[Tapper:] Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Now it's time for today's "Pop Culture Lead." How often can you say about anyone, "He served in the White House for 34 years." Well, no president could ever say that but the late Eugene Allen could. Allen served eight presidents and bore witness to some of the most powerful figures and tumultuous times in U.S. history. His unique and fascinating life inspired the movie "The Butler" which opens tonight. CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian visited Allen's son to learn more about this quiet man whose story is finally being told.
[Forest Whitaker, Plays The Butler:] I'm Cecil Gaines. I'm the new butler.
[Dan Lothian, Cnn White House Correspondent:] It's a Hollywood story built on the life of a humble man. Eugene Allen, the real butler, who lived and worked in two very different worlds.
[Unidentified Male:] You hear nothing, you see nothing.
[Lothian:] Allen didn't just work but mingled with the rich and powerful, heard their stories, held their secrets. Like walking into an unlocked vault, his legacy lives on in this modest home a few miles from the White House, where Allen and his wife raised their only son Charles.
[Charles Allen, Eugene Allen's Son:] When the president, when they got to the point where they could talk comfortably around the state, you know, that's when you, you know, kind of like fit in and they would just talk around you. Because he wasn't going to divulge anything.
[Lothian:] Not even to his wife of 65 years, played by Oprah Winfrey.
[Unidentified Female:] I want to get all the stories.
[Oprah Winfrey, Plays Butler's Wife:] Well, I don't hear it because they done swore him to some kind of secret code.
[Lothian:] But Allen's son, who says the butler who served eight presidents, from Truman to Reagan, was far from a silent witness to history.
[Allen:] They respected his opinion. He was a respected man.
[Winfrey:] That moment in the film where Cecil Gaines goes in and says, the white help is making more than the black help here, and I think that's not fair and we should, you know, get equal pay, that is his way of warring.
[Lothian:] A proud black man who wasn't defined by a racial stereotype, the line between butler and friend could be blurred.
[Unidentified Male:] Most of the first ladies around Christmas would invite our wives and children down for a Christmas party. Miss Eisenhower used to give all the children a toy at Christmas.
[Lothian:] Toys, ties, paintings.
[Allen:] These two paintings here were done by President Eisenhower. He'd be out there on the porch and Mr. Ford, Miss Ford would call and say, hey, Gene, the president wants to talk to you. You know. They were nice people.
[Lothian:] Nancy Reagan and her tough as nails reputation seemed to have a soft spot for Allen, even if her personal attention sometimes rattled him.
[Allen:] She was looking for him and somebody said that
[Lothian:] She's looking for you.
[Allen:] Yes. Somebody said the first lady's looking for you. He's like
[Lothian:] I'm in trouble, right?
[Allen:] I'm in trouble.
[Jane Fonda, Plays Nancy Reagan:] I'd like to invite you to the state dinner next week.
[Whitaker:] I'm going to be there, Mrs. Reagan.
[Fonda:] Not as a not as a butler, Cecil. I'm inviting you as a guest.
[Lothian:] He became emotionally attached to all the first families, but especially the Kennedys.
[Unidentified Male:] A proud banner is lowered.
[Lothian:] John F. Kennedy's assassination rocked Allen to the core. [On Camera] That was the first time you saw your father cry?
[Allen:] The first time. The first time, yes.
[Lothian:] Following JFK's funeral, Allen was with Jackie as she celebrated her children's birthday. In times of mourning or in the midst of the nation's racial conflicts or a controversial war, Allen was just a step away from power, yet the butler never sought attention and years later shunned multiple offers to tell or sell his story, until his wife passed away.
[Allen:] I said you owe this to mom, man. I said this is not about you. The fact that my mother wanted my father recognized and this happened means everything to me.
[Lothian:] Dan Lothian, CNN, reporting.
[Tapper:] Long after he retired, Allen got the chance to vote for an African-American for president. He later was a VIP at President Obama's inaugural. The only inaugural he ever attended. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.