W. Montgomery

Irwin "Ike" Hoover was born in Washington, D.C., the son of a grocer.

His first job was as a telephone operator, but he later became an electrician. He became an employee of the Edison Electric Company, and was sent to the White House on May 6, 1891, to install the first electric lights and an electric bell system in the executive mansion. At the time, no private building in the city had electricity, and the only government-owned building which did was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. President Benjamin Harrison and his family considered electricity dangerous, and no one in the Harrison family would even turn a light switch for fear of electrocution. On May 15, when Hoover finished the installation, he was asked by President Harrison to leave Edison Electric and join the White House staff as an electrician. Hoover agreed. For the next several years, Hoover's job was to turn lights on and off throughout the day, and to assist the family in using the bell system (which they were also afraid of). As the Harrisons and other presidential families became less fearful of electricity, Hoover's job was to keep the system working and to install new electrical wiring and appliances as needed.

In 1904, Hoover accepted a position as an usher at the White House. The White House had asked him to act as temporary usher on several previous occasions, so the promotion was not as unusual as it might seem. Hoover was appointed Chief Usher by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. (Hoover and Roosevelt were already well-acquainted with one another, as Roosevelt had served on the United States Civil Service Commission during the Harrison administration and had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley.)

Hoover served as Chief Usher until his death in 1933. From 1891 until 1909, his daily uniform was a tailcoat (which hung to below the knees), waistcoat, formal trousers, and dress shirt with tie. This changed when President William Howard Taft allowed staff to wear business suits. During these 42 years of service, Hoover had intimate daily contact with ten Presidents and their families. As Chief Usher, he was the executive head of the household, in charge of all social affairs and entrusted with confidential matters of every description regarding the household and First Family. It was also his duty to welcome guests of the President, to arrange the details of their visits, and to make them feel at home in the White House.

During his tenure at the White House, Hoover oversaw the preparations for the funerals of President McKinley and President Warren G. Harding. He also oversaw the planning for the weddings of Alice Roosevelt, Eleanor Wilson, and Jessie Wilson, presidential daughters who were all married at the White House. When President Woodrow Wilson traveled to France for peace negotiations at the end of World War I, Hoover traveled with him and controlled the staff and household operations in the palaces where Wilson stayed.

Ike Hoover died suddenly at his home in Washington, D.C., of a heart attack on the evening of September 14, 1933. He was 71 years old.