After Kennedy is assassinated, his successor, Lyndon B. Louis participates in the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, where dogs and water cannons are used to stop the marchers, one of the movement's actions which inspires Kennedy to deliver a national address proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kennedy's inauguration, Louis and others are attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan while on a freedom ride to Birmingham, Alabama. Gloria, who feels that Cecil puts his job ahead of her, descends into alcoholism. Louis joins a student program led by Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) activist James Lawson, which leads to a nonviolent sit-in at a segregated diner, where he is arrested. Louis, the elder son, becomes a university student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, although Cecil feels that the South is too volatile. Cecil witnesses Eisenhower's reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation, then his resolve to uphold the law by racially integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. White House maître d'hôtel Freddie Fallows introduces Cecil to head butler Carter Wilson and co-worker James Holloway. In 1957, Cecil is hired by the White House during Dwight D. While working there, Cecil meets and marries Gloria, and the couple has two sons: Louis and Charlie. Cecil learns advanced serving and interpersonal skills from Maynard, who later recommends Cecil for a position in a Washington, D.C., hotel. The elderly master servant, Maynard, takes pity on Cecil and gives him a job. Desperately hungry, he breaks into a hotel pastry shop. In 1937, at the age of 18, Cecil leaves the plantation. Cecil is taken in by the estate's caretaker, who trains Cecil as a house servant. When the master rapes his mother, Hattie, his father, Earl confronts him and is killed. In 1926, at the age of seven, Gaines is raised on a cotton plantation in Macon, Georgia. In 2009, an elderly Cecil Gaines recounts his life story while waiting at the White House to meet the newly inaugurated president.
The film grossed over $176 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million. The film was theatrically released by the Weinstein Company on August 16, 2013, to mostly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the cast but criticizing the historical accuracy, particularly the portrayal of President Reagan. It was the last film produced by Laura Ziskin, who died on June 12, 2011, and it was also the final film appearance of Clarence Williams III, who retired from acting in 2018 he died on June 4, 2021. In addition to Whitaker, the film's all-star cast also features Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Nelsan Ellis, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Elijah Kelley, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, David Oyelowo, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, Robin Williams, and Clarence Williams III. Loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House for decades, the film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African-American who is a witness of notable political and social events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler. It is inspired by Wil Haygood's Washington Post article "A Butler Well Served by This Election". The Butler (full title Lee Daniels' The Butler) is a 2013 American historical drama film directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels and with a screenplay by Danny Strong.
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