Irineo Esperancilla

Irineo Esperancilla

Melinda M. Dart, A Glimpse of Greatness: The Memoir of Irineo Esperancilla.

Quick Facts

Significance:

Valet to Franklin Roosevelt

Place of Birth:

Oton, Philippines

Date of Birth:

October 15, 1906

Date of Death:

July 24, 1976

Place of Burial:

Arlington, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Arlington National Cemetery

Irineo Esperancilla served as a “special steward attached to the persons” of four U.S. presidents. From 1930 to 1955. During years of war and peace, he served the presidents at the White House, on retreats, and aboard ships that took him around the world.

Irineo was born on October 15, 1906 in the village of Oton in the Philippines, a territory of the United States. Immediately following the Spanish-American War, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists, resulting in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants from 1899 to 1902. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and disease. In effort to encourage popular appeal, a pacification campaign permitted a degree of self-government, introduced social reforms, and implemented plans for economic development, significantly aiding U.S. efforts to win the Philippine-American War.

Irineo’s father was a farmer who wanted his son to have an education—he attended high school in a neighboring town. Like many other Filipinos by this time, Irineo was proud of his homeland, but also “yearned to see America and what it had to offer me.”¹ Ireneo enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1925 and was assigned as a temporary steward aboard the USS Noa. From 1926-1929, he was assigned as a personal attendant to an admiral aboard the USS Concord. And in 1930, he received orders to report to Camp Rapidan where he would serve as personal steward to President Herbert Hoover.

His first encounter with FDR was aboard the presidential yacht USS Sequoia. He was again assigned personal attendant to the president, who called him “Isaac.” Irineo was amused by the president’s fondness for bestowing nicknames upon those closest to him. Irineo worked with Roosevelt for twelve years as steward or valet, attending to the president’s needs onboard the Sequoia and Potomac, the camp at Shangri-La, the White House, and at Hyde Park. His specific duties aboard the Potomac indicate the job was as demanding as the president’s security agents:

1. Upon arrival of the president and until his departure, you will not leave the immediate vicinity of the president unless ordered to do so by him or an officer, or to go to the head, in which case you will return at once.

2. You will sleep on the fantail after all guests have turned in. In case of inclement weather, you may sleep in an easy chair in the wardroom. You will not go below at any time unless ordered to do so.

3. In case it is necessary to change uniform, you may obtain permission from the commanding officer at 09:00.

4. You will at all times be available in case of emergency to assist the president to his room and will close all windows in his cabin.

5. In case of abandon ship, you will also assist in transfer of the president to another ship or boat.²

Irineo accompanied President Roosevelt to South America for the Pan-American Conference at Buenos Aires in 1936, a vacation to the Galapagos Islands in 1938, and Roosevelt’s meetings with Churchill, Stalin, at Cairo and Tehran in 1943. He was aboard the USS Potomac when FDR hosted King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for a luncheon cruise. When a protocol crisis arose over who should be served first, the Roosevelts or the King and Queen, Irineo suggested they be served at the same time, for which he received a smiling glance of approval from FDR and commendation for his service during the trip.

Irineo was with Roosevelt for his second, third, and fourth campaign trips aboard U.S. Train Car Number One—a fleet of private luxury Pullman cars designated Marco Polo, Roald Amundsen, and Ferdinand Magellan. A few minutes before each campaign stop, Irineo would assist the president in and out of his leg braces. He always stood behind the president with a glass and pitcher of cold water, ready to assist.

The war changed the mood of visits to Hyde Park, where the president now worked many hours, and late into the night, often with foreign heads of state, military leaders, and government officials. Tensions were high. Fear and prejudice prevailed even on American soil. FDR ordered the FBI to investigate German, Italian, and Japanese aliens. More than 3,800 were taken into custody. Under executive order, 120,000 Japanese, many of them U.S. citizens, were detained and interred at “relocation centers” from February to July 1942. In June of that year, German submarines along the east coast dropped off saboteurs trained in explosives, chemistry, and secret writing. One of these men, unnerved by a chance encounter with the Coast Guard, turned himself in to FBI agents. Roosevelt was notified immediately. The remaining men, seven in all, were tracked down and arrested over the next two weeks.³ FDR was at Hyde Park on three occasions in June 1942.⁴ During one of these weekend trips, probably on the night of June 19, Irineo was massaging the president’s legs as usual before bed when they heard a noise on the balcony outside his room. Under FDR’s instruction, Irineo rushed out at once to look around, but saw nothing suspicious. The next morning, while making the president’s bed, he found a silver-plated pistol under FDR’s pillow.

Irineo was with FDR on his last visit to Hyde Park from March 25-28, 1945 where they continued the routine, but at a much slower pace:

Since I was his personal attendant, with him early in the morning to late evening, I watched him gradually lose control over his whole body. I continued to wheel him to the dining room, where members of the family were always waiting for him. By this time, he hardly touched any food, while in the past he ate everything put before him. It was a tragic sight for me to see as he held a big cup of coffee, half-filled, so he would not spill it; this was his only nourishment.⁵

FDR had no appointments and only a few guests during these four days. By this time, Irineo observed the president's exhaustion—he was pale, sleeping much later, and his breathing had become slow and irregular. On their return to Washington, FDR granted Irineo leave, telling him he looked tired and should get some rest. Following the president’s instructions, Irineo stayed at Washington when Roosevelt left for Warm Springs, where he died on April 12, 1945. He remained at the White House for a month to assist with packing the family’s belongings.

Irineo was reassigned to USS Augusta where he served President Harry Truman who sailed for Europe on July 7, 1945. When they returned to the United States, he received a new assignment as chief steward in service to President Truman, mostly aboard the presidential yacht Williamsburg, at the Little White House in Key West, Florida, and during his travels around the country.

Irineo was more navy seaman than valet. “It is a great honor,” he recalled in his memoir, “to be in the service of the president of the United States, but what a glorious thing it is to accomplish most of this service in the unique and unparalleled intimacy of a presidential yacht.” He and his fellow Filipino stewards were aboard Williamsburg for a four-day pleasure cruise hosted by incoming President Eisenhower. They then completed a few more cruises ordered by Eisenhower for wounded and hospitalized Korean War veterans. Irineo hoped he would finish his tour of duty aboard the Williamsburg. But it wasn’t to be. She was decommissioned soon after, her furnishings transferred to Shangri-La, now renamed Camp David, where Irineo and the other Filipino stewards once again served a U.S. president for short weekend getaways.

Ireneo and his fellow stewards were proud Americans but missed their native home. President Roosevelt had named their cabin at Shangri-La “Little Luzon,” after the famed Philippine archipelago. Mrs. Eisenhower presented the stewards with a basket of fresh mangoes, which she had come to enjoy herself when her husband was stationed for a few years in the Philippines. Gestures such as these, presidential handshakes, nicknames, playful exchanges, and expressions of genuine concern put the Filipino stewards and presidential valets at ease, reducing the stress of a demanding job.

Irineo retired from the U.S. Navy in 1955 after 30 years of service under four presidents. He took a job as a guard at the Library of Congress, where, one day, President Truman immediately recognized and greeted him. The brief meeting was reported in the Library’s Information Bulletin (1959):

Mr. Truman strode inside the south door to find—on duty at his regular post—Guard Irineo Esperancilla, old friend and once Chief Steward aboard the Presidential Yacht Williamsburg.

Irineo visited Hyde Park after President Roosevelt’s death to pay his respects. He spent a long afternoon visiting with Eleanor Roosevelt who escorted him to FDR’s burial site.

During his time in Washington, he met and married Maryann Pettie. Maryann had one son from her previous marriage. Together, she and Irineo had one daughter (Ann, b. 1940). He was diagnosed with colon cancer and made one last trip to the Philippines before his death on July 24, 1976. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
 

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NOTES

¹ Melinda M. Dart, ed. A Glimpse of Greatness: the Memoir of Irineo Esperancilla, 2022, p. 6.

² Dart, A Glimpse of Greatness, p. 16.

³ “World War, Cold War, 1939-1953” https://www.fbi.gov/history/brief-history/world-war-cold-war.

⁴ FDR was in Hyde Park 2-4 June, 18-20 June, and 26 June-3 July. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was guest at Hyde Park from June 18-20. The first submarine of German saboteurs arrived on the coast of Long Island on the night of June 12-13. The others landed at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on June 16. On June 19, George Dasch turned himself in to FBI agents at Washington, DC. President Roosevelt was immediately alerted.

⁵ Dart, A Glimpse of Greatness, pp. 34-5.