# The Person Roosevelt Hated Most

> URL: https://www.cityhorror.wiki/en/%EB%B0%B1%EC%95%85%EA%B4%80%EC%9D%98-%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%B8%EC%9D%80-%EC%A0%9C-%EC%8B%9D%EC%82%AC%EB%A5%BC-%EA%B0%84%EC%B2%AD%ED%96%88%EB%8B%A4
> Estimated date: 1933 ~ 1945
> Last updated: 2026-10-28
> Korean original: https://www.cityhorror.wiki/%EB%B0%B1%EC%95%85%EA%B4%80%EC%9D%98-%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%B8%EC%9D%80-%EC%A0%9C-%EC%8B%9D%EC%82%AC%EB%A5%BC-%EA%B0%84%EC%B2%AD%ED%96%88%EB%8B%A4

## Overview

During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, Henrietta Nesbitt, who was in charge of housekeeping at the White House, insisted on an austerity-minded diet that the president disliked. As a result, he sometimes had to plead for the food he wanted at his own table.

Nesbitt was brought in personally by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She was not a cooking expert, but a local acquaintance whom Eleanor trusted. The anecdote is told as a clash between the First Lady’s frugal values during the Great Depression, the president’s tastes, and the stubbornness of the housekeeper caught between them. However, since most of the specific scenes come from online community posts, they should be read with some caution as to how much is factual.

## Nesbitt’s Arrival at the White House

Henrietta Nesbitt lived near the Roosevelt family in Hyde Park, New York, and is said to have worked alongside Eleanor in the local League of Women Voters. When her husband lost his job during the Great Depression, she reportedly helped support the household by doing small-scale baking at home. Her background was unusual for someone responsible for the meals of the U.S. president. The position required supervising about 30 staff members, entertaining diplomats and cabinet members, and preparing state dinners.

Even so, Eleanor appears to have chosen her not for her cooking skills but because she trusted her. Commonplace Fun Facts explains that Eleanor wanted someone diligent, frugal, loyal, and sympathetic to her views—not a famous chef or hotel manager. Eleanor hired Nesbitt as White House housekeeper and also found a job at the White House for her husband, Henry. An FM Korea post likewise emphasizes that the First Lady hired her personally through their acquaintance, and says this patronage allowed Nesbitt to impose her own cooking philosophy.

## Discoveries and Renovations in the White House Kitchen

When Nesbitt first inspected the White House kitchen in 1933, she found it in poor condition. According to her memoir, *White House Diary*, as described by the National Women’s History Museum, it had dark cupboards, an old commercial gas range, a sink with an old wooden drainboard, and a small, rusty wooden dumbwaiter. The refrigerator was lined with wood inside and smelled bad. The electrical wiring was also old and dangerous, making her afraid to turn on the switches. She also mentioned cockroaches, writing, “There is no charm in a cockroach.”

Nesbitt concluded that the kitchen needed to be replaced, and her concerns led to a renovation of the White House kitchen in 1935. The project was carried out as Public Works Project No. 634, with demolition and construction taking place in the summer and fall of 1935. Engineers from General Electric and Westinghouse worked with White House staff to bring the kitchen up to 20th-century standards. Before the renovation, the kitchen measured about 23 by 28 feet, which was quite small for the volume of food prepared there.

## Austerity Diet and the President’s Complaints

According to an FM Korea post, Nesbitt followed a dietary philosophy that prioritized thrift and nutrition during the Great Depression, putting her at odds with FDR’s tastes. The post says FDR had been born into a wealthy family, attended Harvard, and was a “silver spoon” type who had been accustomed to meals prepared by skilled cooks since childhood. He enjoyed beef steak and potato dishes. Eleanor, by contrast, believed it would look bad to the public for the presidential family to eat lavish meals at a time when unemployment was rampant and people were lining up outside soup kitchens; Nesbitt reportedly shared that view. The post also notes that a modest table could be politically useful to FDR’s everyman image.

The problem was that the diet paid little heed to the president’s preferences. The post says that even though FDR had clearly stated that he disliked broccoli, Nesbitt kept serving it and defended herself by saying it was healthy whenever he complained. The table featured bean soup, vegetable soup, and dishes made with organ meats, and FDR was said to have grown even more frustrated because the First Lady sided with Nesbitt. Commonplace Fun Facts also wryly observes that although FDR could reorganize the federal government and lead the mobilization for war, he could not persuade Nesbitt to stop serving him broccoli.

## Pleas and Retorts

The anecdotes recounted in the FM Korea post portray FDR as being reduced to pleading in this situation. He reportedly ordered hot coffee but was served iced tea. When he was ill and asked for canned white asparagus, Nesbitt refused, saying it could not be found in Washington. FDR then secretly asked his personal secretary, who supposedly managed to find ten cans that afternoon. The post presents this as an absurd episode.

The post claims that these complaints accumulated until FDR hired a separate cook to handle his meals in 1941. It goes on to say that Nesbitt continued to complain and interfere in everything, until the problem came to a head on the day of his fourth inauguration in 1944. FDR ordered a chicken dish, but was served a salad with no meat in it. The dialogue in this passage appears to be the post’s embellishment, and it concludes that FDR remained under Nesbitt’s thumb until his death. It adds the joke that overwork and stress may have contributed to his death, but that he escaped to the afterlife because of her cooking.

## An Afterword About Truman

There is also a story that the conflict over Nesbitt and the diet continued after FDR. According to the FM Korea post, successor Harry Truman asked for an extra pat of butter on his steak, but Nesbitt refused. Truman supposedly remembered this and later fired her. The post speculates that, since Truman was famous for liking meat, vegetable-centered meals must have been a thorn in his side. However, the circumstances of her dismissal are recounted only in that post.

## Authenticity debate

The central question is whether Nesbitt really controlled the president’s meals and tormented him, or whether the anecdotes were exaggerated and embellished by online communities.

### The view that the president was tormented over his meals

Supporters of this view point out that several accounts describe the situation in similar terms. Commonplace Fun Facts summarizes that Nesbitt kept serving meals the president disliked, and says her “ironclad control” over the presidential kitchen led to one of the strangest power struggles of the Roosevelt administration. A Reddit post in r/AskHistorians asked, “Why didn’t FDR fire the White House cook?” and said the cook was known to be very difficult to work with and made FDR’s meals a living hell. The post also said that FDR was known to have difficulty firing people.

The many specific episodes—broccoli, iced tea, canned asparagus, and the hiring of a separate cook—could also be cited as reasons not to dismiss the story as entirely fictional. However, many of these details come from the FM Korea post.

### The view that the stories are exaggerated or unverified

The opposing view first questions the nature of the sources. Most of the detailed anecdotes come from community posts with a strong humorous slant, and the dialogue is clearly embellished. No supporting evidence outside this article has been presented for key scenes such as the hiring of a separate cook in 1941, the salad incident on inauguration day, or Truman’s dismissal of Nesbitt. It also remains unclear whether a chicken dish would really have been replaced by a salad on the day of a presidential inauguration. The question in a Reddit post may also have been based on a widely circulated image rather than established facts.

Nesbitt’s record was not entirely negative, either. According to the National Women’s History Museum, she pointed out problems with the old and unsanitary White House kitchen in 1933. Her concerns led to a major renovation in 1935, involving engineers from General Electric and Westinghouse. Given that Eleanor chose Nesbitt for her thrift and loyalty, the austerity diet may have reflected the First Lady’s preferred policy rather than Nesbitt’s personal stubbornness. In that case, the issue was not one person’s obstinacy, but a difference in values between the president and the First Lady.

The two accounts could both be true: several sources share the broad outline of an unappetizing diet, but the truth of individual anecdotes has not been established.

## Trivia

- The FM Korea post describes FDR as the man who called for the “Arsenal of Democracy” and as the only U.S. president elected to four terms. It makes fun of the fact that a man like him supposedly could not even remove broccoli from his own dinner table.
- Commonplace Fun Facts wryly remarks that Nesbitt’s ability to bake bread and cakes was “useful” experience for a housekeeper, but inadequate preparation for supervising about 30 staff members.

## Sources

- FM Korea, [“The Person Roosevelt Hated Most”](https://m.fmkorea.com/best/10464216236)
- National Women’s History Museum, [“The White House Kitchen Nightmare”](https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/white-house-kitchen-nightmare) (2013-06-28)
- Commonplace Fun Facts, [“Henrietta Nesbitt: The White House Housekeeper Who Made FDR Hate Dinner”](https://commonplacefacts.com/2026/07/20/henrietta-nesbitt-white-house-fdr/) (2026-07-20)
- Reddit r/AskHistorians, [“Why didn’t FDR fire the White House cook? : r/AskHistorians”](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/16rwey4/why_didnt_fdr_fire_the_white_house_cook/)

## Verified facts

- Henrietta Nesbitt was responsible for food and household management at the White House during the Roosevelt administration. The FM Korea post and the Commonplace Fun Facts article say she was hired personally by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, while the National Women’s History Museum describes her as “Eleanor Roosevelt’s housekeeper.”
- The FM Korea post and the Commonplace Fun Facts article say that Nesbitt was hired because she had a personal connection with Eleanor. According to the Commonplace Fun Facts article, she was a neighbor of the Roosevelt family in Hyde Park, New York, and worked with Eleanor in the local League of Women Voters.
- The FM Korea post and the Commonplace Fun Facts article report that Nesbitt kept serving broccoli, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) disliked. Both articles portray FDR as having conflicts with her over meals.
- The FM Korea post and the Commonplace Fun Facts article suggest that although FDR led the country through the Great Depression and World War II, he could not resolve the issue of Nesbitt’s menu.
- A Reddit post in r/AskHistorians says that the White House cook was very difficult to work with and made FDR’s dinners hell. This does not contradict the general thrust of the two articles above.
- Nesbitt first inspected the White House kitchen in 1933 and, after seeing cockroaches and outdated facilities, concluded that a new kitchen was needed. As a result, White House kitchen renovations (Public Works Project No. 634) were carried out in 1935. (Confirmed only by the National Women’s History Museum)

## Points of dispute

- Sources describe Nesbitt’s position differently. The National Women’s History Museum and the Commonplace Fun Facts article call her a “housekeeper,” while the FM Korea and Reddit posts describe her as the person in charge of the meals or as a cook/chef.
- The FM Korea post gives the year of the fourth inauguration as 1944, but the actual fourth inauguration took place in early 1945, so the year is incorrect. This detail cannot be confirmed from other sources.