page_title: White House social aide
section_title: Duties
hierarchical_section_title: White House social aide / Duties
caption_attribution_description: July 20, 2015 "During photo lines, there's this routine called 'push and pull.' One social aide helps push the next guest towards the President and another helps pull them out of the room. During a photo line to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project Founder, participated via robot. So after her photograph had been taken, social aides gestured to 'pull' her out of the room as the next guest entered." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
context_page_description: A White House social aide is a United States Armed Forces officer assigned to attend to the personal needs of visiting dignitaries at the White House and to facilitate interactions with the President of the United States and the First Lady of the United States. White House social aides were first appointed in 1902; as of 2014, there were 45 such officers.
context_section_description: White House social aides report to a coordinator in the office of the White House Social Secretary. Their duties include managing "guests who attend social functions at the White House, facilitate interactions with the president and first lady and escort dignitaries". In the past, this has included entertaining single guests, such as providing dance companions; initiating small talk with lonely guests during teas; directing the flow of traffic at receiving lines; and greeting visitors.  
  When visitors are received by the President of the United States, three social aides are assigned to coordinate the interaction: the "whispering aide" who whispers the visitor's name to the president, the "introducing aide" who presents the visitor to the president, and the "pulling off aide" who encourages the visitor to step away once the president signals the interaction has concluded. 
  Social aides are also expected to identify and resolve social miscues; during one visit by King Hussein of Jordan to the White House during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a reporter attempted to cut in on the king to ask him questions during social dancing. According to The New York Times, a social aide "came to the rescue by cutting in and deftly waltzing the young woman off the dance floor".
caption: A "pulling off aide" leads Alice Wong, a disabled woman who appeared before then President Barack Obama via robot, away during a receiving line.
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