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In Washington the First Lady can always be first on the social scene if she wants to. Not every Presidents wife has wanted to. Eleanor Roosevelt, for one was more interested in social workers than social life. Bess Truman set a good table, but threw humdrum affairs. Mamie Eisenhower tried, but lacked the flair. At a 1959 state dinner for Premier Khrushchev, she had Fred Waring in to entertain. While Waring's Pennsylvanians belted out Dry Bones, a translator mumbled "de words of de Lawd into the ear of a befuddled Nikita: Anklebone connected to de shinbone, shinbone connected to de kneebone . . .
Jackie Kennedy does want to be first, has worked hard to stay there. Both she and Jack have a rare zest for parties, and she has an even rarer knack for making them click. She is a perfectionist who frets over floral settings and menus for even the smallest dinners, but the big ones bring out the best in her. Her extravaganzas are the talk of the Western world—a sunset cruise down the Potomac for 138, a floodlit lawn party at Mount Vernon, a roomtul of Nobel laureates waltzing over the parquet White House floors to the tem po of the Air Force's Strolling Strings.
Since she lost her baby last August, Jackie has done no large-scale entertaining, instead has given small dinners a few times a week. Besides, with an election year coming up, there is a sneaking suspicion in Washington that too much partying might leave some voters with a political hangover.
Other hostesses who cut a broad swath on the New Frontier:
∙MRS ROBERT F. KENNEDY. Bobby and Ethel used to keep a barking sea lion in their pool, but after the beast chased Ethel into a parked car, it was sent ott to a zoo. Now the Attorney General and his wife go in for more formal entertaining. Ethel has refurbished Hickory Hill, seats her guests on period chairs, provides candlelight. Ethel tends to greet her guests with an over-the-shoulder "Hi ya kid," but there have been no dunkings lately, and her parties, attended by diplomats, Cabinet members, and Bobby's Justice Department boys, are fun.
∙MRS DOUGLAS DILLON. Aside from her husband's investment banking fortune, Phyllis Dillon boasts several advantages. She had a four-year taste of official entertaining when Douglas was Ambassador to France. Since her husband is a registered Republican as well as Treasury Secretary for a Democratic President, her range of guests is often broader than is the case with more partisan hostesses. And Dillon, who owns a fine French vineyard, has a wine cellar that ranks with Hervé Alphand's.