Evening star., 1953-06-21

The man who is one heart
beat from the presidency Of
the United States gets the
sought after treatment in
Washington. along with his
pretty blond wife.
Vice President and Mrs.
Richard Nixon, who led nor
NAL lives when he was first q
Congressman and then a SEN
ator here. now rarely set eyes
upon each other except when
each is decked out in evening
dress. Things may let up a lit
tie during the summer, but
that's the way it's been for the
last six months.
They have been dining out
formally on an average of four
times a week ever since he be-
came Vice President and
those are the only evenings
they have been able to spend
together.
The four dinners are all of
fetal ones. Anything purely
social, except in the case of one
or two old friends, has simply
been ruled out-much to the
despair of the ambitious host
eSSeS. The NiXonS see no rea-
son why they should suddenly
take up with people who were
not SO friendly when they were
not so important. 1--WE didn't
go with them before, so why
should we go with them now?"
asks Pat who obviously cares
more for sincerity than for
bigger parties and more Of
them. Their schedule is full
enough as it is.
II the NixonS don't get per-
manent cases Of dyspepsia, it
won't be the fault of Capital
protocol. OF the rs foreign
missions in Washington, they
have now been honored at din
ner by something like 20 of
them, so they have a good so
to go. Naturally, all the am
bassadorS want to entertain
the Vice President of the
United States, The President
only goes to an embassy when
q visiting chief of state enter
tains. so the courtesieS fall
upon the Vice President and
Secretary of State.
How well they can hold up
through such a schedule de-
pends less on their stamina
than their ability to thrive on
such rich meals as blini with
caviar, conSumme royale, f1let
of sole Normandy, f1let mignon
Bearnaise, jellied pate de foie
gras with hearts of artichoke
salad, ice cream mold, petits
fours and at least three kinds
Of wine. That's typical en-
baSSy dinner that begins, of
course, with cocktails and hors
d'oeuvres and ends with coffee
and liqueur.
It's always superbly cooked
and fit for a king, but it's not
just what you would order for
daily consumption. Mrs. Nixon,
though, never seems to get her
quota of these lavish menus.
The conversation among the
top people present is always so
interesting that she forgets to
eat, she says. Just when she
looks down to take a juicy bite,
laughs Pat, a waiter whiSkS
her plate away. She weighs
only 10 pounds and would like
to put on some weight, but
she'll never gain any that way.
The three evenings they don't
dine out together the Vice
President has to devote to stag
dinners, meetings or speech
making somewhere in the
United States. Dick Nixon al
most never has an evening of
relaxation at home with his
wife and children. That's the a
sore spot of this job, says his .
wife who tries to make it up
to the children.
He took up golf this past
spring so that he could get
some relaxation at a place
where nobody would pressure
him for a favor of some kind.
He plays golf at Burning Tree
Club. where President Eisen-
hover does his golfing in the
Capital, and where there's an
unwritten rule that lobbying
is forbidden anywhere on the
club grounds.
Any WaShingtonian in the
know will grin at this state
ment because Burning Tree is
one club that the biggest rep
resentatiVes of biggest busi-
nesses-General Motors, Gen.
eral Electric, United States
Steel, etc.-have always made
q point Of joining. Undoubt-