"
"Very likely. I don't think you quite understand me, Mrs. Lyons, or we
are talking at cross purposes. What I was trying to make clear is that
political and social prominence in Washington are by no means
synonimous. Of course everyone connected with the government who
desires to frequent Washington society and is socially available is
received with open arms; but, if people are not socially available, it
by no means follows that they are able to command social recognition
merely because they hold political office,--except perhaps in the case
of wives of the Cabinet, of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or of
rich and influential Senators, where a woman is absolutely bent on
success and takes pains. I refer particularly to the wives, because a
single man, if he is reasonably presentable and ambitious, can go about
more or less, even if he is a little rough, for men are apt to be
scarce. But the line is drawn on the women unless they are--er--really
important and have to be tolerated for official reasons. Now every woman
who is not _persona grata_, as the diplomats say, anywhere else, is apt
to attend the President's reception in all her finery, and that's why I
suggested that this sort of thing isn't exactly an edifying social
event.
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