DC Newcomers and Precedence

Should there be an impasse of gentlemen from the original 13 states, the poor dinner-giver either goes down in a faint or digs up the last census figures and seats them according to state population. — Public domain image of the original US 13 colonies which became the original 13 states of the United States.

 Hostesses Get Headaches At Capital Dinners Over Seating of Guests by Rank

(Editor's Note: Tyrannically ruled by convention, official dinner tables in Washington are more than just a family eating center. Precedence of rank holds full sway when it comes to seating our own and foreign government officials. In his primer for congressional newcomers, Eddy Gilmore of the Associated Press Washington Bureau surveys the situation and adds a bit of advice.)

WASHINGTON. (AP) Lucky is the capital newcomer who escapes unscathed the barbed wires of convention surrounding an official dinner table.

Just to show how serious it is, diplomatic relations have been strained between great nations because a visiting Mayor slid in ahead of a Grand Duke in the march to the dining room.

New Senators and Representatives who are mapping big entertainment offensives should remember that it's not the domestic guests but the diplomats who pack the real social dynamite.

How They Rate

Assuming the President or a foreign Sovereign won't be at the party, here is a precedence list with a minimum of etiquette mortality:

• Foreign ambassadors.
• The Chief Justice.
• The Vice President.
• Speaker of the House.
• Supreme Court Justices.
• Secretary of State.
• Foreign Ministers.
• Cabinet Members.
• Senators.
• Representatives.

The list extends to the near infinity of state assemblymen, third secretaries and visiting firemen, but if the dinner is going to be done up that brown, it's time to start a flanking movement aimed at capturing chefs and waiters.

Headache for Hostess

As innocent as it looks, even a dinner confined to Senators can produce a bombardment of headaches for the hostess.

Here, as elsewhere, everything is based on length of service. But recent landslides have brought a lot of lawmakers to the capital together. Confronted with such a group, the hostess should seat her guests according to the admission of their respective states into the Union.

Should there be an impasse of gentlemen from the original 13 states, the poor dinner-giver either goes down in a faint or digs up the last census figures and seats them according to state population.

Maybe the new arrival ought to chuck the whole business and give a fish fry on the Potomac. — By Eddy Gilmore, SantaAna Journal, 1936

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