Meet the Tailor for Presidents Past and Present
When Martin Greenfield first saw Dwight D. Eisenhower, it was during the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp where he was a prisoner in World War II.
Greenfield thought the future president looked like a giant. At the time, he had no idea he would one day be sewing the president's suits and slipping notes of advice into the pockets.
"He [Eisenhower] liked it because he told a reporter about it," Greenfield, a master tailor with a workshop in Brooklyn, told ABC News.
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The notes contained Greenfield's opinion of how the president should handle the Suez Crisis.
Since stitching suits for President Eisenhower, Greenfield has been the tailor for most commanders-in-chief, including President Obama. Bill Clinton also trusted Greenfield to cut his suits and streamlined their mode of communication.
"[President Clinton] says to me, 'Can I tell you something, Martin? Don't put notes in my pocket. I'm going to give you a fax number. You can fax me anything you want,'" Greenfield said.
Greenfield was 15 years old when he began working as a tailor, but it wasn't his childhood dream. Instead, it was the job assigned to him at Auschwitz. He worked in the concentration camp's laundry, mending guards' suits and washing uniforms.
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"I had never sewn. I had never washed … the tailor [in Auschwitz] says, 'you're a tailor,'" Greenfield recalled.
After the war, Greenfield immigrated to the United States and honed his craft in Brooklyn. Not only have Greenfield's designs graced the White House, but they also have appeared in the movies and on television.
Greenfield designed the suits for "The Wolf of Wall Street," costumes for the HBO show "Boardwalk Empire" and many others. His suits were also a staple for Paul Newman.
"Paul Newman was not a customer. Paul Newman was a friend," Greenfield said.
His elite clientele isn't the only thing that sets his shop apart. While most clothing producers have automated their operations, Greenfield's still makes each suit by hand with about 120 workers stitching daily.
Greenfield doesn't talk about the Holocaust often, but he never forgets his father's words about the family they lost in Auschwitz.
"His last words [were] 'You honor us by extending our life by living, not by crying.'" Greenfield said. "That's what I do every minute of every day."
A photo posted by ThisWeekABC (@thisweekabc) on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:16pm PST
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