“Attending to One’s Business” in Attire

In Mr. J. W. Forney’s “Anecdotes of Public Men” there is given a story as it was told by James Buchanan at his own table. Although it contained a reproof from the President to one who was to succeed him, it is said to have been a favorite story at that board. –Public domain image of John W. Forney , Congressional Clerk and Journalist, B.1817- D.1881

Blunt Andrew Jackson 

“Old Hickory’s” Caustic Advice to James Buchanan

Stories of Andrew Jackson are likely to be pointed and to have a practical application, as do the stories told of Franklin. In Mr. J. W. Forney’s “Anecdotes of Public Men” there is given a story as it was told by James Buchanan at his own table. Although it contained a reproof from the President to one who was to succeed him, it is said to have been a favorite story at that board.

Shortly after Mr. Buchanan's return from Russia in 1834, to the court of which country he had been sent by Jackson in 1832, and immediately following his election to the senate he called upon “Old Hickory” with a fair English lady whom he desired to present to the head of the American nation. Leaving her in the reception room downstairs, he ascended to the President's private quarters, where he found General Jackson unshaved, unkempt, in his dressing gown, with his slippered feet on the fender, before a blazing wood fire, smoking a corncob pipe of the old southern pattern.

He stated his object, and General Jackson said that he would be very glad to meet the lady whom Mr. Buchanan desired to present. Mr. Buchanan was always careful of his personal appearance and in some respects was a sort of masculine Miss Fribbe, addicted to spotless cravats and huge collars, rather proud of a foot small for a man of his large stature and to the last of his life what the ladies would call “a very good figure.” 

Having just returned from a visit to the fashionable circles of the continent after years of thorough intercourse with the etiquette of one of the stateliest courts in Europe, he was somewhat shocked at the idea of the President meeting the eminent English lady in such a guise and ventured to ask if General Jackson did not intend to change his attire. Thereupon the old warrior rose, with his long pipe in his hand, and, deliberately knocking the ashes out of the bowl, said to his friend: “Buchanan. I want to give you a little piece of advice, which I hope you will remember. I knew a man once who made a fortune by attending to his own business. Tell the lady I will see her presently.”

The man who became President in 1857 was fond of saying that this remark of Andrew Jackson humiliated him more than any other rebuke he had ever received. He walked downstairs to meet the lady in his charge, and in a very short time President Jackson entered the room, dressed in a full suit of black, cleanly shaved, with his stubborn white hair forced back from his fore- head, and, advancing to the beautiful visitor, he greeted her with almost kingly grace. As she left the White House she said to her escort, “Your republican President is the royal model of a gentleman.”  – Trinity Journal, 1911

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

A Truly Awkward Etiquette Dilemma

The photo was found on the body of John Wilkes Booth after he was killed by pursuing Federal troops in April of 1865. The public domain image is of Lucy Hale, the daughter of U.S. Senator John P. Hale and the secret fiancee of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln in 1865. By 1882, she was the wife of William Chandler, Secretary of the Navy.

    

Etiquette at the Capital

The appointment of Mr. Chandler to the naval portfolio has developed an interesting phase of Washington social life, which set gossips agog with speculation. It will be remembered that when J. Wilkes Booth was shot, the picture of a beautiful young lady, a reigning society belle, was found on his person. The origin of this portrait was recognized in the person of Miss Hale, the daughter of a leading politician and statesman, and a lady of whom Booth had become deeply and seriously enamored. 

What encouragement he had received was not precisely known, but there was enough between them to form the basis of a good many romances, which afterward appeared in the public press. Miss Hale afterward became Mrs. Chandler, and is now the wife of the Secretary of the Navy. The same whirligig of time which has brought this about has also made the then young son of the martyred Lincoln, Secretary of War. 

It now appears that, according to etiquette, it is the duty of the Secretary of War to escort the wife of his confrère in rank to dinner. On state occasions he must take the wife of the Secretary of the Navy. Secretary Lincoln, in short, must escort the one-time sweetheart of the assassin of his distinguished father, therefore society is shocked. – San Jose Mercury-News, April 1882

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

How Presidential Etiquette Changed in 1884

 

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.”

—Photo source, Pinterest 

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

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

A Fashionable Gilded Age Entertainer

Preferring to be called, “Madame Jones,” critics had dubbed her “the Black Patti” after the Italian/French opera singer, Adelina Patti. She once told a reporter that the name “rather annoys me... I am afraid people will think I consider myself the equal to Patti herself. I assure you I don't think so, but I have a voice and I am striving to win the favor of the public by honest merit and hard work.” In February of 1892, Jones performed at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison, which led to her eventually singing for four consecutive presidents — Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt — and even the British royal family. Sadly, for three of her White House performances, Jones had to enter the building through the back door, but by the Roosevelt administration, she was finally allowed to enter through the front door.

The Popularity of the “Black Patti”

A performance by Madame Sissieretta Jones, the “Black Patti,” has become a fad in the most fashionable circles recently. It’s been only a few weeks since she sang for the “Four Hundred” at the residence of Judge Andrews on Fifth Avenue, receiving $200 for her services. At the present time she is doing concert work in the southwest, in company with the Princess Dolgorouky, the violinist. Mrs. Jones was the guest of ex-Postmaster General Wanamaker at Washington, and she appeared at the White House before President Cleveland and his wife. At the present time she is in receipt of a salary of §400 per week, and it is probable that she will command twice that sum, before she is a year older. —New York Times, 1893

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Washington’s Etiquette Obligations

News photographers crowd in to take photos of the White House state dining room tables set for a formal State Dinner. – Originally, White House tables were very long and rectangular. The round tables were the idea of former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, who felt round tables spread throughout the room would be more conducive to conversations. They have remained this way ever since.

Social Obligations That the President's Wife Cannot Escape 

The etiquette of Washington life in its official, diplomatic and social phases is truly exacting even to those who keep to the head and front in the obligations of their own small circle. Therefore, how much more puzzling it must of necessity be to one who, like Mrs. McKinley, has been practically transplanted from the environment of invalidism to the position and duties that devolve upon the wife of the President: To her there must come many moments of indecision, and a faux pas committed is heralded from one end of the United States to the other. 

Therefore, it is well for all American women to be told what would be expected of them if some day they should become First Ladies of the land, for in this democratic country there is a chance for all of them to occupy the exalted position into which Mrs. McKinley has just stepped. The wife of the President is the one woman in official life exempt from making a first call, as during her husband’s administration she is the First Lady of the land, upon whom every American as well as every foreigner of distinction.

Washington must pay the mark of respect of a first call. When the wife of an ex-President arrives in Washington she must at once make the first call at the White House. The President's'wife must then return that call within the period of three days. The courtesy is greater when the call is returned the following day. When a member of royalty or person of any exalted rank arrives in Washington, it is etiquette for such person to make a first call at the White House. This ceremonial call generally lasts about five minutes, and in the event of such caller being a woman has to be returned by the wife of the President within three hours. In official circles dinner cards designating the place at table are written with the name of the office of the person for whom intended, as “The Vice-President,” “The British Ambassador,” etc. 

At the beginning of each season, generally in the latter part of December, the official list of dinner parties to be given at the White House is made out by one of the private secretaries after due consultation with the President. The order of official entertainments at the White House is given each season as follows: January 1, the President’s reception from 11 a. m. to 2. p. m. The first State Dinner is in honor of the cabinet. The first state evening reception is in honor of the Diplomatic Corps, from 9 to 11 oclock. The second State Dinner is in honor of Congress and the Judiciary. The third State Dinner is in honor of the Supreme Court. The third state reception is in honor of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The fourth evening reception is in honor of the public. For this reception, no cards are issued. 

At the State Dinners, invitations are generally sent to a limited number of the resident society of Washington or other large cities, such as may be selected by the President or his wife for the dinner. An invitation to a State Dinner is equivalent to a command, in as much as it should be accepted, even if in so doing another previously accepted invitation has to be declined. When, on account of illness, death in the family or absence from the city, it is found impossible to attend a State Dinner, the reason should be stated in the reply to the invitation. At State Dinners, the President does not make his appearance in the East Room, where the guests are received, until the exact hour at which the dinner takes place. The President's wife, on such occasions, precedes him to the East Room five or ten minutes in advance of the time set for the dinner, in order to greet the guests as they arrive. 

When the signal is given for the company to pass down the corridor ito the State Dining Room, the President leads with such guest of honor as has been selected in accordance with the requisite official rank necessary for the occasion. The President always leads the way at any dinner or entertainment he may attend. The President's wife always walks last at a State Dinner, her partner having been selected with the same due regard to rank as prevailed in the selection of the President's dinner companion.– Sacramento Daily Union, 1897

 Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Washingtonian Society Etiquette

Hosting afternoon teas was one of the social duties of Congressmen and their families. Life could be exceedingly onerous for Congressional wives in the Victorian era Washington social scene –“It is optional with Senators and Representatives, as with all officers except the President and members of the Cabinet, whether they shall ‘entertain.’ There is a vast expense in all this, but that is not all. The labor and fatigue which society imposes upon the ladies of the family of a Cabinet officer are fairly appalling. To stand for hours during receptions at her own house, to stand at a series of entertainments at the houses of others whose invitations courtesy requires should be accepted, and to return in person all the calls made upon her, are a few of the duties of the wife of a high official. It is doubtful if her husband, with the cares of state, leads so really laborious a life. In Washington society one end of a card turned down denotes a call in person.” –E.B. Duffy

 

House Speaker and Mrs. Henderson have precipitated another squabble in connection with social precedence at Washington and not a few old-fashioned citizens there are once more unwilling listeners to discussion of what the ultra-fashionables regard as an important issue. Rules of society etiquette at the capital, as interpreted by those who take a deep interest in such matters, provide that the Speaker must not be invited to meet other members of the House. Therefore, he and Mrs. Henderson have refused several invitations to dinner where another was to be the honored guest, and as a result there is quite a tempest in the social teapot. – Los Angeles Herald, 1900

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia