Evening Star Newspaper, March 5, 1933, Page 68

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH S, 1933. NEW FIRST LADY AND NATION’S HOSTESS Mrs. Roosevelt, Who Has Taken Over the Reins of White House Social Activities, Is the First “Career Woman” to Preside There—Skilled in Social Life and Possesses Wonderful Ability—Travels by Airplane—Kecps Apace With Women in Politics. Sallie V. H. Pickett HE country has a new hostess and the White House a new mistress, who smilingly assumed her arduous tasks at noon yesterday. Not only is Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt the first Democratic woman to preside there in years, but she is the very first “career woman” ever to hold the social reins for Uncle Sam. Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt smilingly accepted her duties after seeing her husband sworn in and for four years she will be the Nation's hostess, taking on one of the most gigantic tasks that can fall to the lot of a woman. She meets it with beaming good na- ture, but just how she will carry on, what changes she will make, what social tactics she will adopt, what line with woman politicians in and out of society she will pur- sue, is as yet unannounced. Many of the First Ladies have been guests in the mansion be- fore assuming their lofty position, and Mrs. Roosevelt was an inti- mate there during the almost eight years that her uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, was President. But visiting is one thing and assum- ing the reins of a great menage which must satisfy millions of people is another. Fifty and more years ago the White House was referred to as the great lobbying point for man politicians, and to- day there must be added woman politicians as well, to be satisfled and catered to, both socially and politically. Fitted by education and en- vironment for her position, the merely social side will be an easy matter for her, but to face and satisfy the thousands of woman voters who helped “put her hus- band over” is another. Other Presidents’ wives have been a lit- tle interested in the progressive woman movement, especially Mrs. Hoover, who presided there with satisfying grace for four years, but for the most the predecessors of Mrs. Roosevelt have only been interested from the humanitarian * and not the political side. While the vote of the American people is not cast to elect the First Lady of the Land, she becomes the Nation’s hostess just the same and the election of her husband places her where she has every one in a large free country to please, mil- lions of men and women, instead of her family and also a circle of friends and acquaintances. When Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the reins of White House domestic and social government yesterday, the whole country started to think of what was going to happen. This is not idle curiosity, for only second in fmportance to a President’s political position is the social one of his wife, and she can make him popular or unpopular in his four or perhaps eight years of service. Mrs. Roosevelt has written so much, spoken so much and expressed herself so much to others that the general public has a much better conception of what it is to expect than in any former administration in years past, if ever before. : Mrs. Roosevelt’s executive ability enabled her to establish a thoroughgoing girls’ school, & furniture factory—on a small scale—edit a magazine, write an interminable number of stories and at the same time look after the comfort of her husband and her family. She knows what it is to wrap up bruised toes and fingers, ease the tearful sorrows of little ones, and after the nomination of her husband, in answer to a long distance telephone call, she rushed through the air to Boston to be there when a new grandbaby came into the world. Tfli: v'eryvéct of Mrs. Roosevelt using an air- |1 plane for. transportation, because it is quicker than other modes of travel, shows her Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. disposition o get rid of detail Whirring through the elements she has none of the dis- tractions of Jand travel and can thinkand even §i i : ts they should be willing t what their convictions are and them. Continuing later on and after election, the First Lady was quoted as say- “it is vital that women should know what the problems before the Nation and study these problems and work intelligently on the solutions.” For a fact there is no political advice given by Mrs. Roosevelt and she just will talk politics, that may not with advantage be applied to either women or men of any party. When Mrs. Roosevelt flew to Pennsylvania for the nickel dinner with the Governor of the 1 q ikE EXCLUSIVE OPPICIAL PHOTOGRAPH. BY HARRIS & EWING. State and Mrs. Pinchot, she had her weather eye out for her two great hobbies, politics and home economy. In her art''le in January in the Clubwoman, the organ of the General Fed- eration of Women’s Clubs, Mrs. Roosevelt advo- cates women working for and holding office and when they take a responsible office, serve con- scientiously and courageously. These and many other things which have brought Mrs. Roosevelt into the political lime- light show quite conclusively that she will not divorce her interests from politics. Other Presidents’ wives have had hobbies and have carried them on successfully through their own diligence and often with the help of the public, but. Mrs. Roosevelt is the first career woman who has assumed the reins in the man- sion. She years ago started on & career for herself aside from that of her husband,-and according to her advice to Mrs. John Garner, wife of the Vice President, to carry on with her secretarial work for Mr. Garner, one knows pretty well what to expeet. . Other Presidents have brought to the Whil House women -of well defined domestic tastes and accomplishments. Women are accustomed to carry on their own modest menage with ease, comfort and grace, but Mrs. Roosevelt has the advantage over them all. She is a born execu- tive and accompanying it is a clear vision. She knows what is to be done and she is accustomed to direct others to do it. She will concern herself far more with diplomats and politicians than with coffee pots and the wares of the kitchen dresser. She will con- tinue to feed hundreds of visitors with only a few moments’ consid- eration of the menu. When one considers that a slight slip in White House eti- quette, especially where diplomats are concerned, is equal to a faux pas in the Department of State on some delicate but important subject, political or international, it is easy to see how carefully the social affairs at the White House must be handled. It takes all the painstaking care of the division of protocol where the President’s relative, Warren Delano Robbins, is chief of the division, or the chief ceremonial officer, Charles Lee Cooke, to advise on these matters, and after that, if the head usher fails to watch the every step of the important individuals who pass the White House threshold, there may be a social ruction that will bring on a chesty correspondence between two countries, if it be & diplomat or merely a matter with the State Department if it is an American resident. HE general surmise is that only women are given to social peeves, or slights, but strange to say in the history of the country men have taken the lead in all con- tentions of this kind. It became nec- essary to decide what was what even before George Washington ook the oath of office as the first Presi- dent, and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasurv, who had lived abroad and had a taste of detail, made the arrangements. John Adams thought Gen. Wash- ington had too much pomp and ceremony in the reception and en- tertainment of guests as carried on in the President’s social life and decided to discard many of the usages. Even this change in the almost untried social realm of this country did not please Thamas Jef= ferson—was not sufficiently demo-= cratic—and again changes were made. His “all men equal” was not made for international social amenities, and though he perhaps made a hit, generally speaking, with the Upper and Lower Houses of Congress and other political friends, it was not a rosy way for diplomats. British di ats, who seem always to have n at the front in our social ructions, were this time concerned and Mr. Merry and his lady, who were shocked when Mr. Jefferson upset the gen- eral order of things at a state dinner and escorted a lady who stood near him instead of Mrs. Merry to the table, were about to call their coach and go -back to the legation without breaking bread. For a fact, they did call the -coach, but deferred leaving until the meal was over, when they poutingly left th: President’s It may not be necessary for Mrs. Roosevelt to make a grave study of precedent, but it is well to be meekly guided by those who have gone into the subject. There have been mis< tresses of the mansion in past administrations who attempted to guide their social barques through the official social shoals without aid, only to find themselves left in embarrassing position. ‘There are so many who are familiar with the social life of the Capital that there is no longer excuse for social blunders which will not be attributed to the mistakes of secre= taries, but to the utter ignorance and disre- gard of a hostess, N line with tradition the President and Mrs, Roosevelt must carry out the official pro- gram of each Winter, known as the series of state entertainments. They will first enter- tain the members of the President’s cabinet and their ladies and then the diplomats and, just as the dinner to the Speaker arose fronf~ a contention of precedence, so a Vice Presi= dent’s dinner came about in the same Way, brought about by the question raised by Vice