"The president on a daily basis knows how the public feels," she said.
Should the operators receive any call that might be threatening, all they had to do was push a button and a Secret Service agent would listen in. She said she got to know the Secret Service very well, and people don't realize how many of them are there unseen.
In the course of her volunteer duty, she met several dignitaries including Nelson Mandella and the queen of the Netherlands, and gave Christmas tours of the White House.
"That was a lot of fun," she said about the Christmas tours. "I met so many people."
She also enjoyed the holiday events, including the Easter Egg hunts and Halloween. She asked the crowd if they realized that President Obama and the first lady had 2,000 trick-or-treaters.
Mall encouraged people to call and comment and write to the White House to have them send a card to them on their anniversary or for those 80 and older, on their birthday.
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©Clay Center Dispatch 2009
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