The White House: Soul Night

They were all there—Cab Calloway, Earl ("Fatha") Hines, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, J. J. Johnson, Gerry Mulligan and scores of others. It was not a Bourbon Street reunion of the jazz giants, nor were they stompin' at the Savoy. The man tinkling out Happy Birthday on the piano—with authority—was none other than a fellow named Dick Nixon, President of the U.S. "I've never seen the place like this," exclaimed a venerable White House butler as he distributed glasses of champagne from a silver tray. "It sure has lots of soul tonight."

What else...