Read Online Margaret Truman by The President's House: 1800 to the Present : The Secrets, History of the World's Most Famous Home - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: The President's House: 1800 to the Present : The Secrets, History of the World's Most Famous Home
Tags: United States, Fiction, General, History, Biography & Autobiography, Biography, State & Local, Architecture, Washington (D.C.), Buildings, Public; Commercial & Industrial, Artists; Architects; Photographers, Juvenile literature, Presidents & Heads of State, Presidents - United States, Presidents, Middle Atlantic (DC; DE; MD; NJ; NY; PA), Presidents - United States - History, Washington (D.C.) - Buildings; Structures; Etc, White House (Washington; D.C.) - History
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Room was bedecked with flowers, the U.S. Marine Band played a Russian march as the guests filed in to dinner, the food was magnificent, and there were no less than seven glasses at each place, one for water and the rest for each of the six wines that were served. The grand dukes could hardly complain about being annoyed or affronted, although they may have groaned about being hungover the next morning.
IX
In addition to the various dinners that take place at the White House each year, there is also a full schedule of receptions. Some of the receptions start at 5:30 P.M. but the more formal ones usually begin at eight. The guest list numbers about fifteen hundred and everyone has a chance to shake hands with the president. On a number of occasions, I was invited to join Mother and Dad in the receiving line. I didnât mind greeting their guestsâmost of them were quite pleasantâbut I did mind shaking fifteen hundred hands. You canâand I didâincur serious damage to your fingers from pressing that much flesh.
âHandshakitisâ is a common complaint among White House residents. Is there anything that can be done to avoid it? Iâve made a little study of the issue, with some help from several presidents. Early in his career Harry Truman examined the problem with the thoroughness that he brought to all aspects of any job he tackled. Dad decided that the essence of survival handshaking was timing. You should seize the other personâs hand before he or she grabbed yours. You should always slide your thumb between the other personâs thumb and index finger, so that you, not he or she, did the squeezing.
Some presidents and first ladies have devised alternatives to the handshake. Edith Roosevelt held a bouquet of flowers in both hands, exempting her from the need to endure mashing. Instead of letting his own hand get crushed, Bill Clinton often used both hands to deliver a friendly democratic squeezeâ without getting squeezed in return.
X
It may be hard to believe, but the president used to hold receptions on New Yearâs Day and the Fourth of July to which everyone in Washington was invited. I should hasten to add that they didnât all come. The social elite were almost always on hand but the working classes, realizing that neither their clothes nor their manners were suitable, mostly stayed home.
In James Monroeâs era, New Yearâs Day receptions attracted about a thousand people, but as Washington grew into a fullfledged city, the crowds grew progressively larger. By Grover Clevelandâs day, the number had risen to six thousand, putting an inordinate amount of stress on both the president and the White House floors. Calvin Coolidge, already on his way out of office, dispensed with the 1929 event and spent the holidays in Florida instead. I can readily identify with his excuse: He and his wife were sick of getting bruises from shaking so many hands.
Herbert Hoover revived the tradition and between noon and 3:30 P.M. on New Yearâs Day, 1930, he shook hands with an incredible 6,348 people. Hoover repeated his performance in 1931 and 1932, but that was the last New Yearâs Day reception at the White House. In 1933 the lame duck president followed Coolidgeâs example and decamped to Florida for the holidays. Between the Great Depression, World War II, and the burgeoning population of Washington, the receptions were never revived.
Still, you canât say they didnât have a good run. One hundred and thirty-one years is pretty impressive. The Fourth of July receptions, on the other hand, never even came close. They were started by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 and ended by Martin Van Buren in 1839.
Van Buren hated the crowds that poured into the White House for his New Yearâs Day and Fourth of July receptions, and his guests usually came away hating him. To keep them from staying any longer than was absolutely necessary, he refused to serve
IX
In addition to the various dinners that take place at the White House each year, there is also a full schedule of receptions. Some of the receptions start at 5:30 P.M. but the more formal ones usually begin at eight. The guest list numbers about fifteen hundred and everyone has a chance to shake hands with the president. On a number of occasions, I was invited to join Mother and Dad in the receiving line. I didnât mind greeting their guestsâmost of them were quite pleasantâbut I did mind shaking fifteen hundred hands. You canâand I didâincur serious damage to your fingers from pressing that much flesh.
âHandshakitisâ is a common complaint among White House residents. Is there anything that can be done to avoid it? Iâve made a little study of the issue, with some help from several presidents. Early in his career Harry Truman examined the problem with the thoroughness that he brought to all aspects of any job he tackled. Dad decided that the essence of survival handshaking was timing. You should seize the other personâs hand before he or she grabbed yours. You should always slide your thumb between the other personâs thumb and index finger, so that you, not he or she, did the squeezing.
Some presidents and first ladies have devised alternatives to the handshake. Edith Roosevelt held a bouquet of flowers in both hands, exempting her from the need to endure mashing. Instead of letting his own hand get crushed, Bill Clinton often used both hands to deliver a friendly democratic squeezeâ without getting squeezed in return.
X
It may be hard to believe, but the president used to hold receptions on New Yearâs Day and the Fourth of July to which everyone in Washington was invited. I should hasten to add that they didnât all come. The social elite were almost always on hand but the working classes, realizing that neither their clothes nor their manners were suitable, mostly stayed home.
In James Monroeâs era, New Yearâs Day receptions attracted about a thousand people, but as Washington grew into a fullfledged city, the crowds grew progressively larger. By Grover Clevelandâs day, the number had risen to six thousand, putting an inordinate amount of stress on both the president and the White House floors. Calvin Coolidge, already on his way out of office, dispensed with the 1929 event and spent the holidays in Florida instead. I can readily identify with his excuse: He and his wife were sick of getting bruises from shaking so many hands.
Herbert Hoover revived the tradition and between noon and 3:30 P.M. on New Yearâs Day, 1930, he shook hands with an incredible 6,348 people. Hoover repeated his performance in 1931 and 1932, but that was the last New Yearâs Day reception at the White House. In 1933 the lame duck president followed Coolidgeâs example and decamped to Florida for the holidays. Between the Great Depression, World War II, and the burgeoning population of Washington, the receptions were never revived.
Still, you canât say they didnât have a good run. One hundred and thirty-one years is pretty impressive. The Fourth of July receptions, on the other hand, never even came close. They were started by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 and ended by Martin Van Buren in 1839.
Van Buren hated the crowds that poured into the White House for his New Yearâs Day and Fourth of July receptions, and his guests usually came away hating him. To keep them from staying any longer than was absolutely necessary, he refused to serve
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