No subject is discussed with more animation or intense feeling among society people here than that of who shall go in first with the President to dinner, or who shall stand nearest to the Lady of the White House during receptions... — Grover Cleveland, a bachelor when he first became President, had to depend upon someone other than a wife to preside over the White House during his first administration. His choice was his sister, Rose. Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, was deemed a young woman of “fine culture, high attainments and superior character.”
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A KNOTTY POINT OF ETIQUETTE
No subject is discussed with more animation or intense feeling among society people here than that of who shall go in first with the President to dinner, or who shall stand nearest to the Lady of the White House during receptions. Little factions are found at all entertainments, contending for the wife of the Secretary of State as against the wife of the Speaker, or for the reverse of that order, and politeness is sometimes strained during the heat which these disputes cause. The passage of the Senate Bill regulating the Presidential succession has given rise to a new line of discussion.
A writer for the Sunday Herald talks seriously about the consequences of the Bill, if it should become a law, and his conclusions indicate the thought which rises uppermost in the society mind upon the study of it. He says, “If the Bill— Senate No. 22— to provide for the performance of the duties of the office of President in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice President, which was passed in the Senate January 21, becomes a law by being passed in the House of Representatives also, and signed by the President — it is now thought by no means probable that the House will agree to it— the guests on all state occasions in future where the same officials are present as were at the President's dinner party on January 30, will have to be seated as they were on that occasion, for the Cabinet, when that Bill becomes a law, will outrank all others save the President and Vice President.”
This is conceded by a prominent Senator whose judgment in matters of etiquette has never been disputed. He says however, that, “Until that Bill does become a law no one, not even the President, should reverse the code of etiquette by putting the Cabinet above the Speaker and Senators on State occasions. The Bill referred to provides that in case of vacancies in the two highest offices, the Secretary of State, or, if there being none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bill continues to name the members of the Cabinet in their order as eligible to the succession if those above them in the Cabinet should be removed, etc..., shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice President is removed, or a President shall be elected, etc... This Bill, if passed, will revolutionize official society in Washington, reversing all the laws of etiquette between officials which have prevailed for many years.” — the New York Times, February, 1884
A writer for the Sunday Herald talks seriously about the consequences of the Bill, if it should become a law, and his conclusions indicate the thought which rises uppermost in the society mind upon the study of it. He says, “If the Bill— Senate No. 22— to provide for the performance of the duties of the office of President in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice President, which was passed in the Senate January 21, becomes a law by being passed in the House of Representatives also, and signed by the President — it is now thought by no means probable that the House will agree to it— the guests on all state occasions in future where the same officials are present as were at the President's dinner party on January 30, will have to be seated as they were on that occasion, for the Cabinet, when that Bill becomes a law, will outrank all others save the President and Vice President.”
This is conceded by a prominent Senator whose judgment in matters of etiquette has never been disputed. He says however, that, “Until that Bill does become a law no one, not even the President, should reverse the code of etiquette by putting the Cabinet above the Speaker and Senators on State occasions. The Bill referred to provides that in case of vacancies in the two highest offices, the Secretary of State, or, if there being none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bill continues to name the members of the Cabinet in their order as eligible to the succession if those above them in the Cabinet should be removed, etc..., shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice President is removed, or a President shall be elected, etc... This Bill, if passed, will revolutionize official society in Washington, reversing all the laws of etiquette between officials which have prevailed for many years.” — the New York Times, February, 1884
Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia
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