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That could almost serve as a motto of the Ford family's stay in the White House: when pomp threatens to overwhelm any proceeding, the Fords counter with their disarming lack of pretension. "I had never thought about being First Lady," says the President's wife. "So I decided—I'm just going to be Betty Bloomer Ford." She both has and hasn't, and that may be her chief charm and canniest success as First Lady. Not long ago, after the White House domestic staff had turned in for the night, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger came up to the family quarters to report to the President on his latest diplomatic trip. Betty Ford, wearing bathrobe and slippers, wandered in and asked hospitably what both men would like to drink. Kissinger asked for coffee; the president wanted tea. After a disconcertingly long stay in the kitchen, the First Lady emerged with two cups in hand, and apologized for taking so long—she had been unable to find the coffee and tea in a kitchen she hardly knew at all. If that scene was a bit informal for the White House, nobody minded in the least.