The old East Room in the White House has heard it all. Abigail Adams flapping out her wash; the tramp of British troops setting fire to the place; cheers for Ulysses Grant, brought from the West to win the war; the shouts of Teddy Roosevelt's rambunctious kids; Truman's political cronies, with ample bourbon, bellowing their fealty; Nixon's house evangelists heaving and praying in the midst of Watergate. Conniving diplomats have come there, as well as big-time pols and heavy moneymen, all summoned for the payoff of a lunch or dinner at the very headwaters of U.S. history.
Yet something a little...