Eugene Allen | White House butler, 90

Eugene Allen, 90, a White House butler who served presidents from Harry S. Truman through Ronald Reagan, has died.

Mr. Allen died of renal failure Wednesday at a hospital in Takoma Park, Md., the Washington Post reported Friday.

Mr. Allen, an African American, started at the White House in 1952, when racial segregation prohibited him from using public restrooms in his native Virginia. When he left the White House in 1986 after 34 years, he had witnessed defining moments in the country's history and in the civil rights movement.

On Jan. 20, 2009, he watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the nation's first black president.

"I never would have believed it," Mr. Allen told the Post from his seat at the inauguration. "In the 1940s and 1950s, there were so many things in America you just couldn't do. You wouldn't even dream that you could dream of a moment like this."

Mr. Allen began washing dishes and stocking cabinets at the White House before rising to maitre d' during Reagan's presidency. - AP