Seating and Precedence in Washington D.C.

“Official etiquette demands that the President go first everywhere, and if you see a photograph of the President preceding the first lady of the land as they leave church or enter it, don't think the Chief Executive discourteous. He has to do it, for official etiquette demands it, chivalry or no. (Perhaps this may be a matter to be taken up by the feminists).” – Public domain image of Florence Harding, wife of President Warren G. Harding, President of the United States at the time of this article, 1921

"WHO'S WHO" AT NATION’S CAPITAL IS PROBLEM

Are Cabinet Members More Blue-Blooded Than Senators Who Shall Sit at the Top of the Table and Who at the Bottom?

WASHINGTON, June 18.-With the White House again the social center of Washington, there has broken out anew the an- cient war over the question of "Who's Who in the National Capital."

Students of etiquette, social leaders and social climbers, diplomats and statesmen are all engaged in disputing the question over tea-cups and cocktail glasses (yes, there are still a few in use in the capital).

The President, of course, ranks everyone in Washington, even the first lady of the land. Official etiquette demands that the President go first everywhere, and if you see a photograph of the President preceding the first lady of the land as they leave church or enter it, don't think the Chief Executive discourteous. He has to do it, for official etiquette demands it, chivalry or no. (Perhaps this may be a matter to be taken up by the feminists).

The vice-president ranks next to the President. So far it is very easy. But now comes the moot question. Who ranks next to the vice-president? Recently on a White House dinner guest list the speaker of the house was ranked just beneath the vice-president. Immediate consternation resulted. 

State department etiquette sharks took the matter up with the dictators of White House formality. A lengthy discussion followed and precedents were searched in the congressional library. The state department sharps were victorious. When the dinner was served the secretary of state sat next to the vice-president.

Senate vs Cabinet

This victory caused a small sensation and led to some protest from members of the United States senate, who declared that had they been present at the dinner they would certainly have felt entitled to sit above any cabinet member, for they argue that the senate makes the cabinet, and it is only by senate approval that a cabinet officer gets his position.

Then along come the members of congress who declare that they are on a social par with the members of the senate, for don't they represent the people just as much as the senators?

No one has really determined just where the justices of the United States supreme court fit in this scheme of rank. General John J. Pershing offers another problem to those who have the duty of seeing that all social prerogatives are preserved and that no feelings are injured.

Certainly there will be a social sensation if the President, the vice-president, members of the cabinet and both branches of congress, the diplomatic corps and the general of the armies of the United States ever sit down at dinner together, for nobody knows yet just “Who's Who in the National Capital.”– By David M. Church, International News Service Staff Correspondent, 1921

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia