Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-24
EXCLUSIVELY YOURS
A Status Symbol
For Washington

There are four men in
Washington who are a baro-
meter as to what your status
is with the New Frontier"
exclaimed a well known
feminine figure on the local
social scene recently.
If they pick you to talk
to at a cocktail party, you're
on top. When one of them
crossed the room the other
day to speak to me, I felt
like saying, Aren't you afraid
of getting chickenpox? I
haven't even been to the
White House OF course, you
dislike them for this, but
they are magnetic because
it's almost like looking into
a mirror and seeing your
self as they see you"
The speaker had put her
finger on the only status
symbol there is in Washing
TOME. who you're with.
This is one of the big diff
ferences between Washing
ton and New York. In New
York there are all kinds of
status symbols aSsiduously
sought by status seekers
the head waiter who knows
you, the location of your
table in a restaurant usually
one where everybody can see
you and you can see every
body, the car you drive, etc.
In Washington none of
these things matter a whit.
1t doesn't make any differ
ence where you sit in a
restaurant the more in
volved you are in important
business the less you are apt
to notice your physical place
ment. For that reason you
may not even take a good
look at the head waiter who
is going to be polite anyhow
because the turnover in VIP
personnel here is so rapid
he never knows when he is
seating someone in the inner
circle.
1T MATTERS NOT if you
drive your own car or how
old it. is. Influential Sena-
tors, Justices of the Supreme
Court and Assistant Secre-
tarieS of State are not pro-
vided with cars or chauf-
feurs, but drive their own.
Which brings to mind one of
Brooks Hays recent COM
ments. This Special Assistant
to the President drives an
automobile of some vintage,
he said, and when a police
man asked him if he couldn't
speed it up a little, he re-
piled, Il can, officer, but I
kinda hate to leave my car
behind"
1t doesn't make any diff
ference if you arrive at a
party done in from a days
housework. If one of the four
barometers makes a point of
speaking to you (there are
a lot more than four in
town, you're in because who
you're with is the status
symbol in Washington.
During the Eisenhower ad-
ministration the barometric
types made a Decline for the
big businessmen, but under
the Kennedy administration
they have felt a little left
OUT In view of the stock
market plunge generally at
tFibuted to Wall Streets lack
of.confidence in the admin
Stration, will the President
now begin to court business?
Look for the answer in who's
talking to whom.
IF YOU HAVE A SWEET
HEART or son or brother
going to college, worry not
if he has no particular ath-
letic proclivities. Admiral Hy-
man Rickover, the brains be-
hind the atomic submarine
and most potent critic of
American educational draw
backs, has uncovered a very
Measuring fact. He gave voice
tori after Louisiana Senator
Russell Long accused West
Point of trying ito recruit,
eatice away, or steal every
Potential All-American in the
conntry."
Said the Admiral, "the last
colleges in the United States
to- give up systematic re-
cruitment of athletes will be
the three services. All other
colleges are beginning to
realize that it isn't football
ability that counts; it's brain
ability. No matter how good
q football player you are, it
doesn't win battles and never
did"
The expression attributed
to. the Duke of Wellington,
England won its battles on
the playing fields of Eton,"
sold Admiral Piokover "ic