White House History 49 "The White House Social Secretary: Collected Reflections"

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WHITE HOUSE

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Ahead of a dinner to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the White House, Social Secretary Capricia Marshall ( second fr01n right) reviews arrangen1ents vvith First Lady Hillary Clinton, White House Chief Usher Gary Walters, and White House Executive Chef Walter Scheib, November 9, 2000.

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WHITE HOUSE HISTORY NUMBER FORTY-NINE• SPRING 2018

This special issue is devoted to the story of White House hospitality from the perspective of those who serve the presidency in the role of social secretary.

Historian Richard Norton Smith's 2007-2010 interviews of.fifteen former White House social secretaries is the basis for this rich compilation of personal reflections.

2 FOREWORD

William Seale, Editor, White House History

4 SOCIAL SECRETARY "THE BEST JOB IN THE WHITE HOUSE"

Mary Jo Binker Mary Jo Binker is a former associate editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers and author of an oral history handbook along with publications on first ladies, African American history, and the Korean War.

74

REFLECTIONS MAKING WHITE HOUSE HISTORY EVERY DAY: WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARIES

Stewart D. McLaurin, President, White House Historical Association

::Foreword Very few official positions are as close to the workings of the White House as that of the social secretary. For the most part, the appointment has been made to women but men have also performed the duties. An early social secretary-although he was not called that at the time-was William Stoddard who joined the Lincoln office staff to assist Mrs. Lincoln with correspondence. He was terrified of her.

Once the job became established as social secretary in 1902 it became better articulated. In fact, the government position was once defined as secretary to the first lady. Over time the responsibilities increased, especially during the past fifty years. That span of time is the subject of this issue.

The social secretaries whose reflections are presented here cover the presidencies from Kennedy to Obama. They tell the story of the rise of the position and the vast duties it serves. White House intimates very rarely give interviews. These former social secretaries honored our documentary purposes by talking with Professor Richard Norton Smith. The transcripts of those interviews were synthesized by Professor Mary Jo Binker. The result, presented in this issue, is a unique glimpse of a period of history of the White House.

William Seale Editor, White House History

President Donald Trump's first State Dinner, April 24, 2018, was held in honor of Emmanuel Macron, President of France. The State Dining Room was filled to capacity. Lincoln's portrait surveys the scene, including the traditional toasts of the two presidents, which took place before the fireplace.

Social Secretary "The Best Job in the White House''

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Christmas 2004. Lea Berman was preparing to become White House social secretary to President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. To familiarize herself with the office and its procedures, she had been arriving early every morning to read the files and observe in action her predecessor, Catherine Fenton, the Bushes' first social secretary.

As she contemplated the coming holiday season­ twenty-five parties for 25,000 guests in three weeks­ she put her head down on her desk and thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" At that exact moment, the phone rang. It was Ann Stock, the Clintons' first social secretary calling to offer support.

"It's like that for everyone," she said. "All I can tell you is that you'll be great at it. We'll help you. Tell us what you need. We'll always be there for you."

The "us" is the informal sorority of White House social secretaries, a group initially convened

by Letitia ("Tish") Baldrige, the first social secretary in the Kennedy administration. (With the addition of Jeremy Bernard, the Obamas' third social secretary in 2011, the group has been redubbed "The Sorority and Jeremy.") In what has become a tradition, Ann

White House Social Secretary Lea Berman reviews a flower arrangement in the State Dining Room just hours before the annual dinner for the Nation's Governors, 2005.

BINKER

Stock also offered to host a lunch for Lea Berman so she could meet the other members of the group. Since then, the outgoing social secretary has convened "The Sorority and Jeremy" at a luncheon for the incoming social secretary at which the members offer advice and reminisce. The group also gathers at the White House during the Christmas season for lunch and a viewing of the holiday decorations. Although they do not see each other often, the former social secretaries are always on call to help the current sec­ retary.1 "Our questions are really our own," said Tish Baldrige, the acknowledged leader of the group until her death in 2012. "You can't call somebody in an embassy and say, 'How did you handle this?' because our situation is so unique." Besides insight and insti­ tutional memory, the former social secretaries also provide practical help. Ann Stock, for example, rou­ tinely sends a care package to the newest social secre­ tary, with vitamins, aspirin, nylons, a comb, hair­ spray-"all the things you need to exist." She also advises newbies to "sleep as much as you can," although she acknowledges that "you don't sleep because you're thinking about [the job] all the time."

As a member of the president's staff, the social secretary is responsible for the overall planning, design, coordination, and direction of all official and personal social events in the White House and on the 18-acre grounds, except for private Oval Office meet­ ings. Modern social secretaries are also responsible

for ensuring that all White House events promote and reflect the administration's message.

The sheer range of events modern social secre­ taries must design, arrange, and staff is daunting­ everything from working lunches and bill signings to State Dinners, massive receptions for hundreds of people, and barbecues on the South Lawn for thou­ sands. Some social secretaries have also arranged events taking place elsewhere in the country and the world.

Since the social secretary must work with every­ one in the East and West Wings and the Residence, the job is one of the most demanding and central in the White House. "The [social secretary] is sort of the go-between, interacting with the White House Usher's Office, the Secret Service, the Office of the Chief of.Protocol at the State Department, the White House Military Office, and the office of the White House press secretary," said Ann Stock. "You're the coordinating focal point." The social secretary is also the chief protocol officer for the White House, charged with ensuring that guests are greeted and treated P,roperly. "Basically, you're there to make sure that nothing goes wrong," said Laurie Firestone, social secretary to the George H. W. Bushes.

Despite its demanding nature, "It's the best job in the White House," said Bess Abell, social secretary in the Johnson administration, "because you get to have your fingers in everything and because you get to know everybody."

Each presidential couple molds the job in a unique way. "Every administration has its own fla­ vor," said Mabel ("Muffie") Brandon Cabot, the Reagans' first social secretary. "You represent your president and first lady ... their inputs and their styles and the way they like to do things and you are an extension of that," said Laurie Firestone. First Lady Betty Ford wanted guests to feel as if they were in the Fords' own home. The Clintons wanted guest

Guests enjoy the State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, November 2009. The first State Dinner of the Obama administration, the event was held in a tent on the South Grounds.

6 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House

7

White House Social Secretaries

1961-2018

Social Secretary

Tenure

Administration

Letitia Baldrige*

1961-63

Kennedy

Nancy Tuckerman

1963

Kennedy

Bess Abell

1963-69

Johnson

Lucy Winchester

1969-74

Nixon

Nancy Lammerding Ruwe*

1974-75

Ford

Maria Downs

1975-77

Ford

Gretchen Poston*

1977-81

Carter

Mabel Brandon

1981-83

Reagan

Gahl Hodges Burt

1983-85

Reagan

Linda Faulkner

1985-89

Reagan

Laurie Firestone

1989-93

George H. W. Bush

Ann Stock

1993-97

Clinton

Capricia Marshall

1997-2001

Clinton

Catherine Fenton

2001--4

George W. Bush

Lea Berman

2005-7

George W. Bush

Amy Zantzinger

2007-9

George W. Bush

Desiree Rogers

2009-10

Obama

Julianna Smoot

2010-11

Obama

Jeremy Bernard

2011-15

Obama

Deesha Dyer

2015-17

Obama

Rickie Niceta

2017-

Trump

*Deceased

8

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

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Former White House Social Secretaries meet regularly with the primary objective of supporting the incumbent with their shared experience. Opposite: Former White House Press Secretary Mike M�Curry, stands at the center with (left to lght) Maria Downs, Jeremy Bernard, Lea Berman, Capricia Marshall, Bess Abell, and Mabel Brandon Cabot. Above: A gath­ ering in the Yellow Oval Room with First Lady Laura Bush: (left to right) Maria Downs, Bess Abell, Lucy Winchester Breathitt, Ann Stock, Amy Zantzinger, Letitia Baldridge, and Cathy Fenton, 2007.

Right: A Christmas luncheon in the White House China Room: (left to right) Lea Berman, Cathy Fenton, Julianna Smoot, Jeremy Bernard, Ann Stock, Amy Zantzinger, Bess Abell, Gahl Hodges Burt, and Deesha Dyer.

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House 9

With 3000 people in attendance on the South Lawn, President Clinton welcomed Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel, and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, to the White House for the signing of a peace agreement, September 1993.

lists and events that "looked like America." Laura Bush emphasized hospitality as well as the care and maintenance of the White House. The Obamas focused on diversifying events and guest lists, and they prioritized programs for children and young people.

Events in the news play a role as well. For exam­ ple, to celebrate the signing Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979 the Carters hosted an international gala on the South Lawn for 1,800 guests. (An additional 160 guests were feted at Blair House, the President's Guest House across the street.) The Clintons marked the signing of the 1993 peace accords between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with a 3,000-person event plus a din­ ner and a cocktail party.

Bad news can have the opposite effect. "When 10 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

something horrible would happen like a bombing, it would have an impact on what we were scheduling," said Catherine Fenton. And a crisis, such as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis or the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, shuts down the social schedule completely.

Because each president and first lady molds the social secretary's position to suit its needs, no two social secretaries' backgrounds are exactly alike.

Some, including Maria Downs, the Fords' social sec­ retary, and Jeremy Bernard and Deesha Dyer of the Obama administration, had previous West Wing expe­ rience. Others, such as Tish Baldrige and Catherine Fenton, had Capitol Hill and/or embassy experience.

Still others had worked in business or started their own firms. (See pages 37-73 for profiles of each social

secretary. Whatever their backgrounds and party affil­ iations, what unites all the social secretaries is loyalty to the office of the president. "We all have the inter­ ests of the presidency at heart," said Ann Stock. We happen to serve a particular president and first lady, but I think we look at the bigger [picture.] We want the presidency to succeed."

The First Social Secretaries and How Things Have Changed The origins of the position of White House social secretary date back to the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, when First Lady Edith Carow Roosevelt hired longtime Washington resident Isabella ("Belle") Hagner to help with her correspon� dence. At that time, most Washington socialites and wives of high-level government officials employed secretaries who compiled guest lists, sent out invita­ tions, and helped with entertaining, most of which was done in private homes.Belle Hagner, who had fallen on hard times after the deaths of her socially prominent parents, had the connections and the experience, having already worked for several leading Washington residents, including Theodore Roosevelt's older sister. She also had government experience as a clerk in the War Department.2 In addition, she was energetic, sociable, and unflap­ pable-qualities modern social secretaries possess in abundance. Successive first ladies have had a social secretary and clerks on the government payroll, but the positions were not recognized as part of the insti­ tutionalized presidency until the Eisenhower adminis­ tration.

Early social secretaries focused primarily on the preparation of guest lists for public and private social events, many of which were annual occasions such as the reception for the Diplomatic Corps, the Supreme Court dinner, and receptions for Congress and the military. The pace was leisurely, the guest lists were smaller, and the social season was limited to a few months. Modem social secretaries deal with many more events of varying size and complexity, on virtu­ ally a daily basis. Muffle Brandon Cabot remem­ bered coordinating thirty-six events in one week dur­ ing Ronald Reagan's first term. Ann Stock recalled often doing as many as "four to five events in a day."

Jeremy Bernard had at least one presidential event a

day during his tenure, plus three or four a week for First Lady Michelle Obama. George H. W.Bush, whose love of people and entertaining was legendary, may hold the record for most events held during a given week because he would often fill any open night on the calendar with last-minute activities.

Modern social secretaries also work amid a level of public scrutiny that would have been unimagin­ able to their predecessors. "Once cable [television] was introduced .. . there was an expectation that you wouldn't just get a glimpse into the White House but that you would actually be on 24/7," said Capricia Marshall, the Clintons' second social secretary. "The expectation [went from] 'Can we see it?' to 'When will we see it and how will we see it?"' By the end of the second Obama administration, Twitter and Instagram were so common that Deesha Dyer encouraged guests to tweet or post photographs from certain White House events such as the Easter Egg Roll and the Kids' State Dinner. 3

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Isabella Hagner, the first White House social secretary, worked for President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. Correspondence and managing guest lists were among her primary duties.

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12 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number49)

Clinton Social Secretary Capricia Marshall observed that the introduction of cable television meant 24/7 coverage of the White House. Above: Former Social Secretary Julianna Smoot (right) with Greta Wodele Brawner provides commentary on C-Span during live coverage of a White House State Dinner. Social media also allows the public immediate insight.

Left: Images taken during the 2018 White House Easter Egg Roll reached the White House Historical Association's Twitter followers instantly as the event unfolded.

At the same time, modern means of communi­ cation have proved helpful to social secretaries. The Internet, for example, has made researching potential guests and entertainers much faster. Texting and e­ mailing help with RSVPs, and computerized data­ bases make it easier to keep track of guest lists. The help is welcome because the social office staff is small, usually fewer than ten people.

Gary Walters, Chief Usher from 1986 to 2007, supervises behind the scenes activities during a State Dinner. The Usher's Office plays a critical role in the success of White House events.

The Social Secretary as Part of the White House Staff

As the job description of social secretary has grown and evolved, so, too, has its stature.Beginning with Maria Downs, most modern social secretaries have also been named special assistant or deputy assistant to the president, a title that can come in handy when dealing with senior staff in the West Wing.

While most of the social secretaries said they had harmonious relations with the West Wing staff, difficulties can and do occur."Nobody stops to realize that the East and West Wings have two entirely different staffs for two very different people with dif­ ferent goals," said Mary Finch Hoyt, press secretary en to Rosalynn Carter. "Each staff has different goals, I different obligations, different schedules....Bear in it mind [too] time is a critical factor for everything both ts staffs are required to do."

White House social secretaries have dealt with the issue in several ways.Nixon social secretary Lucy have known, and really looking out to help every­ Winchester Breathitt would tell First Lady Pat Nixon body there." As"seasoned professionals," the chief when a West Wing caller would cite the president's usher and the Residence staff"kept me in check but desire as a reason to do something."Mrs.Nixon at the same time they helped me find solutions,'' said would say, 'I'll check on that' and she would pick up Deesha Dyer.She also appreciated the staff's can-do the phone and call the president. If he said, 'I never attitude."They came through for us in a pinch. If we heard about that,' that would put the issue to bed." needed more flowers or a stage at the last minute, Ford's chief of staff, Richard Cheney, absorbed most they did it. They were amazing."

West Wing complaints, but when he did call with a Institutional memory can cause problems, how­ concern,"as long as I had a reason and that reason ever, especially when a first lady or a social secretary was in the interest of the president and first lady, he wants to innovate. Laurie Firestone faced resist­ would go along," said Maria Downs.Ann Stock ance-"it had never been done before"-when she defused any communication problems by attending wanted for practical reasons to have a carpet the daily senior staff meetings in the West Wing. installed in the East Room for a stand-up reception.

Dealing with the Usher's Office in the Residence Ann Stock spent the first six months of her tenure has its ups and downs as well. As the"nerve center" working with the Chief Usher's Office to mesh the of the mansion (all the Residence employees includ­ Clintons' hectic schedules, their desire for an open ing the kitchen staff, florists, and maintenance people White House, and the needs of a family with a young report to the chief usher) and the main source of daughter with the chief usher's obligation to main­ institutional memory, the Usher's Office is an invalu­ tain a historic house. Cost can also be a barrier, espe­ able aid to any social secretary. The chief usher and cially"when you have someone's who's controlling the Residence staff "simply know how things were some of the spending who could be saying, 'You done before," said Lea Berman.The staff also works can't afford this; We can't do that,"' said Lea as a team."Everybody is looking out for each Berman. other,'' said Amy Zantzinger, the George W. Bushes' third social secretary."They're reminding you of things you may have forgotten, [or] you may not

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Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House

13

No Typical Day

All the social secretaries agreed that there's no such thing as a typical day in part because the social secretary is both an implementer and a strategist, depending on whether the event is a regular part of the White House social schedule or something new or entirely private. Muffie Brandon Cabot usually spent her mornings organizing and making recom­ mendations to First Lady Nancy Reagan on guest lists for upcoming State Dinners and other official events. Often,however, she had a presidential break­ fast to attend to, where she would be "greeting the guests,helping to seat them, making sure everything was okay." From there, she would head to the kitchen to check progress on the food preparations for the next event and confer with the head butler before heading back to her office to review the rest of the day's schedule-which in addition to a break­ fast could include a lunch,a reception for 1,000peo­ ple,and a dinner.On nights when the Reagans host­ ed a State Dinner, she would be on her feet all evening-except for the few minutes when she could soak her aching feet in a bucket of hot water in the Chief Usher's Office before returning to the party.

Given the pace,the variety of events,and the expectation that everything be done to the highest possible standard,burnout is an occupational hazard for modern social secretaries, and several administra­ tions have had more than one. "It's a job that you never,ever escape," said Tish Baldrige."I was there every day for two and a half years, no vacations."

The physical demands alone are daunting. "You spend the day on your feet," said Muffie Brandon Cabot. "You run from one end of the White House to the other; you stand and introduce thousands of people to the president and first lady,and then you run some more." Social secretaries are also on call 24/7.Catherine Fenton remembered never being without her phone, even in the bathroom.Serving as social secretary leaves very little time for anything else, including one's own family or a personal life as Jeremy Bernard discovered while attending a friend's weekend dinner party. He and the other guests had just seated themselves when his Black Berry buzzed.

President Obama was going to make a special

14 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

announcement.He quickly murmured his apologies and rushed back to the White House wondering what the Sunday-evening announcement could be.

(Presidential announcements on weekends are rare).

This one turned out to be the announcement that a team of Navy SEALS military operatives had killed Osama bin Laden.4 Working as closely as they do with the president and first lady, social secretaries quickly develop a sense for the couple's personalities. Tish Baldrige recalled Jacqueline Kennedy's need for detail. "I would write down everything I had done ... with whom I had spoken,to whom I'd given the orders, what was supposed to happen.She was totally briefed every day and she usually let the president see it too." Mary Finch Hoyt recalled Rosalynn Carter's informality and the way she would sometimes stop on her way to her office to talk to the tourists who were going through the White House.Betty Ford's concern for her staff impressed Maria Downs: "Betty Ford was her own chief of staff. [Often] the staff went to her ...for advice. She was always there for them and would take the time to work through all their problems." Linda Faulkner,the Reagans' last social secretary,remembered Nancy Reagan as "funny,shy and a hard worker." Amy Zantzinger said Laura Bush "was always game for doing things that were asked of her ...whether it was taking a political trip for someone running for Congress or greeting a group of schoolchildren that somebody thought was important."

Lucy Winchester Breathitt remembered President Richard Nixon's excitement as he worked with her to arrange a surprise birthday party for Pat Nixon.Muffie Brandon Cabot recalled Ronald Reagan's warmth and the way he would always invite her to come in and sit down when she came to the private quarters in the evening to leave notes and the next day's agenda for Nancy Reagan. George W. Bush's efficiency and punctuality impressed Amy Zantzinger,especially when dealing with groups of visitors who would be photographed with him. "He didn't want them standing there too long," she said, "so he would often show up early."

For the White House social secretary there are no typical days. These exam­ ples of diverse events over the years include (clockwise from top left): A sixtieth birthday party hosted by White House stafffor First Lady Patricia Nixon, 1972; President and Mrs. Carter mingling with the public during an outing to see the Cherry Blossoms on the Tidal Basin, 1978; President Regan hosting Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang for breakfast, 1984; President George W Bush arriving for a photo with Presidential Scholars, 2005.

White House Weddings There's no wedding like a White House wedding.

Just ask White House social secretaries Bess Abell and Lucy Winchester Breathitt, who between the two of them have handled three weddings and lived to talk about them.

Luci Johnson's 1966 wedding to Patrick Nugent was a baptism by fire for Abell, the Johnson social sec­ retary who had two problems most bridal consultants never face. The first concerned the creation of the bride's gown. The work was proceeding smoothly until the head of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union called President Lyndon Johnson to complain that he was "letting" his daughter "get mar­ ried in a non-union dress." Johnson was understand­ ably upset, so Abell had to think fast. Luci loved the dress and didn't want to change and the designer didn't want to join a union, so Abell worked with Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz and they arranged for a Union Shop to do a duplicate gown with a union label. Few people knew which dress Luci actually wore.

The second problem had to do with the location of the ceremony. It was to take place at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington, D.C., in August, and the building had no air-condi­ tioning system. Abell had arranged to cool the interior of the basilica beforehand using blowers donated by American Airlines. The blowers were on their way to the building when the Department of Labor officials' trying to end the airline workers strike, nixed the idea.

Ultimately the 700 guests sweltered in the humid heat.

Things went more smoothly when Luci's older sis­ ter Lynda married at the White House in December 1967. That ceremony was held in the East Room. where a temporary altar decorated with greenery had been set up. Unbeknown to the guests who overflowed the room and the hallway outside, a tiny hole had been drilled in the altar to accommodate a reporter sta­ tioned behind who could watch the bride and groom take their vows. The ceremony was particularly poignant because the groom, Marine Captain Charles ("Chuck") Robb, a White House military social aide, was sent to Vietnam shortly afterward.

Both the weather and the Vietnam War featured

prominently in Tricia Nixon's 1971 White House wed­ ding.President Nixon's oldest daughter wanted to be married in the Rose Garden on a day when rain was predicted. The U.S.Air Force's meteorologist advised Breathitt that there would be a thirty-five minute break in the weather that day. The prediction proved accu­ rate and at the appointed time, the social secretary and her team sprang into action. "We ran out with the chairs and set up for the wedding and brought every­ body out ...and had a glorious wedding," Breathitt said. "It was beautiful and the minute the last guest made it back inside, the heavens opened."

Among the guests was President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who gleefully told a reporter covering the event that sitting on the chairs "was like sitting on sponge," a charge the social secretary disputed."I had personally carried most of the chairs out ...and I knew they weren't wet," she said.

Besides the weather and Alice Longworth, Breathitt also had to contend with antiwar protesters who, in 1971, were often seen and heard near the White House.To keep them from disturbing the event,

she turned ro" presidential aide John Ehrlichman, who volunteered to "give them something better to do" by going outside and meeting with them during the cere­ mony.

Happily, neither politics nor the weather affected the reception the George W.Bushes held for their daughter, Jenna, and her husband Henry Hager in June 2008.Rather than marry at the White House, the couple wed in a ceremony at the Bushes' Texas ranch.

Accommodations there limited the number of invita­ tions, however, so Laura Bush decided on a White House reception later on, reasoning that guests would "probably prefer to come to a private event at the White House," according to Amy Zantzinger.The party for 600 guests featured music by the Marine Band and duplicates of the wedding cake and flower arrangements.The newlyweds greeted guests in the Rose Garden.

Opposite and Above: Brides and wedding cakes (left to right): Luci Johnson; Lynda Johnson Robb; Tricia Nixon Cox; and Jenna Bush Hager.

Entertaining Styles and State Dinners Just as every president and first lady shape the social secretary's job, so, too, do they set a style for White House entertaining. The Kennedys, for exam­ ple, abolished the traditional U-shaped table at for­ mal dinners in favor of a series of round tables. They also emphasized French food and culture when they entertained, although they had to print the dinner menus in English and serve California wines after members of Congress complained. After eight years in the vice presidency, the Nixons were familiar with protocol, and "they wanted everything done absolutely correctly especially when it came to for­ eign heads of state," said Lucy Winchester Breathitt.

The Carters favored early nights and wine rather than hard liquor when they entertained; their State Dinners ended at 10:30 p.m. The Reagans brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to the White House, while the George H. W. Bushes blended their "East Coast background with the informality and friendliness of their adopted Texas," according to Laurie·,Firestone. The Clintons wanted to showcase "the Best of America" in every aspect of entertain­ ing, "from the food to the flowers, to the table set­ tings," said Capricia Marshall. The George W.

Bushes emphasized a welcoming atmosphere, with a "place for everyone," said Amy Zantzinger. The Obamas prioritized seasonal foods and decorations, using produce from the White House garden. They also emphasized their guests' comfort, going so far as to seat couples at the same table, according to Jeremy Bernard. In usual social form, this had never been done before.

All these nuances and more come into play when planning a State Dinner}the most formal of all public White House events. "A State Dinner isn't just a social event; it's a very important event for the foreign country it honors. It is a small window for that foreign country to see the United States and how we do things," said Laurie Firestone. A State Dinner is also "the highest honor we can give that head of state and that country," said Ann Stock.

Given these stakes, all White House social secre­ taries do a great deal of research prior to the event.

They work closely with the State Department and the guest country's local embassy, as well as the National Security Council, on all the arrangements, including the fo� and entertainment preferences of the visiting head of state. The social secretaries then develop a detailed scenario for the event that describes the way the evening is to unfold. All this

The Kennedys introduced round tables for State Dinners as seen above during preparations for the dinner in honor of President Mohammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan held at Mount Vernon in 1961.

18 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

information is sent to the president and first lady for their review and approval.

The menu is always carefully chosen. "We would plan and discuss what we had served the pre­ vious several dinners, starting with the entree . .. and take into account the dietary restrictions," said Catherine Fenton. "Then [we would] plan a tasting menu for the First Family themselves or with several guests." Many first ladies have been deeply involved in the choice of menu. Betty Ford, for example, "would match the head of state and what she thought would be correct for someone with his back­ ground and tastes," according to Maria Downs.

Nancy Reagan worked "directly" with the White House chef on the food, concentrating on "presenta­ tion," said Linda Faulkner.Hillary Clinton focused on the emerging American cuisine with an emphasis on regional products.Laura Bush selected seasonal foods that were healthy and organic.

Another area of intense scrutiny and potential conflict is the creation of the guest list, always a fraught process given that the State Dining Room only seats about 130 comfortably. (Some first cou­ ples, notably the Fords, the Carters, the Clintons, and the Obamas held larger State Dinners on the South Lawn.) Most administrations devise a system in which various offices in the West Wing submit names for a State Dinner. The social secretaries keep lists of potential guests outside the government as well. The final decisions rest with the president and first lady, who also suggest potential guests.

Because State Dinners are so high profile and the seating often so limited, competition to attend is fierce and the stratagems used to secure invitations can range from the overt to the subtle. For example, Nancy Tuckerman, the Kennedys' second social sec­ retary, recalled a congressman telling her he didn't care about not having an invitation but his wife's friends were asking why the couple hadn't been to a State Dinner.One man called Bess Abell to ask for an invitation saying it was his wife's dying wish to attend a State Dinner. Maria Downs and Catherine Fenton each dealt with an individual who would ask to be invited to every State Dinner, claiming he was related to that head of state, no matter the nationali­ ty. Linda Faulkner remembered a call from a man claiming to be the escort of a woman who had been

For the first course of the State Dinner honoring Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016, Alaskan Halibut Casserole was finished with flavored butter made with herbs grown in the Obama's White House Kitchen Garden.

invited. She put him on the guest list only to find out later that it had been "a fabrication." Deesha Dyer would tell guests who sought invitations that "the White House couldn't accommodate them" but she would submit their names to the West Wing and "keep the guests posted."

Invited or not, guests sometimes want a memen­ to of their State Dinner experience, and genteel theft is a common problem. Tish Baldrige recalled guests taking White House ashtrays. George W.Bush's guests were partial to the gold-plated eagle place card holders. The White House butlers often stepped in to tactfully suggest that the guest might have put an eagle in a pocket when intending to take only the place card. When that gambit failed to halt the disap­ pearance of the place card holders, Lea Berman instructed the butlers to remove the eagles from the table between the entree and the dessert.

Then there are the guests who try to change Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House

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20 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

First Lady Nancy Reagan admires sample desserts prepared by Chef Roland Mesnier ahead of a State Dinner for India. Left: First Lady Hillary Clinton and Social Secretary Capricia Marshall answer questions from the press during a preview in the State Dining Room, 2000. Opposite: First Lady Laura Bush during a press preview of the tables arranged for a dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, 2007. Gold plated eagle place card holders such as the one that holds the president's place card (opposite top), can be tempting souvenirs for guests.

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Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House 21

their seating assignments at State Dinners or other formal events. Tish Baldrige remembered having to reseat people "at the last minute because they demanded it ...and ...they had the power to demand that they be reseated." Linda Faulkner and Laurie Firestone described entertainers trying to change their seats so they could be with their respec­ tive partners. Amy Zantzinger had one guest who claimed she couldn't find her seat-hoping that the social secretary would reseat her at the president's table.(The ploy failed; the social secretary found the guest's seat.) At one seated reception on the South Lawn Ann Stock recalled assigning "two big burly" military aides to guard the place cards to prevent two persistent guests from trying to change their seats so they could sit next to the president and first lady. She finally had to tell the offenders that if they made one more attempt to switch their assignments, she would "remove" them from their table.

Guests who deliberately take the wrong seat and then refuse to move can also tax a social secretary's patience and ingenuity.Maria Downs described one such instance in which she was helped out by President Gerald Ford.After watching her try to move a recalcitrant guest from a seat assigned to ten­ nis great Jimmy Connors, Ford asked her to remind him to call Connors the next day and invite him to the White House for lunch and tennis.

The musical entertainment for a State Dinner is another potential minefield, and arranging these per­ formances is practically an art form in itself. "It's a non-stop challenge for any social secretary," said Catherine Fenton.Not only must the entertainer be "talented and notable," he or she must also be avail­ able.Money is sometimes an issue, since the White House pays a performer's fees and expenses, which sometimes made negotiations stressful. Deesha Dyer recalled asking "multi-million-dollar artists" to per­ form "for pennies" because taxpayer money was involved. 5 Then there's the issue of politics. Some entertainers refuse to perform at the White House because they disagree with the administration's poli­ cies. "You start with your wish list," said Amy Zantzinger, "then you look at their schedule and that eliminates a couple options. Then we would vet the entertainers to see if they are appropriate.... That

22 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

might eliminate a few more. Then you get down to the real list of potential entertainers."

Dealing with the quirks of entertainers also falls to the social secretary. When, after President Clinton was seated, a reluctant soprano claimed she could not go on because she had had only forty-five min­ utes to warm up, Ann Stock didn't hesitate.She sim­ ply turned to the evening's announcer and said, "Announce her now." He did, and the soprano went out to sing as planned. Gahl Hodges Burt, the Reagan's second social secretary, had a few anxious moments when she thought famed violinist Isaac Stern had gone AWOL right before he was scheduled to perform at a State Dinner honoring Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping. She was "whizzing around the State Floor" in her long dress and heels before she finally found him "sitting in" with the Marine Band.When singer Lou Reed declined to "change his art" by lowering the volume of his music during a rehearsal before his performance for his friend Czech President Vaclav Havel, and then asked Capricia Marshall to seat his band members at the State Dinner, the social secretary didn't blink. "The table settings are my art," she replied. "Are you asking me to change?" "He said, 'Touche,"' and they compro­ mised. He turned down the volume, and she gave him the seats.

As scripted and rehearsed as State Dinners are, surprises, some of them magical, do occur. One such moment took place during the Ford administration when, despite strict instructions from the State Department, singer Pearl Bailey "grabbed" the evening's guest of honor, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, "brought him up to his feet and started twirling him around the dance floor," said Maria Downs. She later learned that the State Department's prohibition stemmed from Sadat's self­ consciousness about his poor dancing skills and not from any religious or cultural taboo. But the person­ able Pearl made the dance the hit of the evening.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get on the dance floor even though dancing was not on the schedule. When the Army Strolling Strings came in to play during dessert, Yeltsin turned to First Lady Barbara Bush and asked her to dance.When she told him he had to

dance with the woman seated to his right, he prompt­ ly asked her and they started dancing. "Everybody was applauding," said Laurie Firestone. "It was great fun.A very special moment." Yeltsin provided another dramatic moment at a State Dinner during the Clinton administration.Ann Stock had arranged for the Yale University Russian chorus to perform while guests headed to the East Room for the evening's entertainment.When the Russian leader heard the chorus singing traditional Russian songs, "he grabbed the conductor from behind ...took the baton away ... and started conducting." Capricia Marshall's magic moment came the night the rock band Earth, Wind and Fire performed for the king of Morocco."When they started to play their hits," she recalled, "everyone in the room spontaneously stood up and danced."

Just as magic sometimes happens at State Dinners, so do gaffes, mistakes,and last-minute can­ cellations. Nancy Tuckerman recalled President John Kennedy's concern that a fireworks display planned for the Afghani State Dinner would be too long at ten minutes. She cut it to five minutes. The resulting explosions came so fast and so loud that the White House switchboard received calls asking if a bomb had gone off.On a later occasion,Lucy Winchester Breathitt had the unenviable task of telling President Nixon and British Prime Minister Edward Heath that the opera singer scheduled to sing that evening had just called in sick. "The Prime Minister said, 'Let's both play.We can both play the piano,"' said Breathitt. The two leaders "laughed and laughed " before deciding to let the army chorus perform.

Mary Finch Hoyt's go-through-the-floor moment came during the Carters' first State Dinner,for the president of Mexico. She and Social Secretary Gretchen Poston did not know that the Mexican president's wife had hired a mariachi band as a sur­ prise for the Carters.Standing at the East Gate,"We finally worked it out ... by inviting [them] to come back the next day to a press party for the Mexican president's wife." For Gahl Hodges Burt,it was the afternoon of a State Dinner at which Frank Sinatra was scheduled to perform. Sinatra, a close friend of the Reagans, was upstairs having lunch with Nancy Reagan before a scheduled rehearsal when the Secret Service called to say that the entertainer's equipment

A series of images preserved in a White House photographer's contact sheet reveals the moments when singer Pearl Bailey coaxed a reluctant Anwar Sadat to the dance floor following a State Dinner in his honor, 1975.

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House 23

The Social Secretary's Secret Weapon: Military Social Aides

In addition to the Residence staff, every social secretary has a cadre of helpers who ensure the success of White House events: the military social aides. These men and women are locally stationed military officers from all the services who volunteer their time to work at White House social events. As such they are extensions of the president and first lady. Their job is to make guests feel welcome and help with logistics so that an event, whether it be a tea, a State Dinner, or an awards ceremony, runs smoothly. "They are critical to the success of an event," said Ann Stock, the Clintons' first social secretary. "They run events like military operations." At the same time, they also provide a human touch to what can be an overwhelming experience, especially for first-time visitors. Social aides engage guests in conversation, answer questions about the man-

24 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

sion and the event, manage receiving lines, and ensure that guests feel welcome and included.

"They are spectacular at their job," said the Clintons' second social secretary Capricia Marshall. "They can make an evening for a per­ son a much more enjoyable experience, just by providing that extra bit of attention." They are also adept at clearing a room after an event. "The aides have something they call 'the chicken walk,"' said Lea Berman, the George W. Bushes' second social secretary. "They band together and slowly move forward until people are politely herded out."

The tradition of military social aides dates to 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt estab­ lished the program based on the embassy tradi­ tion in Europe. Until 1969 all the aides were male. In a fitting gesture that went virtually unnoticed at the time, First Lady Pat Nixon introduced the first female social aides at a State Dinner for Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Candidates must be unmarried, possess a top-secret military clearance, and have at least two years remaining on their deployment in the Washington, D.C., area. They must also have the approval of their superiors and undergo two rounds of interviews, one at the Pentagon and other at the White House. If selected, they also undergo additional security screening. Once in the White House, they receive detailed briefings on the mansion plus a manual describing diplomatic protocol, the customs of various countries, and the rules governing formal introductions. Before every event they are given their assignment, a copy of the guest list, and information on the overall procedures. Military social aides typically spent five to sixteen hours a month working events during the day, at night, or on weekends.

President and Mrs. Kennedy pose with the White House Social Aides in the Blue Room, 1963.

First Lady Michelle Obama with cast members from the musical The Lion King during a Kids' State Dinner, 2014.

Members of the cast filled in after a cancellation by the scheduled entertainers.

could not be allowed into the White House because the bomb-sniffing dogs used that morning for the State Arrival Ceremony were refusing to work. "I said, 'Do something. Get new dogs.' They said, 'We're working on it but the nearest dogs are in West Virginia ... but it's going to be another hour or two.

So maybe you could drag out lunch a little bit.'"

Jeremy Bernard had to think fast when the entertain­ er scheduled to perform at the 2014 Kids' State Dinner abruptly cancelled shortly before the event.

He had already arranged a back-up: the cast of the Disney musical The Lion King then performing at the Kennedy Center, but he had to convince Michelle Obama that the backup plan would work. After lis­ tening to his explanation, Mrs. Obama suggested that he "check with Barack in the morning. He has some ideas.'' The social secretary hesitated. "I thought the President's worried about Syria and I'm talking to him about entertainment." However, he contacted President Obama and explained the situa­ tion. The president agreed that The Lion King was a good choice. "Then he said, 'You tell Michelle.'"

If orchestrating a State Dinner or a formal occa­ sion with all the resources of the White House is tricky planning, a major event elsewhere can be even more fraught. Muffie Brandon Cabot remembered "running down the street" at the 1982 Paris Summit to buy bread and cheese to feed the press corps before a press conference: she hadn't anticipated needing to provide a meal for the media. She also recalled "crawling on her stomach behind all the chairs" at the formal dinner so she could tug on President Reagan's trouser leg to tell him to respond in kind to the French President Frarn;:ois Mitterrand's toast to "Mon Cher Ron.'' (Reagan did as he was told, responding with "Mon Cher Franc;ois.") When George H. W. Bush hosted a din­ ner for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Moscow in 1991, Laurie Firestone and Catherine Fenton, then deputy social secretary, had to bring everything from the food and flowers to the State Department's china with them.

They even imported two White House butlers for the event.

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House

25

Among the social secretaries' many memories of "once in a lifetime events" are First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's televised tour of the White House, 1962 (left); the Summit on Financial Markets and World Economy hosted by President Bush, 2008 ( opposite, top); and President Carter's North Lawn welcome to Pope John Paul IL 1979 ( opposite, bottom).

Informal Entertaining State Dinners and other formal events, while high profile, are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to White House entertaining. Certain events, such as the annual Governors' Dinner, the Kennedy Center Honors Dinner, and the Christmas parties, are fixtures on the White House social calendar.

Others, such as the Fiftieth Anniversary Dinner for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999 or the World Economic Summit Dinner in 2008, are tied to specific events. Still others, such as Lady Bird Johnson's Women's Doer Luncheons, the Nixons' Thanksgiving dinners for wounded Vietnam veterans and the elderly, and Michelle Obama's Kids' State Dinner, reflect the priorities of the first family.

Informal White House events range in size from small-scale movie nights (Reagan, Clinton, and George H. W. Bush) to the annual congressional barbecue for up to 1,500 guests. Among the most unusual of these events was the Girl Scout overnight on the South Lawn during the Obama administra­ tion. The president and first lady sat around a camp­ fire and sang songs with fifty Girl Scouts, who then slept in tents on the South Lawn until heavy rain and thunder forced them into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at 1 :00 a.m. Social secretary Deesha Dyer was prepared. "We had given each girl a large garbage bag and instructions to put all their gear 26

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

inside and head into the EEOB if they heard the whistle." At the other end of the spectrum, one of the simplest and most moving events Deesha Dyer arranged was the White House ceremony at which President Obama awarded Vice President Joe Biden, the Medal of Freedom with Distinction shortly before the end of his administration. Vice President Biden "had no idea because we had kept it a secret," she said. "Seeing him and all his family be so emo­ tional was really special."

Some events are once-in-a-lifetime occurrences, such as Jacqueline Kennedy's televised tour of the White House in 1962, which was so successful that "the entire United States of America wanted to come and see it the next day," said Tish Baldrige, who had to juggle the public tour schedule with the schedules of visiting heads of states. The visits of religious lead­ ers such as Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis are also rare enough that invitations to the welcome ceremonies are highly sought after. "My phone rang off the hook," said Mary Finch Hoyt of the run-up to the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II. "I never knew I had so many Catholic friends."

Twenty-nine years later as many as 13,000 people stood on the South Lawn to welcome Pope Benedict in 2008. Benedict's visit coincided with his eighty­ first birthday so after the formal Arrival Ceremony, the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" and the White House chef presented him with a tiered cake frosted in the Vatican colors.6 In 2015, almost 15,000 people gathered on the South Lawn to greet Pope Francis. 6 The White House social calendar is also filled with dinners and receptions for myriad groups as well as political events such as bill signings, confer­ ences, award presentations, and international gather­ ings. One of the most elaborate meetings was the 2008 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, which involved preparations for twenty heads of state. "That evening, there were thirteen or

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fourteen different languages spoken, so each guest had a microphone and ear piece at their place at the table to allow for simultaneous interpretation," said Amy Zantzinger. "All the interpreters were on the East Terrace roof in tents, and we ran the wiring through the White House and into the State Dining Room." The next day the White House held a large luncheon for the conference participants and other key dignitaries at the National Building Museum, served by White House butlers on White House china. 7 Musical performances feature in the White House social calendar as well. The Carter administration and two public broadcasting stations, WNET and WETA, started PBS's In Performance at the White House series, which show­ cases American music and culture. The Reagans built on the success of the pro­ gram by broadening its classical format to include popular music. They also hosted a series of live television pro­ grams on PBS entitled Young Artists The Obamas further expanded the series to include an educational compo­ nent. Artists did workshops for children to talk about jobs available in their fields, but "the core message was the importance of getting an education," said Jeremy Bernard.

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Many first families also entertained privately as well. The Kennedys hosted dinner dances for friends and family. The Reagans enjoyed "cozy times" with old friends who "made them laugh," said Muffie Brandon Cabot. The George W. Bushes also had a group of old friends with whom they socialized regularly.

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Memorable Royal Moments The White House social secretaries who plan and execute the visits of British royals never forget the experience. In a job filled with peak moments, a royal visit is the pinnacle, and every social secretary who has organized one has a memorable moment.

For Bess Abell, the Johnsons' social secretary, it was trying to avoid serving "atrocious" ice cream desserts that resembled Kewpie dolls with ruffled ice cream skirts to Princess Margaret and her husband Lord Snowdon at a formal White House dinner in 1965. For Lucy Winchester Breathitt, it was when the Duke of Windsor, after a private White House dinner hosted by the Nixons, asked conspiratorially, "Have many of my friends driven you mad asking for invitations?"

For some like Maria Downs, the Fords' social secretary, the entire royal visit was a crash course in crisis management and improvisation. The 1976 State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, which occurred during the Bicentennial of the United States, was fraught with mishaps including a last-

minute thunderstorm that threatened to destroy the table settings for the outdoor State Dinner, a last­ minute entertainment cancellation, and the Marine Band playing the Broadway tune, "The Lady Is a Tramp" when President Ford danced with the queen.

Gahl Hodges Burt's experience working on Queen Elizabeth's 1983 visit actually earned her the job of social secretary after she successfully managed a series of weather-related crises that forced massive changes in the royal schedule. Her next royal foray, which occurred when she was social secretary, went much more smoothly and turned out to be the most glamorous event of the Reagan administration: the 1985 White House dinner for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The royal couple, who were visiting Washington, D.C., to open an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, were the guests of honor at the small private affair. Gahl Hodges Burt and Nancy Reagan meticulously planned every detail of the party, including the rose trees that decorated the room.

Princess Diana's approachable manner, and fairy tale backstory had made her one of the fore­ most celebrities of the era, and invitations to the event were highly sought after "It was difficult," said

Hodges Burt. "Everybody wanted to come to that dinner. We wanted eighty people. It ended up, I think, being about ninety." The guest list included two men Princess Diana particularly wanted to meet: the ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and the actor John Travolta, who famously danced in the movie Saturday Night Fever. Travolta accepted the dinner invitation but balked when Hodges Burt told him to cut in on President Reagan, who would open the dancing with Princess Diana. "He said, 'Cut in on the president?' I said, 'Yes,"' explained Hodges Burt. '"He'll be briefed. He'll expect it."' The actor did as he was told, and his dance with the princess, to the score of Saturday Night Fever, became one of the iconic visuals of the Reagan era.

The iconic visual of the 1991 State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was a "talking hat." The guests on the South Lawn could not see Her Majesty's face because someone had forgotten to pull out the special step for the diminutive monarch to stand on when she spoke. According to George H. W. Bush's social secretary Laurie Firestone, Her Majesty "thought it was a good joke" and used the incident to open her subsequent speech to a joint ses­ sion of Congress.

A different kind of surprise made the State Dinner for the 2007 State Visit of Queen Elizabeth memorable. The equine loving monarch and her spouse had just attended the Kentucky Derby a few days before, so Laura Bush decided to invite the win­ ning jockey, Calvin Borel, and his fiancee to the White House. After a mad scramble to find the appropriate clothes, the couple arrived and were the hit of the party even though Borel violated protocol in the receiving line by wrapping his arms around both the Queen and First Lady Laura Bush for the official photograph. Amy Zantzinger, the Bushes' last social secretary, who had planned the dinner, heard afterward that the queen was "quite pleased to have met him."

Opposite and Above: Scenes from memorable royal visits (left to right): Princess Margaret dances with President Johnson, 1965; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor with President Nixon, 1970; Queen Elizabeth dances with President Ford, 1976; and Princess Diana dances with John Travolta, 1985.

Guests Behaving Badly All this activity and all the guests, whether pub­ lic or private-more than 100,000 a year according to Laura Bush's memoir, Spoken from the Heart8means a lot of wear and tear on the mansion and its furnishings."The White House is a home but it's also a museum, so having someone throw up on one of the Red Room sofas is more than a mess to clean up; it's a curatorial problem," said Lea Berman, who also remembered watching championship college ath­ letes casually throw their legs across the arm of an early nineteenth-century sofa during a White House visit. Maria Downs recalled watching a White House butler race across the State Dining Room just in time to stop a guest from sitting on a priceless antique console table.Laurie Firestone wasn't so quick. A guest at a reception for labor representatives "was sort of sitting on the edge of the dining room table when it just went 'crunch,"' she said. "That table was out under repair for six months."

Guests who drink too much or behave inappro­ priately require creative solutions. Tish Baldrige had Secret Service agents serve as "bouncers" who would escort inebriated guests out of the room. Maria Downs sat difficult guests with President Ford's national security adviser General Brent Scowcroft because of his tact and ability to smooth things over.

Guests who make unrealistic demands are another headache. One man who had demanded an invitation to a White House dinner honoring Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, feared he would be late when his private jet could not take off in time.He had his secretary call and ask Lea Berman to call the Federal Aviation Administration to ask if his plane could jump the six planes ahead of his on the runway and take off first.

She replied, "I wouldn't know how to do that."

Jeremy Bernard had a similar run-in with a guest who feared he would be late for a meeting with President Obama because of traffic between Dulles Airport and the White House. To ensure his prompt arrival he wanted to rent a helicopter and asked for permission to land on the South Lawn. The social secretary explained that only the president was allowed to land on the South Lawn. The guest com­ plied and arrived in time-via limousine. 9 Perhaps the most glaring example of guests 30 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

behaving badly happened when members of a national women's service organization came to the White House for tea. As the women were waiting for Laura Bush to join them in the Green Room, four got into a screaming match over who would be first in line to be photographed with the first lady. Lea Berman tried to explain that each woman would be photographed individually with Laura Bush, but they ignored her until she threatened to cancel the photographs altogether. "That stopped them, and they got into line .. .glowering at each other." The social secretary barely had time to catch her breath before her assistant called to say that the Secret Service was handcuffing a guest who was still outside because, with two outstanding federal bench war­ rants, she could not enter a federal building.

Guest gaffes are one thing; social secretaries' lapses are something else, as Lucy Winchester Breathitt discovered when, at the last minute, she per­ suaded First Lady Pat Nixon to hold a scheduled White House tea outside. The event was proceeding smoothly until, suddenly, the guests started shrieking and throwing their punch cups while the waiter serv­ ing the punch was "swinging the punch ladle like it's a Claymore out of a Scottish novel. Every yellow jacket east of the Mississippi River smelled the tea and cookies," the social secretary recalled, "and they were there for their part of the program." Mrs. Nixon, who hadn't wanted to move the tea outside, "gave me the look and in we went."

At a Mount Vernon luncheon celebrating the return of the Panama Canal to Panama, Gretchen Poston and Mary Finch Hoyt unwittingly instigated a massive traffic jam, involving fifty official vehicles, because they forgot to put the guests' limousines in proper protocol order. Linda Faulkner's faux pas as deputy social secretary was more private but no less embarrassing. She forgot to take Nancy Reagan's birthday presents back off the chartered bus that had taken the first lady and her friends to and from a pri­ vate party at a historic home in suburban Washington. To make matters worse, the bus with the presents still on board had then been routed to Nova Scotia. Finally, three days later, a bus driver found the presents.

Occasionally social secretaries must step on a few toes, as Lea Berman had to do when she uncere-

moniously ejected a Chinese interpreter from a seat reserved for President George W. Bush's State Department interpreter during the 2006 White House visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao. After arguing fruitlessly with the interpreter and a Chinese protocol officer, the social secretary had a brainstorm. She took the end of the chair and pulled it upward, dis­ lodging the interpreter.Then she "grabbed the American translator, sat her down ...and said, 'Don't move. Even when the presidents come in and everyone has to stand."' The Chinese translator and the Chinese chief of protocol started screaming, but just then the two leaders entered the room.

Private Times and Good-Byes Because they work so closely with the presidents and first ladies they serve, social secretaries often have a ringside seat when major political events hap­ pen. Lucy Winchester Breathitt recalled President Nixon's last day in the White House after his resig­ nation, saying the atmosphere was "like giving a funeral and a wedding on the same day." Mary Finch Hoyt remembered watching Jimmy Carter on his last morning as president "racing back and forth from the Green Room to the Usher's Office to take urgent phone calls" related to the ongoing negotia­ tions to free the American hostages in Iran (the hostages were freed later that day). Catherine Fenton was on the telephone when she saw the first plane crash into the World Trade Center on television, but the full scope of the 2001 terrorist attack didn't hit her until a Secret Service agent ran into her office to tell her that a plane had hit the Pentagon and they were evacuating the White House.

Of all major political events, presidential assassi­ nations or assassination attempts are perhaps the most unnerving but, even then, social secretaries shift gears quickly. When President Kennedy was assassi­ nated in 1963, Nancy Tuckerman went from working on plans for a State Dinner honoring the prime min­ ister of Ireland to coordinating arrangements for the arrival and reception of heads of state from all over the world. Simultaneously, she did what she could on her own for Jacqueline Kennedy, finding a sfoctor who knew the first lady. In 1981, learning that President Reagan had been shot, Muffle Brandon Cabot, who had accompanied Nancy Reagan to an

outside luncheon, went back to the White House, where she and the rest of the White House staff and "waited for news."

The social secretaries' unique position gives them an opportunity to see the first family in their more private moments. Nancy Tuckerman recalled Jacqueline Kennedy's glee at evading her Secret Service detail to take her children for a ride on a blimp. By the time the Secret Service tracked them down, the Kennedys and the social secretary were airborne. Mary Finch Hoyt remembered Rosalynn Carter's informality and the way she asked all her staff to call her "Rosalynn." Gahl Hodges Burt cred­ ited Nancy Reagan with playing Cupid during her courtship with her future husband, Richard.

Some events, like an election loss, have both a public and a private component.Maria Downs remembered how the Fords concealed their disap­ pointment at losing the election in 1976 and instead cheered up their weeping companions. After George H.W. Bush's election loss in 1992 the first couple refused to complain. "Barbara Bush said, 'Well there's going to be no moping around here. We are going to be doing the things we always do with a cheerful smile,"' recalled Laurie Firestone. The presi­ dent was equally upbeat, even going so far as to bring comedian and Bush impersonator Dana Carvey to the White House to entertain the senior staff.

Other moments have been more controversial.

Maria Downs witnessed Betty Ford's regret at the public reaction to her 1975 60 Minutes interview in which she said she "wouldn't be surprised" if her then-18-year-old daughter had an affair. "She felt badly, primarily for [her daughter] Susan's sake. The question was hypothetical but her answer was real.

She would never have disowned a child because of a mistake or . .. a lifestyle she did not approve of." As a first lady "on the cusp of the women's movement" Rosalynn Carter was initially criticized by some femi­ nists for "working on behalf of her man" and for having a "fuzzy" image because her mental health and aid for the elderly projects were "not sexy" enough for the Washington press corps, according to Mary Finch Hoyt. As a transitional female figure and a woman who had had a significant professional career before she came to the White House, Hillary

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House 31

First Lady Betty Ford during a famously candid interview with Morley Safer of 60 Minutes, 1975.

Rodham Clinton was criticized for everything from her hair styles to her role in the policy-making process. "Hillary was emblematic of a whole genera­ tion of women who sometimes at considerable cost became accustomed to doing a multiplicity of things, some of them traditional .. . some of them profes­ sional," Ann Stock said of the criticism. "The press couldn't decide how to cover her."

Regardless of whether the circumstance is public or private, the social secretaries agree that each first family relies on the Residence staff to help make the White House a home. In many cases the families and the staff bond. "They really do become family," said Catherine Fenton. The Fords were close enough to the Residence staff that Gerald Ford invited one of the butlers to watch a baseball game with him. When the son of another butler died in a motorcycle acci­ dent, the Clintons and their staff went to the funeral.

When the George H.W.Bushes returned to the White House for the unveiling of the portraits of the George W. Bushes during the Obama administration, "every­ one cried," said Jeremy Bernard.

That closeness is especially evident on the last day of an administration, when the departing first family leaves the White House for the last time.

Traditionally members of the Residence staff gather in 32 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

the East Room, where the president and first lady thank them."It's very emotional for the Residence staff," said Amy Zantzinger. "It is bittersweet. A fami­ ly is moving out of the White House, and they have become very close to that family for eight years. And yet, it is Inauguration Day, they will be incredibly busy, and there is great anticipation to meet the new family."

Just as first families come and go, so, too, do social secretaries, and their sadness at leaving can be just as sharp. "When we leave as individuals, I think it's also pretty traumatic," said Catherine Fenton, who spent twelve years in the White House Social Office.Nothing illustrates how quick and permanent the change can be than the way Linda Faulkner left the White House on the last day of the Reagan administration. Because she had been working that morning she was able to get a seat in the motorcade taking the presidential party to the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. Getting back was another story. She was on her own. "I remember I just went over to this bus and said, 'Are you going to the White House?'" she reminisced.

Other social secretaries' memories of their last day as a White House staffer are even more poignant.

Bess Abell remembered traveling out to Andrews Air

Force Base to say good-bye to the Johnsons and see­ ing George H.W.Bush,then a Texas congressman, who was there "instead of being down at all the whoopdeedo for the new [Republican] president." At the invitation of Laura Bush,Amy Zantzinger spent the last night of the Bush administration in the White House because she had to work the next morning. As she was checking the final arrangements for the tradi­ tional coffee,she saw George W.Bush coming in from a final walk around the South Lawn. "I sort of jumped back because I thought,'this is his private moment.' He said,'Amy,no,come on.Come get a hug. This is a big day for both of us."' Deesha Dyer also spent the last night of the Obama administration in the White House.The next day she walked through the house by herself one last time. "It was sad," she said,"but it was my time to go."

No matter when or how they leave or what else they accomplish,most social secretaries consider their time in the White House the experience of a life­ time. "You can't believe you've been given this opportunity to see history ...to be there at the side of the people who are making it that very second. It's very,very exciting and nothing will come up to it afterward and you know that," said Tish Baldrige,

who went on to a successful career as a writer and etiquette expert. It's also a job like no other."It's like putting together a puzzle," said Ann Stock."I loved the challenge of trying to get people on the same page.I loved the challenge of trying to be the most creative,the most innovative,the most open presi­ dency ever....That's what each social secretary is charged with." At the same time,to be effective it's important to "be yourself," said Catherine Fenton.

"Your job is to say and do the right thing and to follow your instincts. Otherwise it never works out."

As they reflect on the past and think about the future,the social secretaries acknowledge that the job will continue to grow and change because the White House itself is a living entity. Each administration leaves its mark,and each social secretary plays an integral part in that process.Seen from that perspec­ tive,the best thing any future social secretary can do is "embrace " the Residence's history,traditions, and structure,said Capricia Marshall,remembering that "there's a beauty and grandeur to the White House ..and a tradition that just continues for time on end." The social secretaries are a vital part of that tradition and one of the main reasons why the job remains one of the best in the White House.

President and Mrs. Reagan pause in the Entrance Hall on their last day in the White House, 1989.

Social Secretary: The Best Job in the White House 33

NOTES

This essay is based on oral histories conducted by Richard Norton Smith with former social secretaries from the Kennedy through the George W. Bush administration and on interviews conducted by Mary Jo Binker with Jeremy Bernard and Deesha Dyer in 2017. All quotations come from these interviews unless otherwise noted.

I.

Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life (New York: Scribner, 2018), !06; Stewart McLaurin, Ann Stock, and Amy Zantzinger, "The Social Secretaries," The 1600 Sessions Podcast, August 2017, White House Historical Association, online at www.whitehousehistory.org.

2.

Belle Hagner was also the first agent for the Social Register in Washington.

"Memoirs of Isabella Hagner 1901-1905, Social Secretary to First Lady Edith Carew Roosevelt" White House History, no.26 (2009): 45.

3.

"White House Announces Full 2016 Easter Egg Roll Program and Talent Line-Up," press release, March 26, 2016, and "Tune In Tommorrow: Kids' State Dinner Live Online!" Let's Move Blog, July 8, 2013, both online at www.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov.

4.

Berman and Bernard, Treating People Well, 94-95.

5.

Megan Bnrns and Lexie, "Dream Jobs: Deesha Dyer," Brightest Young Things Blog, January 17, 2018, brightestyoungthings.com.

6.

Gardiner Harris, "A Rookie Brings Her Skills to the 'Super Bowl' of Social Planning," New York Times, September 20, 2015.

7.

Mark Landler, "World Leaders Vow Joint Push to Aid Economy," New York Times, November 16, 2008, I.

8.

Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010), 221.

9.

Berman and Bernard, Treating People Well, I16.

SOURCES FOR PROFILES

Letitia Baldrige, oral history, December 5, 2007, transcript, White House Historical Association; Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy; Interviews with Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., ed. Michael Beschloss (New York: Hyperion, 2011), 168; Sarah Bradford, America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (New York: Viking, 2000), 385; Anita Gates, "Letitia Baldrige, Etiquette Maven Is Dead at 86," New York Times, October 30, 2012; "Letitia Baldrige, the First Famous Social Secretary, Was a 'Godmother' to White House Successors," Washington Post, November 1, 2012. See also Baldrige's profile on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum website, www.jfkli­ brary.org.

Nancy Tuckerman, oral history, October 18, 2010, transcript, White House Historical Association; "Nancy Reports for Job," Washington Post, April 11, 1963, C22; Carl Sferrazza Anthony, As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Friends and Family (New York: Harper Collins, 1997), 283; Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy; Interviews with Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., ed. Michael Beschloss (New York: Hyperion, 2011), 169-70; Sarah Bradford, America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (New York: Viking, 2000), 410.

Bess Abell, oral history, January 29, 2008, White House Historical Association; Liz Carpenter, Ruffles and Flourishes (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1993), 328; Dorothy McCardle, "LBJ Hospitality Is Her Style Too," Washington Post, December 9, 1963, DI. Lucy Winchester Breathitt, oral history November 7, 2008, White House Historical Association; "Mrs. Nixon Appoints Social Aide," New York Times, January 15, 1969, 21; "Edward T. Breathitt, 78, Pushed Historic Civil Rights Law as Kentucky Governor," Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2003. See also Breathitt's profile on the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum website, www.nixonlibrary.gov.

Nancy Lammerding Ruwe, Dorothy McCardle, "Nancy Lammerding Ruwe: Leaving the White House," Washington Post, August 8, 1975, B l; "Nancy Lammerding Ruwe," Washington Times, June 29, 2008; Alfonso A. Navarez, "L. Nicholas Ruwe, Ex-Ambassador; 46; Assisted Presidents," New York Times, May 4, 1990.

Maria Downs, oral history July 27, 2011, White House Historical Association; "Notes on People: A Social Secretary Named by Mrs. Ford," New York Times, October 4, 1975, 32; Don Shirley, "Social Appointment," Washington Post, October 5, 1975, 11. See also Downs's profile on the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum website, www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov.

Mary Finch Hoyt, oral history, February 21, 2008, White House Historical Association; Adam Bernstein, "Mary Finch Hoyt, Press Secretary to Rosalynn

34 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

Carter, Dies at 89," Washington Post, October 24, 2013; Eleanor Blau, "Gretchen Householder Poston, 59, Ex-White House Social Secretary," New York Times, January 8, 1992, D l 9; Donnie Radcliffe, "A Staff for the New First Lady," Washington Post, January II, 1977, B3; Martin Weil, "Ellen Proxmire, a Senator's Wife and Event Planner in D.C., Dies at 90," Washington Post, August 4, 2015. See also Emily Soapes, "Gretchen Poston Exit Interview," January 2, 1981, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, online at www.jimmycarterlibrary.

Mabel Brandon Cabot, oral history November 14, 2007, White House Historical Association; Marian Burros, "A Highly Sensitive Post Is Filled by the Clintons," New York Times, January 12, 1993, A18; Donnie Radcliffe, "Brandon Named to Social Post," Washington Post, February 3, 1981, B l ; "White House Social Secretary Is Appointed," New York Times, February 6, 1981, B4; Donnie Radcliffe, "Muffie Brandon Quits White House," Washington Post, April 5, 1983, C l .

Gahl Hodges Burt, oral history, May 13, 2008, White House Historical Association; Lois Romano, "Social Secretary Selected," Washington Post, April 7, 1983, E l ; "Reagan Social Aide Appointed," New York Times, April 7 , 1983, D27. See also Burt's website, www.gahlburt.com, and her profile on Linkedin.

Linda Faulkner, oral history July 23, 2010, White House Historical Association; Barbara Gamarekian, "Social Secret Weapon," New York Times, July 12, 1985, A l 2; Donnie Radcliffe, "Social Secretary Selected," Washington Post, July 12, 1985, DI. Caring Day benefit luncheon invitation, online at uwwa.org.

Laurie Firestone, oral history, November 15, 2007, White House Historical Association. See also Firestone's profile on Linkedin and on the Finesse Worldwide website, www.finesseworldwide.com.

Ann Stock, oral history, White House Historical Association; Marian Burros, "Highly Sensitive Post Is Filled by the Clintons, New York Times, January 12, 1993, Al8; Sarah Booth Conroy, "One Big House to Another," Washington Post, September 15, 1997, B2. See also Stock's profile on the Meridian International Center website, www.meridian.org.

Capricia Marshall, oral history September 25, 2008, White House Historical Association; Roxanne Roberts, "White House Welcomer," Washington Post, October 28, 1997, El. See also Marshall's profile on the Atlantic Council's website, www.atlanticcouncil.org.

Catherine Fenton, oral history, February 27, 2008, White House Historical Association; Nancy Erickson, "First Lady's First Lady," New Jersey Monthly, February 7, 2008; Irvin Molotsky, "Laura Bush Designates Keepers of Her Calendar," New York Times, January 9, 2001, Al 4.

Lea Berman, oral history, April 22, 2008, White House Historical Association; Roxanne Roberts, "An Inviting Presence: Lea Berman Gives the White House a Whirl," Washington Post, May I, 2005, C l . See also "Lea Berman Former Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary," georgewbush-white­ house.archives.gov; Berman's profile on her website, America's Table, www.americ­ as-table.com; Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life. New York (Scribner, 2018).

Amy Zantzinger, oral history, November 19, 2010, White House Historical Association; Jura Koncius, "Laura Bush Unveils 2 White House China Patterns," Washington Post, January 8, 2009; "President Bush Names Amy Zantzinger as White House Social Secretary," White House Press Release, January 30, 2007, online at georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. See also Zantzinger's profile on her company's website, www.amyzantzinger.

Desiree Rogers, Peter Baker, "Obama Social Secretary Ran into Sharp Elbows," New York Times, March 11, 2017; Lynne Marek, "Desiree Rogers Leaving Johnson Publishing," Chicago Business, May 6, 2017. See also Rogers's profile on Linkedin.

Julianna Smoot, Jackie Calmes, "Why the Rainmaker Is Now the Gatekeeper," New York Ti:nes, March 5, 2010; Helene Cooper, "A Guy as Keeper of the National Guest List?," New York Times, January 30, 2011. See also Smoot's profile on her company's website, www.smoottewes.com.

Jeremy Bernard, telephone interviews with Mary Jo Binker, June 28 and August 16, 2017, White House Historical Association; Elizabeth Bumiller, "White Gloves Not Needed," New York Times, April 20, 2012; Jonathan Van Meter, "Inside the White House with Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard," Vogue, February 19, 2015. See also Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life. New York (Scribner, 2018).

Deesha Dyer, telephone interview with Mary Jo Binker, July 6, 2017, White House Historical Association; Gardiner Harris. "A Rookie Brings Her Skills to the 'Super Bowl' of Social Planning," New York Times, September 20, 2015; Jada F. Smith, "Deesha Dyer, A Former Music Writer, Is Named President's Social Secretary," New York Times, April 16, 2015, A23. See also www.begirlworld.com and www .deeshadyer.com.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries, 1961-2017

(j) {!JtlfJfif�

Kennedy Administration 1961-63

Letitia Baldrige When, in the summer of 1960 Jacqueline Kennedy called Letitia ("Tish") Baldrige to offer her the position of White House social secretary and thus chief of the first lady's staff, Baldrige, then director of public relations at Tiffany & Co., didn't take her seri­ ously. "I said, 'Absolutely, I'd love to,' thinking this is never ever going to come about." After all, at that point John F. Kennedy had not yet secured the Democratic presidential nomination, although the convention was under way.

While Baldrige's friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy undoubtedly played a part in her selection; the two had known each other since girlhood. But Baldrige's background and experience also weighed heavily in her favor. Besides coming from a political family (her father was a Republican congressman from Nebraska and her brother, Malcolm, would serve as secretary of commerce in the Reagan adminis­ tration), Baldrige had been social secretary in the U.S. Embassy in France and personal assistant to the U.S. ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce. She had worked at Tiffany since 1956. Consequently, she knew a great deal about formal entertaining and protocol, and she put all that experience to work for the Kennedys, who wanted the White House to become "a center of culture, art, youthful elegance and sparkling State Dinners."

Baldrige remembered her employer as a "perfec­ tionist" but also as someone who didn't always want to do what was expected of her. According to Baldrige, the former first lady modeled herself on

Letitia Baldrige in her office at the White House, 1961.

President Theodore Roosevelt's rambunctious daugh­ ter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a frequent White House guest during the Kennedy administration, who had done whatever she wanted when her father was president. In Jacqueline Kennedy's case, she wanted to maintain her privacy and spend time with her young children, so part of Baldrige's job involved saying no to the many requests asking the first lady to attend events, host receptions, and make speeches. Jacqueline Kennedy's refusal to participate in these activities and her penchant for changing arrangements Baldrige had made for official visits and special events caused some tension and contributed to the social secretary's depar­ ture in 1963.

Baldrige went on to work at the Merchandise Mart, a Kennedy family enterprise in Chicago, and then at Burlington Industries. She later founded her own public relations and marketing firm. In the 1970s, she parlayed her White House and embassy experience into a career as an etiquette expert, writing a syndicat­ ed column on the subject and updating two of Amy Vanderbilt's books of etiquette. Baldrige also wrote six etiquette books under her own name, as well three memoirs and several other books on topics as varied as table settings, life as a working mother, and the Kennedy mystique. In addition, Baldrige served as an informal adviser to several subsequent first ladies, including Nancy Reagan, and was instrumental in helping two Reagan-era White House social secre­ taries, Mabel ("Muffie") Brandon Cabot and Linda Faulkner, obtain their positions. She also continued her friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy, persuading the former first lady to take a job in publishing after she was widowed a second time in 1975. Baldrige died in 2012.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

37

Kennedy Administration 1963

Nancy Tucl<:erman Nancy Tuckerman thought she would have time to consider whether she wanted to become the second social secretary in the Kennedy administration. A childhood friend of Jacqueline Kennedy's-they had known each other since the age of nine­ Tuckerman had come down to Washington from New York, where she worked as a travel agent, to attend a State Dinner and discuss the job with the first lady.She and Jacqueline Kennedy were having lunch in the White House when President Kennedy walked in and said, "Oh Nancy . .,..I'm so glad you're coming to work here. . .. When are you starting?" "I couldn't say to the president, 'I don't know if I want to come here,"' Tuckerman said. "So that's how it all happened."

Tuckerman and Jacqueline Kennedy shared more than a common past.They also had the same kind of temperament and desire for pri­ vacy.The social secretary's relationship with President Kennedy was more formal as she interacted with him much less frequently. However, one day.he wanted to see her. According to Tuckerman, Kennedy asked one of his Secret Service agents to find "Tucky" (a childhood nickname the first lady had given her). Unfortunately, neither the agent nor the president's secretary knew who "Tucky" was, since everyone in the White House called her "Nancy." Consequently, "it took a long time to find me."

Tuckerman's brief tenure was shrouded in tragedy. Two months after her arrival, Jacqueline Kennedy gave birth to the couple's third child, a son Patrick, who only lived a few days.Then in November the president was assassinated in Dallas. Tuckerman, who met the presi­ dential plane when it returned from Texas, remembers being with the first lady, who at one point turned to her and said, "Oh, poor Nancy.

Your job now isn't there anymore."

Tuckerman may have no longer been social secretary, but her friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy endured until the former first lady's death in 1994. She continued to serve as the former first lady's assistant while working first in public relations and later in publishing.

Today she lives in Salisbury, Connecticut.

Nancy Tuckerman (far left) oversees the sorting of Mrs. Kennedy's mail following the assassination of President Kennedy, January 1964. )

38 WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number49)

GETTY IMAGES

' ccrctarics Profi ks of the Wh'Jte Ho use Social s

39

Johnson Administration 1963-69

Bess Abell Bess Abell was literally born to be a White House social secretary. The daughter of a Kentucky governor who later became a U.S. senator, she grew up helping her parents entertain constituents. She also knew a great many prominent politicians, among them Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird. In fact, the future president and first lady hosted a wedding reception for Abell and her hus­ band, Tyler, after they eloped in 1955.

Abell grew closer to the Johnsons when she worked at the Democratic National Committee dur­ ing the 1960 presidential campaign. On discovering that no one was answering the mail sent to Lady Bird Johnson, "I thought, 'well, I can do that,"' said Abell. That one decision ultimately led to a perma­ nent job with the vice president's wife, answering mail, paying the family's bills, and generally manag­ ing social activities at the Johnson home. When Johnsons moved into the White House after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Abell went with them as social secretary.

Abell loved working with the Johnsons, particu­ larly the president "because ... you always knew where you stood," she said. "You didn't have to hear about it from the fifth assistant secretary that you had screwed up or that you had done something wonderful. He picked up the phone and called you himself."

Lady Bird Johnson was unfailingly gracious to guests and staff alike. The sharpest words Abell "ever heard her speak" came at dusk one day when a per­ sonal staff member came into the room where the

first lady and the social secretary were working to close the drapes. "Mrs. Johnson said, 'No, Helen, not until the last light is gone."'

Abell's time in the White House coincided with the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the White House was often the focal point of demonstrations and marches opposing the conflict. One day Abell's mother-in-law, Luvie, wife of Washington syndicated columnist Drew Pearson and a fervent opponent of the war, called to ask if she could take the social sec­ retary's young sons (one of whom was named for the president) out after school. When Abell asked where they planned to go, her mother-in-law said, "We're going down to picket the White House." Abell, aware of possible adverse publicity if her sons were recog­ nized, quickly qua.shed the idea.

In 1968, well after Richard Nixon was elected, Abell began hosting a series of "parties" in her office to cheer up the outgoing staffers, serving Bloody Marys or mimosas in the morning, wine with lunch, and martinis and whiskey sours in the late afternoon.

One day some incoming Nixon staffers who were checking out the office space asked Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary and Abell's good friend, how long the parties had been going on. "Five years," Carpenter replied puckishly. "Can you believe it?" The Nixon people, Abell said, "just shook their heads [and] walked away."

Abell and her family remained in Washington area after the Johnsons left. Today she and her hus­ band live in Potomac, Maryland.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 41

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Lucy Winchester discusses a table setting with Mrs. Nixon and Head Butler John W Ficklin in the Family Dining Room,, 1971.

Nixon Administration 1969-74

Lucy Winchester Richard Nixon had to meet Lucy Winchester Breathitt only once to decide that she would be social secretary in his administration. It took Breathitt, a Kentucky native, a little longer to warm to the idea.

When the first call came, she said, "Thank you very much. I didn't apply for that because there's no way I could do that job. I have a small child and I have a farm." A second phone call brought the same response. The third time, however, Breathitt said yes, with the proviso that she would only stay six months "or until they found the person they wanted for the job, whichever came first." The first couple never found that person and six months turned into five years, encompassing the Nixon administration and the beginning of the Ford administration.

Breathitt, whose resume included stints at the United Nations first in the U.S. Protocol Office and then as a guide, and work as a volunteer fund-raiser on Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, considered herself the "luckiest" social secretary because she worked for a presidential couple "who had done it all before." (Richard Nixon served as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1952 and 1961.) The Nixons, she said, "knew what [foreign guests] would be expecting when they came to call [and] they were both meticulous about paperwork and planning. Mrs. Nixon especially was always pre-

pared. I called her the 'minuteman,' because she never kept me waiting. She was always dressed and ready."

Opposition to the Vietnam War made much of the Nixons' tenure "an angry and awful time," Breathitt recalled. Still the first couple carried on.

Pat Nixon in particular, refurbished the White House and developed a special White House tour for blind visitors. She also spent a great deal of time on her mail, insisting that each letter be unique because "people have bothered to sit down and write to me. I will sit down and write to them."

As difficult as the Vietnam War was, the Watergate scandal was worse. Threatened with impeachment, Nixon resigned in August 1974.

Breathitt remembered the Nixons' departure from the White House shortly thereafter as "the most awful day" for them and for their successors, the Fords.

Breathitt stayed on to help with the transition to the Ford administration. After leaving the White House she became assistant chief of protocol for the State Department. She and her second husband, for­ mer Kentucky governor Edward T. Breathitt Jr. lived in the Washington area until he retired in 1992.

They then returned to Kentucky, where he died in 2003. Breathitt continues to reside in Kentucky.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

43

Ford Administration

1974-75

Nancy Lammerding Ruwe The Fords' first social secretary was Nancy Lammerding Ruwe, who served from October 1974 to August 1975. A New Jersey native, she had worked in the White House Press Office dur­ ing the Nixon administration and then in the State Department's Protocol Office. In February 1975, she married L. Nicholas Ruwe, a prominent Republican who worked in both the Nixon and Ford administrations. First Lady Betty Ford was her matron of honor and President Ford attended the ceremony. Shortly thereafter, she resigned to care for her ailing mother and spend more time with her husband. In 1985 the Ruwes went to Iceland; where her husband served as U.S. ambas­ sador until 1989. Nancy Lammerding Ruwe died in 2008.

.•.

Nancy Lammerding Ruwe meets with Mrs. Ford in the White House, 1975.

44

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY (Number 49)

Profiles of the White Hou�c Social Secretaries 45

Maria Downs and Mrs. Ford review an arrangement designed for the State Dinner honoring President Sadat of Egypt, 1975. Sculptures by Frederic Ren1ington and Charles Russell were incorporated into the centerpieces on the tables in the State Dining Room for the dinner.

Ford Administration 1975-77

Maria Downs In 1975,Maria Downs was in her West Wing office working on several Bicentennial projects when a friend called to tell her that First Lady Betty Ford was looking for a social secretary. "Fine," Downs said. "Give me a day or two and I'll call you back with a few recommendations." "No,No," her friend replied."I'm talking about you."

Downs,whose career including working in her family's Chicago restaurants, was stunned. "I don't have the qualifications for that job," she said. Her friend thought otherwise.The former model actually had an impressive resume. She had been active in the Republican Party since 1964, first as staff assistant for the Goldwater for President Committee and later as director of women's programs for the Republican National Committee.From 1970 to 1971 she served as the executive director of the Women's National Press Club. Downs returned to the Republican National Committee in 1971 as special assistant to Anne Armstrong, then the group's co-chair. In 1973 she went to the White House when Armstrong was named counselor to the president.By 1975 she was executive assistant in the White House Bicentennial Liaison Office.

Although she knew Betty Ford,Downs went through a rigorous interview process that involved three separate meetings of three hours each with the first lady,plus the development of a sample State

Dinner,including the invitation,the menus,the guest list,the wines,and the entertainment.Fortunately, Downs chose to devise a dinner for the Queen Elizabeth II that came in handy when the British monarch actually visited in 1976.

Working for a first lady as active and outspo­ ken as Betty Ford had its challenges,Downs noted, especially after she became involved in causes such as the effort to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S.Constitution."I would receive calls from stalwart Republicans,some of them big contributors to the party saying,'Maria,can't you tell Betty to calm it down a little?Why does she have to be so vocal about those women's issues?"' "I would just respond," said Downs, "'No,it wouldn't be Betty Ford if she did."'

On a personal level, Downs found the first lady to be warm and responsive,"with an intimate way of helping people. She [had] almost a sixth sense.... It was almost as if she was able to read your mind and guide you in the right direction."

Betty Ford and Downs remained close after the Fords left the White House and moved to California in 1977.Downs remained in Washington,becoming director of public affairs at the White House Historical Association.Her bond with Betty Ford endured until the former first lady's death in 2011.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 4 7

Carter Administration

1977-81

Gretchen Poston White House Social Secretary Gretchen Poston, who died of breast cancer in 1992, was "one of the most creative women I've ever known," said Rosalynn Carter's press secretary Mary Finch Hoyt, who represented her in the White House Historical Association's Social Secretaries Oral History Project.

"She had what I call circular thinking. Where you and I might go from A to B to C to D, I never knew where she was going to start or where she was head­ ed," said Hoyt. Hoyt, who was helping Rosalynn Carter hire her East Wing staff learned about Poston "from five important Democrats including Joan Mon_dale," wife of Vice President Walter Mondale.

Poston, a Minnesota native and former teacher, came to the Carter White House with an extensive back­ ground in Democratic Party activities (she had worked on every Democratic presidential campaign since 1964) and event planning. In the mid-1960s, she and two friends-Ellen Proxmire, wife of Senator William Proxmire, and Barbara Boggs, wife of prominent Washington lobbyist Thomas H. Boggs Jr.-started an event planning business, one of the first of its kind in Washington, D.C. According to the Washington Post, the firm did everything from dealing "with corporate bigwigs" in Washington to meeting with federal officials to staging "mammoth historical commemorations."

Hoyt's background included stints as a freelance writer, service as the Peace Corps' director of radio

and television, and Washington bureau chief for the Ladies' Home Journal. She was also press secretary to the spouses of Democratic vice presidential candidate Edmund Muskie (1968) and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern (1972). During the 1976 campaign she was Rosalynn Carter's press aide.

Their backgrounds served Poston and Hoyt well. Hoyt estimated that the Carters hosted 5,000 social events with at least 100,000 guests while in office. She found Rosalynn Carter to be "intelligent and tenacious" but "also fun and easy to be with."

President Carter was equally pleasant. His impish sense of humor came out at one luncheon when he suggested they have hot fudge sundaes for dessert.

When the press secretary said she only indulged once a year, he replied, "Wouldn't you rather tell people that you had your last hot fudge sundae in the Oval Office with the president of the United States?"

Poston returned to her event planning firm after the Carters left the White House in 1981. Shortly before her death, she was one of forty co-founders of the Washington Race for the Cure, an event that raises awareness and funds for breast cancer preven­ tion and research. Hoyt, meanwhile, joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation as public relations director. In 2001 she published a memoir, East Wing: Politics, the Press, and a First Lady.

Hoyt, who remained close to Rosalynn Carter, died in 2013.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 49

Reagan Administration 1981-83

Mabel Brandon Cabot Mabel ("Muffie") Brandon Cabot wasn't feeling or looking her best the day she interviewed for the position of White House social secretary. "I had a cold. I had galoshes on with buckles [that] clanked," she recalled. The arts executive also had a busy evening ahead of her. Washington Cooperative Arts, the firm she had founded, was opening a large exhibi­ tion of Greek art at Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art. Still, she and the Reagans hit it off immedi­ ately, and later that night Nancy Reagan's chief of staff called to offer her the job.

Cabot hesitated because her husband, British journalist Henry Brandon, was chief diplomatic cor­ respondent for the London Sunday Times and she knew it would be "an awkward situation for him, because the British press would be extremely angry and jealous." She also hesitated because she was a Democrat who had volunteered in Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Not wanting to embarrass the new president, she called Robert Strauss, a prominent Washington attorney and Democratic Party power broker for advice. "I said, 'How do I handle this?"' After a lengthy pause, Strauss said, "Honey, you go down there and do the best dang job you know how."'

A "quintessential" Washington insider with a Boston Brahmin background, Brandon brought a wealth of experience to her role. At Washington Cooperative Arts, she had "built bridges" between major Fortune 500 companies and the arts, organiz-

ing corporate sponsorship parties for museum exhibi­ tions and other artistic events. She also had museum experience and had worked in government as nation­ al coordinator for Project Headstart.

In addition, she had lived in Washington for twenty years, many of them in Georgetown, where she was a well-known hostess. "I knew the ropes," she said. "I knew the cast of characters; I knew who didn't like who. I know who had written nasty things about whom, all the gossip and I think I helped in that."

Despite her background Cabot was quick to say that Nancy Reagan "ran the events at the White House. She knew what she wanted. She knew how she wanted to entertain. I was merely the messenger from her to the staff."

Mabel Cabot left the White House in 1983 to become president of the Washington office of Rogers and Cowan, Inc., an international public relations firm specializing in the entertainment industry. Later she joined the Ford Motor Company as director of corporate programming. Widowed in 1993, she later married Louis Wellington Cabot who chaired the America's Cup Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the Brookings Institution. In 2003, she published Vanished Kingdoms: A Woman Explorer in Tibet, China and Mongolia, 1921-25, about her mother, the explorer Janet Elliott Wulsin.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

51

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Gahl Hodges Burt (far left)walks down the White House Cross Hall with Mrs. Reagan and French First Lady Danielle Mitterrand (far right).

Reagan Administration 1983-85

Gahl Hodges Burt Gahl Hodges Burt auditioned for the job of White House social secretary without realizing it. In 1983, as assistant chief of protocol in the State Department, she organized the California visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. And she did it without benefit of cellphones, computers, or even a fax machine. All she had was a closet office in the West Wing, an IBM Selectric typewriter, and a dedicated courier who went back and forth between the White House and the British Embassy.

The final schedule, which ran to 192 pages, ulti­ mately went out the window when the weather along the Southern California coast refused to cooperate.

Burt, who began her diplomatic career as personal assistant to Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Cyrus Vance, improvised transporting the royal party up to the Reagans' ranch in a fleet of SUVs and arranging a last-minute dinner for the official party in San Francisco. Her grit and grace so impressed Nancy Reagan and Michael Deaver, Reagan's deputy chief of staff, that when Mabel Brandon Cabot resigned shortly thereafter, Deaver told Burt, "The job's yours."

Burt found the first couple to be caring employ­ ers. When a heavy snowstorm hit Washington, they both worried about her safety. First the president

called to ask how she was getting home. When Burt said she was planning to drive, Reagan said he would call the White House motor pool and arrange for a car and driver for her. Burt had no sooner hung up the phone when Nancy Reagan called asking the same question. When Burt told her that the president was making the arrangements, she also volunteered to call the motor pool, saying, "Sometimes they are sort of strict about who gets a car. I'll be sure."

Burt stayed on as social secretary until, following her marriage, her husband was named U.S. ambassa­ dor to Germany in 1985. The couple returned to the United States in 1989. Today Burt co-chairs the American Academy in Berlin, which brings American scholars to Germany for residency and research. She has also developed AirDrawer, a patented system that connects individuals' handwriting to their personality.

Her other affiliations include service as a board mem­ ber of the International Republican Institute, an insti­ tution that promotes democracy, and the List Project, a group dedicated to protecting and relocating Iraqis whose lives are in danger because they have worked with the U.S. government. In addition, Burt sponsors three Afghan teenage girls who attend school in the United States.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

53

Reagan Administration 1985-89

Linda Faulkner Dallas native Linda Faulkner was so sure her interview with incoming First Lady Nancy Reagan and her staff had been a disaster that before she left Washington, D.C., she bought a book titled How to Win over Depression. Despite a resume that included stints at a local public television station and as public relations manager for Neiman-Marcus, and a recom­ mendation from no less an authority than legendary former White House social secretary Letitia Baldrige, Faulkner felt she had not connected with Nancy Reagan or her staff. "I was the last [appointment] and I could tell [Mrs. Reagan] was exhausted," Faulkner said of her interview in Blair House. "She couldn't have been more gracious but I knew it had been a very long day." Her staffers, however, were another matter. They "were all watching and listen­ ing to me, so I had a very bad feeling."

Once she was back in Texas, however, the Washington neophyte decided to write the first lady a letter "that I felt really brought out everything I could possibly give to the job." It worked, and Faulkner was hired as deputy social secretary. She left the White House in 1984 to start a public rela­ tions firm in Dallas but returned in 1985 to become the Reagans' third social secretary.

To Faulkner, Nancy Reagan was a "delightful boss" with "a vision for how things should be and talented intuitively about how they should be." She was also forgiving. A case in point occurred early in Faulkner's White House career when she quickly adjusted the chairs on the platform after a White House concert by famed classical pianist Vladimir

Horowitz. Mrs. Reagan and the Horowitzes had just seated themselves on the platform when "Mrs. Reagan shifted slightly and her chair began to topple over the flowers. She landed on the floor of the East Room and everybody just gave this audible gasp of horror. She got up, everybody applauded, and she said, 'Well, I just thought I'd liven things up.' Not to be outdone President Reagan who was at the podium leaned over and said, 'Honey, I thought I only asked you to do that if I needed applause.'" Fearing her White House career was over Faulkner, quickly approached the first lady to ask if she was hurt. "She said, 'Linda, I'm fine, but next time maybe we shouldn't put the chair quite so close to the edge of the platform."'

Looking back, Faulkner, now vice president of public relations and communications for a Dallas senior citizens community, considers her White House career "a great honor, a privilege. I can't say enough about what being able to serve a first family is like. To me, this was the plum in history to be able to serve the Reagans."

Linda Faulkner meets with White House Social Aides in the Family Dining Room prior to an event.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

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George H. W. Bush Administration 1989-93

Laurie Firestone Laurie Firestone had a priceless advantage as White House social secretary.She knew how the George H.W.Bushes liked to entertain because she had been their social secretary for eight years when Bush served as vice president in the Reagan adminis­ tration. The fishbowl nature of life in the White House surprised her,however.At the vice president's house, "everything was off the record," Firestone said."The Bushes wanted people to come, whether it was the king of Saudi Arabia or another head of state for coffee,lunch or dinner but [the guests] were told initially that it was off the record ...they did not need to worry somebody was going to report it in the paper.But then coming to the White House .. .everything was done with the press right there,hov­ ering.We didn't have any second chances. It was­ this is it,and you'd better do it right,because you'd read about it in the paper the next morning."

The scrutiny was constant in part because the Bushes entertained constantly."President Bush loved entertaining," said Firestone.First Lady Barbara Bush "used to call him 'Perle Mesta' because he loved people." In addition, because Bush had served

as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and to the People's Republic of China, he knew the importance of entertaining as a diplomatic tool for building bridges between nations. "All of our entertaining had a meaning. There was always a reason for event," said Firestone."But it was done so subtly,that nobody would say, 'Oh well, we were here just because of that reason."'

Despite the long hours, Firestone has happy memories of her twelve years with the Bushes. "They had a great sense of humor.We had fun because they made it fun."

After the Bush administration ended,Firestone returned to California, where she embarked on career as a writer, speaker,television commentator, fund-raiser,and event planner.Today she is a princi­ pal with Finesse Worldwide, Inc., a company that provides training in business etiquette,social skills, and international protocol as well as etiquette for children-.She is also a residential manager for a prop­ erty group and a trustee of the George H. W.Bush Presidential Library.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 57

Clinton Administration 1993-97

Ann Stock On the way to an interview with incoming First Lady Hillary Clinton, Ann Stock and her husband decided to stop for breakfast. As her spouse drove, Stock, who was eating a doughnut, spilled her coffee down the front of her outfit. "I went to the interview in a pink suit stained with coffee," the former Bloomingdale's executive recalled. Any embarrass­ ment she felt was quickly dispelled however, because the conversation was so compelling. "It started off being a twenty-minute interview and ended up run­ ning for more than an hour," Stock said. "It was all about the role of first ladies and history and what she wanted to do and accomplish."

Stock's first meeting with President-Elect Bill Clinton was much easier. He picked the Indiana native out of a room full of staffers because she was the only one not wearing jeans. In both cases, the Clintons gave her the same charge. "Make the White House inclusive, open it up and make it look like America, it is the people's house."

For the Clintons, who were young and ener­ getic, that meant almost nonstop entertaining, which began as soon as the couple entered the White House. On a single day in their first week, the first couple and Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, hosted an open house for 3,000 people, with another 1,000 guests arriving from the president's home state of Arkansas after lunch. At the same time, another 750 campaign contributors were in the East Room. At 3:30 p.m., 200 participants from the inaugural parade whose floats had broken down at that event arrived to perform in the Grand Foyer.

The day ended with a dinner for 350 people who had known the Clintons in high school and college.

Fortunately, Stock was also young, energetic, and no stranger to Washington or the White House.

Her previous positions included working the press office during the Carter administration and serving as deputy press secretary to Vice President Walter Mondale during the 1980 presidential campaign.

From there she moved to Bloomingdale's, where she organized special events until 1984, when she returned to politics as deputy press secretary for Mondale's presidential campaign. After his defeat, she returned to Bloomingdale's as vice president of corporate communications. In addition to her politi­ cal work, Stock also helped raise money to open the Children's Museum in Washington.

Despite her extensive background and experi­ ence, Stock found that the Clintons' intense social schedule meant that there were moments when she would be so in the "zone" that she would forget the routine details of her own life. One such moment occurred after a State Arrival Ceremony that had involved a 7:00 a.m. conference call to determine whether the event could be held outdoors. Stock had just returned to her office when a Secret Service agent arrived with her car keys, saying, "You might want these when you go home tonight." Stock had been in such a hurry she had left the engine running.

Stock left the White House in 1997 to become vice president of institutional affairs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She remained there until 2010, when she became U.S. assistant secretary of state for educational and cul­ tural affairs in the Obama administration, a position she held until 2013. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the White House Historical Association and vice chair of the Board of Trustees of the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

59

Capricia Marshall directs reporters in photographing.five.first ladies and four presidents at the State Dinner commemorating the 200th anniversary of President John Adams's occupancy of the White House, November 2000.

Clinton Administration 1997-2001

Capricia Marshall Capricia Marshall was just 32 years old when she stepped into the role of White House social secre­ tary, but she already had an impressive resume. In 1991, the Cleveland native had gone right from law school to Bill Clinton's presidential primary cam­ paign in Ohio. By early 1992 she was traveling full time with Hillary Clinton, who quickly became a mentor to her. Marshall recalled, "I knew : .. she was someone I could learn a lot from." Once Bill Clinton was elected president, Marshall became spe­ cial assistant to the new first lady, and, according to the Washington Post, "quickly established herself as the go-between for Hillary Clinton and the rest of the executive staff," making sure that information about the first family's preferences and tastes was shared and coordinated.

She established a warm relationship with the curators and the ushers, a source for the history of the White House, and learned about the traditions and customs of the President's House from them. She also established a relationship with the White House Historical Association, attending meetings about decor, preservation, and the selection of the 200th Anniversary china, and she helped the first lady choose the perfect yellow color for the service.

In her early days at the White House, Marshall developed a rapport with Ann Stock, the social secretary during President Clinton's first term and worked closely with her, absorbing every moment.

She cherished her relationship with the Residence staff, often spending time catching up with the kitchen and butler staff. All these experiences made her becoming social secretary in 1997 "a natural step."

Marshall's tenure as social secretary saw historic milestones at the White House. In one of the largest events held at the executive residence, she oversaw the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Forty-

three chiefs of state and heads of government and hundreds of others from member-state delegations dined on the South Grounds with President and Mrs. Clinton. Striking the right balance of commemora­ tion and reverence was imperative while the United States and its NATO allies acted to resolve the con­ flict in Kosovo. From the performance by American opera stars Renee Fleming and Thomas Hampson to the all-American menu, the evening was a fitting salute to the international organization.

Another memorable occasion came as America ushered in the twenty-first century. Working with the National Park Service, the U.S. military, and even Steven Spielberg, Marshall coordinated an extraordi­ nary celebration to mark the new millennium.

Festivities included a concert on the National Mall and dinner in the East Room. Marshall managed the events during her ninth month of pregnancy, becom­ ing the only social secretary to serve while pregnant.

She remained at her post until the birth of her son, racing to the hospital for delivery only to resume her duties twelve days later for the State Visit of King Juan Carlos of Spain. The first lady hosted a baby shower for Marshall, and after her son's birth, he was often seen in her office while she continued in her position until the end of President Clinton's term.

After the Clintons left the White House in 2001, Marshall went into the private sector while remain­ ing involved with Hillary Clinton's career. When Mrs. Clinton was named secretary of state in 2009, Marshall became the U.S. chief of protocol, bearing the rank of ambassador and working to coordinate diplomacy at the highest levels in the Obama admin­ istration. Upon departing the position in August 2013, she became ambassador-in-residence at the Atlantic Council. She is currently completing a book with publisher Echo on cultural diplomacy. She and her family live in Washington, D.C. Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 61

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George Bush Administration 2001-4

Catherine Fenton Catherine Fenton is unique among modern social secretaries. Most of her colleagues worked for just one first lady. She worked for three: Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Laura Bush.

Fenton, a California native and "Marine junior" (her father was a Marine officer) first came to the White House in 1980 after a stint on Capitol Hill working for congressmen from Colorado and Virginia. She started as executive assistant to Peter McCoy, Nancy Reagan's first chief of staff, moving with him to the Commerce Department when he became undersecretary of commerce for tourism and travel. After he returned to California, Fenton went back to the White House as a roving consultant to Reagan administration heavyweights Jim Baker, Michael Deaver, and Edwin Meese. After three months as deputy director of correspondence in the East Wing, she became deputy social secretary. She stayed in that role through the second Reagan term and the administration of George H. W. Bush. After Bush's defeat in 1992, she became social secretary to the Japanese ambassador to the United States.

Following the birth of her son in 1995 and thinking her Washington career had ended, Fenton and her family moved to New Jersey, where she became a full-time homemaker.

Five years later her phone rang. "My knees real­ ly felt weak and I had to sit down," she said of the offer to become social secretary to Laura Bush. She did not want to leave her family. However, she didn't know how to say no, she explained, and so commut­ ed from New Jersey for five months before she and

her family moved to a rented house in Washington.

Having worked for two previous administrations, Fenton knew the ropes, such as how to get White House passes a day early so she and her assistant could get into the White House as soon as George W. Bush was inaugurated.

While her role and relationship with each first lady was different, Fenton says the greatest change in her White House career was her own growth. "I was in my twenties when I first went to work on Nancy Reagan's staff, and I was in my forties when I went to work for Laura Bush, so your perspective, your experience, everything changes."

Of the three presidents, she found the Bushes, father and son, were the most involved in the social side of White House events. "They were always cog­ nizant of who were we inviting or who have we invit­ ed and why can't we invite this person or why are we inviting that person."

Fenton stayed in the White House until the end of 2004, commuting the last few months because her family had moved back to New Jersey, where they still live. Looking back, she credits her father's Marine background with giving her the stamina and her mother with giving her the grace to handle a complex, high-stress job. When things got too hectic, her mother would always say, "Cathy, enjoy it."

Fenton later served as director of the Residence and special advisor for Protocol for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Catherine Fenton in the Green Room during the holidays.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 63

Lea Berman reviews the tables and place settings before guests enter the State Dining Room for an official dinner in honor of Prince Charles and Canzilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, 2005.

George Bush Administration 2005-7

Lea Berman When First Lady Laura Bush called to ask Lea Berman to discuss becoming White House social sec­ retary in George W. Bush's second term, Berman was surprised-despite possessing a resume that included serving as director of special projects for the Finance Committee of the 2004 Bush-Cheney reelec­ tion campaign, chief of staff to Lynne Cheney (20013), and social secretary and residence manager at the vice president's residence (2000-1), as well as a stints at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the owner of a fundraising and event-planning business. "I felt I had had my time in government and I knew it could be a very grueling job." However, sitting in the private Residence of the Executive Mansion, "basking in the golden glow of the peace and tranquility of the house," Berman realized she could not refuse.

Berman and her new boss quickly bonded over a shared interest in food. Initially, Berman worked with the White House chef to develop three menu options for events, which she would then send to the first lady for review. "She would look at them and pick what she wanted or she'd write notes of other things she might want to try," Berman said. After about three months, the two "began a lot of exchanging magazine articles and recipes," and even­ tually Laura Bush told Berman, "You don't need to send me three of anything. Just send me your menu."

During the second term, the Bushes did a great deal of entertaining, much of it unpublicized. Many of the events were private, for example, monthly

social dinners around themes such as Shakespeare's birthday, Valentine's Day, Benjamin Franklin's birthday, and, in a nod to the Bushes' Texas her­ itage, Cinco de Mayo. Berman particularly enjoyed planning these parties because she could be a "strate­ gist." For the Shakespeare event, for example, she researched quotations to put on the invitations and menu cards, and she worked with the White House florist to devise an Elizabethan table decoration of fruits and herbs rather than flowers.

Other memorable events included a Hanukkah party complete with a kosher kitchen and the Marine Band playing "Hava Nagila" and guests dancing in the Entrance Hall of the White House. There was also a party to celebrate the end of the Islamic holi­ day of Ramadan that opened with a call to prayer in the East Room. After praying the guests broke their fast with dates and juice and then went to dinner with President Bush. For Berman, both events were great examples of "this country's tolerance and the great joy people have in coming to the White House."

Berman left the White House in 2007 to spend more time with her husband and two teenage daugh­ ters. Today she lives in Washington, D.C., and writes a blog titled America's Table, dedicated to "food, flowers and formalities." In addition, she is a mem­ ber of the Ford's Theatre Board of Directors.

She and former Obama social secretary Jeremy Bernard are the authors of a book, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life, published in 2018.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 65

Amy Zantzinger (center) reviews designs for the Bush Official State China Service with Mrs. Bush and White House Curator William Allman, 2008.

George W. Bush Administration 2007-9

Amy Zantzinger In 1988 Amy Zantzinger walked off an airplane and into politics. The California native and newly minted college graduate went straight from the air­ port to an interview with George W. Bush, who was then working on the presidential campaign of his father, George H. W. Bush. The two hit it off, and Zantzinger, a Californian, stayed with the younger Bush as his executive assistant through the subse­ quent transition.

From there she went to the White House Visitors Office, where she worked on major public events such as Arrival Ceremonies for visiting heads of state, holiday activities, and the annual Easter Egg Roll. Occasionally she would glimpse Laurie Firestone, First Lady Barbara Bush's social secre­ tary, and think to herself, "If there was ever a job I would want, it would be White House social secre­ tary." Zantzinger, who loves to entertain, also "used to run up the stairs to the State Floor to see the arrangements for State Dinners."

Zantzinger stayed until the end of Bush's 1992 campaign and then returned to California where she served as protocol officer for the mayor of San Francisco, and met her husband, started a family, and ultimately established her own interior design firm. She kept in touch with the Bushes, often work­ ing on design projects for family members, their friends, and members of the first lady's staff. In fact, when Anita McBride, Laura Bush's chief of staff, called to ask her to come in for an interview, Zantzinger initially thought it was for an interiors assignment. She was stunned when McBride said, "Lea Berman is leaving. We want to interview you to be the next social secretary."

Zantzinger's interior design background came in handy in her new job. "So much of what we do is the aesthetic of what an event looks like, the flowers, the tablecloth, the china, and being creative with the ideas for entertaining venues and opportunities," she said. Her background also helped when she worked with Laura Bush on designs for two new sets of White House china, a traditional Lenox gilt-edged formal style State Service and the more informal Magnolia Residence China Service designed by Anna Weatherley and made by Pickard China. The latter was a first for the White House; previous presidents and their families used china from other presidential services for their private meals.

Laura Bush's level of involvement in projects and events related to the White House impressed Zantzinger. "Mrs. Bush recognized the importance of maintaining the White House," Zantzinger said.

"She wanted to make sure it was left in pristine condition." The first lady's willingness to open the family's private quarters, traditionally off limits to guests, also impressed Zantzinger. "Mrs. Bush recog­ nized what a special treat it was for people to go into the private residence," she said. "I believe the num­ ber of visitors to the private residence was unprece­ dented."

Zantzinger stayed through the end of the second Bush administration in January 2009. Today she lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two teenage children. She has resumed her interior design business.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 67

Obama Administration 2009-11

Desiree Rogers Julianna Smoot Desiree Rogers became the first African American White House social secretary in 2009. A New Orleans native and graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard Business School, she was a longtime friend of the Obamas in Chicago. Prior to becoming White House social secretary, she held a series of management positions in Chicago, including head of the Illinois Lottery, president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, and senior executive at Allstate Financial. During the 2008 presidential cam­ paign, she worked as a fundraiser.

With a mandate from the Obamas to make the White House open and family friendly, Rogers organized more than 300 events during her tenure, including a summer luau for members of Congress, a poetry jam, and a Halloween party for 2,000 chil­ dren. Rogers resigned in 2010 and returned to Chicago, where she became CEO of Johnson Publishing, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, and owner of Fashion Fair cosmetics, a position she held until mid-2017. Rogers chairs Choose Chicago, the city's tourism agency, and serves on the boards of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, World Business Chicago, and the Economic Club of Chicago.

The Obamas' second social secretary, Julianna Smoot came to the position after a career in politics.

A native of North Carolina, she graduated from Smith College, then worked on Capitol Hill for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Senators John Edwards, Richard Durbin, and Chris Dodd. She also served as national finance director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 2006 election cycle.

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As national finance chair for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Smoot and her team shattered previous presidential fund-raising records, raising more money than any campaign in U.S. his­ tory. After Obama's victory, she co-chaired the inau­ gural committee and then became chief of staff to the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk before becom­ ing social secretary. She left that position to return to fundraising in 2012 as deputy campaign manager for Obama's reelection campaign. In that effort, she and her team raised more than $1 billion. After working on the 2013 inaugural celebration, she co-founded a Washington, D.C., political and public affairs firm, the Smoot Tewes Group. She also serves on the board of the Barack Obama Foundation. She lives in Washington, D.C.

The first two offour social secretaries during the Obama Administration were Desiree Rogers ( opposite, left), 2009; and Julianna Smoot, 2010 (right).

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

69

Jeremy Bernard and Mrs. Oba,na review the decor in the Diplomatic Reception Room ahead of the State Dinner for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, 2015.

Obama Administration 2011-15

Jeremy Bernard At first glance Jeremy Bernard does not fit the standard profile of a White House social secretary.

Apart from being the first male to hold the position, he candidly told First Lady Michelle Obama in his interview that he "really" didn't "know china or flowers." Mrs. Obama was unfazed. "She said there were plenty of people at the White House who knew about those topics; she wanted someone with good political sense and a vision to open the mansion to as many people as possible."

Bernard, a native of Texas, possessed both qual­ ities in abundance. A student at Hunter College in New York City, he left to move to Los Angeles where he raised funds for Bill Clinton and worked for a cable television firm. By 2007 he was co-owner of a consulting firm that raised significant amounts of money for Barack Obama's presidential bid and acted as an occasional advance man for what was then a long-shot candidacy. Bernard subsequently came to the White House as a liaison to the National Endowment to the Humanities. He had just moved

to France to serve as senior adviser and chief of staff for the U.S. ambassador there when the social secre­ tary's position became available in 2011.

Bernard enjoyed a close relationship with the Obamas, who took a great interest in White House events, particularly those related to music. For State Dinners, Mrs. Obama "always wanted something that fit the moment and the preferences of the guest," said Bernard. The president, who found musical performances relaxing, enjoyed a perform­ ance by singer Sara Bareilles so much "he was still talking about it more than a week later." Singer Stevie Wonder was another Obama favorite. "He was a guest several times and always ended up per­ forming," the social secretary said. Bernard left the White House in 2015 and returned to Southern California where he now lives.

He and former social secretary Lea Berman are the authors of a book, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility in Work and in Life.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries 71

Deesha Dyer addresses reporters in the State Dining Room during the press preview in advance of an Official Visit by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, March 2016.

Obama Administration 2015-17

Deesha Dyer Deesha Dyer never thought she would work at the White House, let alone become social secretary.

The Philadelphia native joined the West Wing staff as an intern in 2009, working in the Office of Scheduling and Advance. At 30, she was older than most interns and had a more eclectic background, having earned an associate degree in women's studies at a local community college, worked as a music and hip-hop culture writer, been an assistant at a real estate company, traveled internationally, and started a hip-hop AIDS program in her native city. After becoming a permanent staff member, she rapidly rose through the ranks, traveling with the Obamas and handling the news media and logistics. In 2013, she became deputy social secretary under Jeremy Bernard. When he left two years later, she took the job.

Becoming social secretary as the Obama admin­ istration wound down was a matter of "focusing on opening the mansion and diversifying the guest lists while balancing everything the first couple wanted to

do before the administration ended." To that end, many of the events Dyer worked on involved young people, a particular priority for the Obamas. She also handled large public events such as the visit of Pope Francis and a State Dinner for the president of the People's Republic of China-both of which occurred in the same week.

Dyer remained with the Obamas to the very end, flying out to California with them after President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017. "We said good-bye at the plane and I flew back to Washington." She continues to stay in touch with the Obamas. "If I need them, they're there," she said. While acknowledging that "nothing compares to working at the White House," Dyer ha\ moved on. In addition to serving as executive director of beGirl.World, a Philadelphia-based organization she co-founded in 2014 that empowers teenage girls through global education and travel, she founded an international consulting firm, Eightythree Broad.

Dyer is also a creative event and strategy consultant.

Profiles of the White House Social Secretaries

73

REFLECTIONS

Making White House History Every Day: White House Social Secretaries STEWART D .

McLAURIN

PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

At the White House Historical Association, we have been privileged to work closely and collaboratively with social secretaries past and present to pre­ serve the history that they have been so instrumental in crafting.

Each•year the White House holds hundreds of events, from visits of foreign heads of state and diplomatic receptions, to concerts and holiday parties, and, of course, the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn. These events are subject to the highest level of global attention and scrutiny, as observers often consider their execution a reflection of the president and first lady. The individual charged with making sure all of these events pro­ First Lady Melania Trump reviews arrangements with ceed without a hitch is the White House Social Secretary Rickie Niceta ahead of the first State Dinner of social secretary. the Trump administration in April 2018. The event honored French President It is a job with few professional Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron. equivalents, requiring an uncommon blend of composure, aptitude, and diploWashington social life. She brings a wealth of expertise macy. For many who have held the position, the greatest resource is.the experience of those who have held the as an orchestrator of events for corporate, nonprofit, and· government related clients. As the newest member of this position before them, with each current secretary often meeting with their predecessors to gain advice. That such special club, Rickie has been instrumental in bringing the personal touch of President and Mrs. Trump to the White a "club" exists is a rarity in our American government system and speaks to the unique nature of professional House. The Association has seen this first hand through life at the center of America's political establishment. For our involvement with the annual White House Easter Egg Roll and Christmas at the White House,. as well as social secretaries, every day is something new-a last minute cancellation, a dramatic change in weather-but through the great honor we received in having a dinner at every day is also the opportunity to make White House the White House in our honor last September.

We look forward to working closely with Rickie and history by weaving the vision of the president and first lady into each occasion. her team knowing that the results of their work will con­ tribute to stories to be told well into the future about the The current social secretary for President and Mrs. history of the White House.

Trump is Rickie Niceta, an experienced veteran of

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Remembering First Lady Barbara Bush

1925-2018

The White House Historical Association joins the nation in its remembrance of First Lady Barbara Bush who died April 17, 2018, in Houston. As First Lady, Mrs. Bush reactivated the Committee for the Preservation of the White House and helped establish the White House Endowment Trust, which continues to provide financial assistance for refurbishing in the State Rooms of the White House and conservation of the White House collections. The honorary chairman of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, Mrs. Bush was involved with many organizations devoted to improving literacy in America. A strong advocate of volunteerism, Mrs. Bush used her national platform to do something to help someone every day. Among the many other causes and people she supported were the homeless, the elderly, HIV/AIDS patients, military families and school volunteers. She was the second woman (follow­ ing Abigail Adams) to be a wife of a U.S. president as well as a mother of a U.S. president.

WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY STAFF

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

William Seale, Editor

Frederick J. Ryan Jr., Chairman John F. W. Rogers, Vice Chairman James I. McDaniel, Secretary John T. Behrendt, Treasurer Stewart D. McLaurin, President Jean Case, Henry A. Dudley Jr., Cathy Gorn, Janet A. Howard, Knight Kiplinger, Martha Joynt Kumar, Anita McBride, Mike McCurry, Robert M. McGee, Roger B. Porter, Ann Stock, Ben C. Sutton Jr., Tina Tchen, Ex Officio: David S. Ferriera, Carla Hayden Tom Mayes, Earl A. Powell III, David J. Skorton, Directors Emeriti: John H. Dalton, Jeannine S. Clark, Nancy M. Folger, David I. Granger, Elise K. Kirk, Gail Berry West

Scott Harris, Editorial Advisor Mac Keith Griswold, Editorial Advisor Anthony Pitch, Editorial Advisor Lydia Tederick, Editorial Advisor Marcia M. Anderson, Vice President of Publishing and Executive Editor Fiona Griffin, Editorial Director Lauren Zook, Senior Production Manager Kristin Skinner, Production Manager Jeanine Marie, Editorial Assistant Ann Hofstra Grogg, Consulting Editor

THE EDITOR WISHES TO THANK Richard Norton Smith; Ann Stock; Lea Berman; The Office of the Curator, the White House

WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION STAFF Geraldine Alarcon, Marcia Anderson, Cindy Buck, Lauren Cahill, Leslie Calderone, Joanna Capps, Matthew Costello, Lucy Crowley, Cora Cruz, Yolande Demosthene-Wood, John Emerson, Imke Gahrmann, Fiona Griffin, Nathaniel Guzeh, Arioth Harrison, Whitney Hayne, Keith Jones, Lindsey Kolling, Alexandra Lane, Albert Lee, Julianne Levin, Jeanine Marie, Lynn Maxey, Lauren Zook McGwin, Bob Milam, Alexis Miller, Tiana Nailing, Rachel Newdorf, Kimberly Osborne, Marisa Petrozza, Evan Phifer, Rachel Phillips, Sharon Pierce, Melody Reynolds, Haley Rivero, Curtis Sandberg, Elizabeth Sheehy, Gina Sherman, Amanda Shifflett, Kristin Skinner, Stephanie Tuszynski, Rob Warchol, Rhett Wilson, Teresa Williams, Cindy Wilson, Butch Winter, Alfred Young

With this issue ofWhite House History we tell the story of White House Social Secretaries through .first person reflections of those who have served in the role. "It's the best job in the White House," said Bess Abell, social secretary in the Lyndon Johnson admi11istratio11.

The positio11 i11 the popular eye is a dream job, involving a swirl of gorgeous parties a11d famous guests. While that too is there, it is only part of a greater respo11sibility that ads up to quick wit and hard work.

Social Secretaries are respo11sible for the overall pla11lli11g, desigll, coordi11atioll, a11d directio11 of everythi11g from working lu11ch­ es cmd bill sig11i11gs to massive receptions for thousands o_f people. Among the many topics discussed alld illustrated in this issue are: formal a11d informal e11tertaini11g; White House weddings, memorable royal mome11ts; the social secretary as part of the White House staff; guests behavi11g badly; private times and goodbyes.

William Seale, the editor of White House History observes, "White House intimates very rarely give interviews, but these social secretaries have ho11ored our historical pur­ poses by talki11g with us. The result, pre­ se11ted in this issue, is a unique documellt of history."