Ronald Reagan: What the President’s Barber Knew Thirty Years Ago
“Look at him. Without that head of hair and that smile,
he still might be selling Wheaties in Iowa.”
~Milton Pitts, White House Barber observing President Reagan
“As you know, his clientele—three presidents, three vice presidents, cabinet members, members of
congress and all – they come and go, but he’s here for the long stretch.
The rest of us are sort of hair today and gone tomorrow.”
~President Reagan Honoring Milton Pitts’ 20 Years of Service
April 15, 1985
© 2015 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Our story begins in 1970 with President Richard Nixon who needed to get rid of the “greasy kid stuff.”
Dutifully, his aides made a call to a class act barber working at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C.
With comb and scissors in hand, Milton Pitts made a special appearance at the White House to fulfill the
challenge of giving the President a “more natural appearance.”
Naturally, our 37th president was so pleased with the results that he installed a tiny barbershop in the
basement below the Oval Office where Milton Pitts would work twice a month. When President Ford took
over, the tradition continued yet the challenge was different. Pitts needed to modify Ford’s few wispy strands
that were wrapped around his balding head. With clippers in hand, he shortened the top and lengthened the
sides, “playing to nature’s own honest impulses.”
That’s not only the long and short of it. “I am not a barber,” he said, “I style everyone’s hair.” The man
with the magical scissors, Milton Pitts, kept our politicians in tip top shape at his Sheraton Carlton shop, even
trimming the tresses of a few Democrats like George McGovern.
But his gig at the White House was temporarily suspended when Jimmy Carter arrived with two stylists
in hand. When Carter changed his hair part from right to left and added a little tint, Pitts was horrified and
quipped, “That guy is not going to last.”
What did last were his long list of Washington regulars, among them Reagan advisor, Mike Deaver.
Shortly before Reagan’s inauguration, Deaver arranged for Pitts to cut Reagan’s hair at a house where the
future president was staying in Virginia.
“I cut it, and Nancy came in and said to Reagan, ‘Don’t you look great?’” Pitts declared.
Once he had Mrs. Reagan’s approval, the deal was done. Pitts would return to his rightful place in the
White House barbershop and look forward to his exchanges with the 40th president.
But first, he had to convince the President to pitch the Brylcreem. “Reagan had a high pompadour,”
he said. “His hair needed the oval look. He needed it rounded out. I took two inches of that pompadour off
and left his hair two inches longer.” Hugh Sidey observed that Pitt’s artistry “kept the unruly wave up front,
suggesting a man of flair, but discliplined.”
It was quite a challenge. Pitts brought Hollywood into “the aura of Thomas Jefferson without losing
individuality” because he understood subtlety and the importance of dignity. In Pitts’ mind, once Carter
started fooling with his part and hair color, that implied “self-adulation”…and that could cause a problem.
One problem he managed expertly was when people suggested Reagan was dyeing his hair. Milt, who
adored the President, had a plan. He gathered up a few of his White House clippings, then brought them out
and showed them to the skeptics. The hair Pitts displayed had one silver strand for every 50 deep brown hairs,
not something that could be arranged in a tint.
Over the hours spent together yakking in the chair, mutual admiration developed between a president
and his barber.
Then on April 15, 1985, a sitting U.S. President attended a celebration for Milton Pitts, recognizing 20
years of service, and delivered remarks in his honor. To watch the speech President Reagan delivered 30 years
ago to salute his favorite barber, Milton Pitts, click here:
© 2015 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
The President: “What do you call ten rabbits that are dancing backwards? Give up,
huh?” Milton Pitts (White House Barber): “I give up.”
The President: “A receding hare line.”
~From Remarks Delivered at a Reception Honoring Milton Pitts’ 20 Years of Service
as the Presidents’ Barber, April 15, 1985
Milton Pitts last served President George H.W. Bush, working to perfect a slightly rounded cut to
soften Bush’s lean face. But when 41 lost the election, he remained hopeful since “my scissors are neither
Republican nor Democrat.” By then, he was hopelessly tagged as a Republican so he gathered his tools of
the trade and returned full time to his shop in the Sheraton Carlton.
Always, he tried to give more than a cut and a shave. He told a reporter after leaving the White
House that he charged $25 for a wash, cut, and blow-dry for a man. ‘’There’s no excuse for a person today
paying $200 for a haircut,’’ he said. ‘’That’s showmanship. Anyone who can’t do a good haircut for $25
shouldn’t be in business.’’
Of his favorite client, Pitts recalled, “He would always say, ‘Did I tell you the story of so-and-so?’ I
loved Reagan, he was a wonderful man to work on.”
© 2015 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.