Mr. Dewar. [speaking french] the guest of honor has arrived, french president Francois Hollande greeted by the president and the first lady. This is the seventh state dinner were official visit for the Obama Administration. We will take you to the south lawn pavilion, a tent that is turned into a springlike display. First, we will take a look inside a state dinner as part of our coverage here on cspan2. We will tell you what it is like to be invited to these expose of affairs and will get the role of first ladies over the years. We will have a conversation with Julianna Smoot who serve in the Obama Administration. We want to begin with the perspective of james fallows. As a national correspondent, you have attended three state dinners. What are they like . They are interesting and fun. Ach dinner, there was sprinkling of journalists, usually people who of some connection to the country are being invited. Ive been to the ones for korea. For china recently and then for canada, because i am from north america. Nobody could really not like these things. You get the invitation. What is that like . It is a big heavy things so is like it it something you pick up at downton abbey. With a social secretary of the white house. You find out the details of when to be there and what to bring or not bring. Usually take a taxi to one of the social gates of the white house and proceed from there. It is more intense than he used to be after that Renegade Group try to get into an indian state dinner. After the clearance and walking into the white house, then what . There was a receiving line. There are pictures. You make your way through this receiving line. You are announced by military guests. Each person coming against the little announcement. Mr. President , we announce this person coming in. Essyou are in the last famous bottom group, everybody is listening to the announcement if it is going to be a famous person. There is this category of people who are not famous to get announced. Themeet the president and first lady and then the visiting president and his aror her spouse. At brush with celebrity is the beginning as soon as you come into the receiving line. Is it an evening with some added stress . Sure there are people there who have added stress. Theund it enjoyable because most recent one was for the president of china a year into the Obama Administration. We have been living in china for the previous four years so we actually taught it was just be interesting and fun to see the president of china who never actually meet the people when years in china when he is in china. See other people who are involved with china affairs. I found it fun rather than stressful. My wife was fine spending more time about her dress and hair. How do you know where to sit and what is that like . These dinners have larger and smaller groups of attendees. Severalones have outlying rooms so you check your table to see where you are going to be. Boondocks . He they try to be careful in sprinkling out the actual famous people at the table so nobody feels like he or she has a bad seat. You are seated, there are name cards, there are menus. American wines. For the french president , i dont know whether it is a woulde of they sprinkle in some french wine and champagne. Have somebody who wrangles everybody to sit down because they are trying to maximize their time. What is a hobby and s what is the ambience like . I worked for jimmy carter. I never got to attend the state dinners as a guest. I was under a lot of stress trying to write the toast. Guests isce for the just fun and people are almost universally excited to be there. Im not trying to make this sound silly but it would be dishonest to say that people dont enjoy this because there are a lot of usually wellknown people there that have common interests. Always interesting to see the vibe and the body language of the american president and his spouse and then the for leader. What they are like and how they carry themselves. It is a positive vibe. How important are these dinners for american diplomacy and had two heads of state view their visit and these events . They can be very important. When the chinese leader at the came to washington during the george w. Bush and administration, there was a chill in the relations so he got a brunch rather than a dinner. It was in seattle and not washington, d. C. That was a sign of cooling the relationship. Of amicy. Sign calibrationsthese that the u. S. Can give to indicate its degree of warmth or coolness to a visiting partner. To those who would never be invited, give us the sense of the sights and sounds. What it feels like. How it comes across a you can capture on television. I will give a quick panorama. You get there by taxi because there is no place to park on the east side of the white house which is the social wing of where the first lady is based. Something in what inside the white house is full of these excellent pictures. Insight pictures of whoevers the current incumbent. The white house photographer monopolizes opportunities. You walk them this long haul that is historical memorabilia and all these interesting photos of the current president going around the country. You see a lot of military people, u. S. Military and some foreign ones wearing their dress outfits with their medals. Everybodying line is wanting to walk as if he or she is not excited but you can tell who the are. Display impressive was when it during late in 1998, my wife and i got to visit a dinner for the korean president and right in front of us was a famous korean conceptual artist who was having was comingf he in with a walker. As he was shaking hands with president bill clinton, my wife this korean artist in his mid60s, his trousers fell down and he was wearing nothing underneath that. On live feed tv, you had a completely naked bottom half of an older korean gentleman with bill clinton looking every second into his eyes as the mans assistant pulled up his trousers. You can tell the korean president was not amused by this one little bit. Bill clinton acted as if he was taking it all in stride. The next person bill clinton greeted was my wife and he had a raise of his eyebrows. Usually things are much more control than that. The other time i saw something unexpected was during the chinese dinner early in obamas term. Pulling out aed smart phone to take pictures and suddenly everybody was doing it. Microsoft ando of you had the pianist from china. There started to take pictures of. Jackie chan was taking pictures with the smartphone. Once somebody started doing it, they all started doing it. Taking pictures of menus and food in pictures of the president as they were working the crowd afterwards. Do you remember the evening entertainment . Howthe night include does the night include . Conclude. . I remember most vividly was the Chinese State dinner where it was essentially a celebration of american jazz. Other greateveral american jazz singers and instrumentalists. President obama said to the visiting chinese that culture is part of our connection that we want to highlight something that is important part of all culture. R that was a sign of cultural connection so it is one of the ways like the opening ceremonies of the olympics but in more condensed form that the United States can give a signal of what part of its culture it was the highlight. That went over very well with the chinese and the americans. James fallows, thank you for adding your perspective. You are looking at the scene from the bookseller which is on the ground floor of the white house. Theill continue to watch as guests are arriving for tonight a dinner tonights state dinner. The president is not greeting is now greeting the president of france in the blue room. Richard winter and mrs. Alexandra winter. Ms. Christine lagarde. Ms. Crystal a. Connors. The honorable charles schumer. Food. I like everything. I like it all. They have great rolls. No food is better than brooklyn. Than . Hing is better brooklyn. Mr. And mrs. Kevin f. Omalley. The honorable michael nutter, mayor of philadelphia and mrs. Nutter. The honorable david l. Cohen and mr. S. Cohen. The honorable eddie scholz and mr. Stephan scholz. Ms. Julianna goldman. The honorable stephanie blake, mayor of baltimore and mr. Kent blake. Ms. Stacey mills. Ms. Alexandra stanton and ms. Donna stanton. [speaking french] we are really excited. My first state dinner for my wife and i. I can remember. Thank you. Honorable paul ryan and mrs. Ryan. The honorable chuck hagel, secretary of defense and daug hter ms. Hagel. Mr. Dan barber and brother mr. David barber. Ms. Mindy kaling and guest. What is your French Connection . What is my connection . The honorable nancy pelosi and her daughter. This is my daughter jacqueline, she is from texas. She is studying france. Attorney general eric holder and mrs. Holder. We hope this relationship will be made better by the dinner. Thank you. Mr. And mrs. Peter per bershar. Mr. And mrs. James roosevelt, jr. The honorable karen bass and ms. Barbara jordan. I love paris and i am very honored to be here today. Dr. Jeffrey randall. I was responsible for europe in the first term. Ms. Mary j. Blige. What am i performing tonight . That is a surprise. My last name is french. Reverend al sharpton. I have been practicing my french. Lets hear it. Oui oui oui. The honorable james lyons. Mr. And mrs. Arnie sorenson. Most of the guests have arrived. You are looking at the scene of an area known as the bookseller. It is one of the first locations before you had upstairs. This is the area where the guests arrive before going to the state tour. The president and mrs. Obama hosted president hollande in the blue room which was redecorated with furniture in paris from paris. Later in the program, chance for you to have a conversation with Julianna Smoot who serve in the Obama Administration as white house social secretary. One ckground on this this is the seventh state or official visit dinner by the Obama Administration. The location is the south lawn pavilion. It is being turned into a monet inspired gala that is in honor of the french president. Therell be three under 50 invited guests and you saw just a moment ago r b singer mary j. Blige will be performing tonight. The cuisine will be american base but also why french inspired floral arrangement. Frencht state visit by a president was back in 1996 during the clinton administration. French president jacque chirac. The last official dinner was during the final year or two of the Bush Administration with french president sarkozy who lost his reelection to Francois Hollande. Which is allrival part of the pomp and ceremony during a state visit. Also the nook is the News Conference that took place which begin during a cold im a crisp winter morning. There was no rain or snow and one of the photographs released shows the president and french president and for the french flag in front of the french flag. Here is more. Present. Arm. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States and mrs. Michelle obama. [applause] ladies and gentlemen national hem of the First Republic french republic followed by the National Anthem of the United States. Present. Arms teare. [applause] order. Arms. Mr. President , the honor guard is prepared for inspection. Arms. Front. Arms. [applause] [indiscernible] here. At honor to have you present. Arms. Thank you. Order. Arms. Order. High. Ready. Ready. Good morning everybody. Bonjour. That is the extent of my french. [laughter] world warm thehe heart like paris in the spring. Do ourrning, we will best for washington in the winter. French]king france is americas oldest ally. We have deepened our alliance and today on behalf of the American People and michelle and myself, it is a great honor to welcome my friend president first stated his visit in the United States and the first visit of a friend president in a most 20 years. [speaking french] yesterday at monticello we reflected on the values that we shared. The ideals of the heart of our alliance. Here under the red white and blue and the blue, white, and red, we declare our devotion once more to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. French]g [applause] [speaking french] for more than two centuries, we have not only proclaimed ro ours our ideals, citizens have bled to preserve them from the beaches of normandy to the beaches to the mountains of afghanistan. We are honored to be joined by two extraordinary men who were there. Proudd them to stand, veterans of dday you are here in attendance today. [applause] [speaking french] it is no exaggeration that we stand here because of each other. We owe our freedom to each other. Of course, we americans also think our french friends for so much else. This capital city designed by lenfant. Our statue of liberty a gift from france. Something Many Americans are especially grateful for it, new orleans and the french quarter. [speaking french] mr. President , like generations before us, we now have the task not simply to reserve our alliance but to make it new for our time. No one nation can meet todays challenges alone. Toe nations must step up meet the responsibilities of leadership and that is what the United States and france are doing together. French]king to our french friends, i say lets do even more together for the security our citizens deserve in the prosperity they seek and the dignity of people around the world who speak will be declared centuries ago of those unalienable rights, the sacred rights of man. French]aking llande,ident alhoo we honor to have you as one of her strongest allies in closest friends. Welcome to the United States. [applause] french]aking michelle,sident, ladies and gentlemen, it is cold in washington. [laughter] but it is aht Beautiful Day, great day for america and france. I am obliged to do that for my country. French]g we are received here as friends. Receptioned by this by the president of the United States. [speaking french] we are always united by a common history. From yorktown to the beaches of normandy, as you said so rightly, each of our countries know what it owes to the other its freedom. French]g yesterday, we were in monticello, Thomas Jeffersons residence, once ambassador to one of theremains beautiful symbols of the times that unite us. [speaking french] this afternoon, at the arlington cemetery, the highest french dissection a distinction was awarded to the american unknown soldier. We present American Veterans who fought in the Second World War with an award in a would like to pay tribute to these men. French]g i wish to demonstrate the fact that france will never forget the spirit of sacrifice shown by these american soldiers, nameless heroes who left their homes to liberate my country and europe. We shall pay tribute to them during the celebrations that will take place in france to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the normandy landing. You will jointhat me on the sixth of june, 2014, 70 years after dday landing. [speaking french] our two countries hold universal values. People tot inspire write together, the universal declaration of human rights. [speaking french] we stand together to fight terrorism. France and the United States stand sidebyside to make these values prevail. With thetogether United States to address the threats of the proliferation of mass disruption and chemical weapons. Together, to solve the crises faced by the middle east. Andface African Development together to fight Global Warming and climate change. [applause] [speaking french] united and wed have built a model of friendship. That is the best reecipe for a better world, a world that was dreamt by Thomas Jefferson. Friendship,st about it is about an alliance that will enable us to make this world a better place, i safer place, a more humane place. French]g thank you. Mr. President , i am proud to stand here to ask this great man of United States of america and you represent the United States of america, a country where everything is possible for who wants it. A country devoted to freedom and equality. Long live the United States. Long live france. Long live the francoamerican friendship. [applause] attention. March. Ready, hut. Mr. President , this concludes the ceremony. [applause] one of the highest honors for a visiting head of state is a state dinner. The day begins on the south lawn of the white house. Morning. Clear, cold clear morning in which the president talked about springtime in paris and winter in washington, d. C. They are hosting their seventh dinner for a special guest like this. The dinner is taking place in a tent on the south lawn. This is continuing coverage by the french president. A chance for you to join in on the conversation as the social secretary for obama and was responsible to organizing two state dinners for the president of china and mexico. Our phone lines are open. Those of you in the eastern and central time zone and there is the number for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones. State dinners have a relatively new phenomenon. We are continuing our series on first ladies. The final program is taking place next monday on president s day. We will be releasing a new poll on now americans view americas first ladies. Heather foster is a president ial historian and has written a number of books on the first ladies. I asked her about the early dinners and how they have evolved since the civil war we didnt have anything resembling state dinners during washington because who was coming . We had great big oceans and no heads of state were coming for dinner like now. State dinners were larger dinners for who was in town. The congressman, the court, and a lot of diplomats and that was the extend of a state dinner. They had rental houses that were large and couldnt accommodate the people we have now. If they had 3040 for dinner that was considered large what changied during and aftr the civil war . Before the civil war, entertaining at the whitehouse started through dolly madison. She liked to entertain and was a wonderful host. They lived in the whitehouse and she put it on the map. Dining at the whitehouse at big important dinners was the expense of it was born by the president as a matter of fact. This is important to remember. There was no budget for official entertaining until the coolidge administration. The president and first lady were given a salary and they took care of those expenses themselves. Can you give some specific examples of what first ladies brought to the fwin dinners and the diplomacy in the state house . The role of the first lady was an evolution. It was determined by the first lady herself what she wished to do. Dolly was handson and warm. Elizabeth monroe, her successor, was more aloof. Elizabeth said i am not going to return calls which made her very, very unpopular. And a lot of the women in washington decided they were not going to come. So a lot of the Monroe Administration dinners were stag affairs. When jackson and van buren were in the whitehouse they were widowers. So they had substitute first ladies who didnt do very much in the way of official entertaining. They were young girls at 2225 years old. They didnt have that kind of experience. The one first lady who really started entertaining very nicely was another substitute first lady harriet lane who was acting first lady during the bucannon administration. She had a bit of experience and ent ent entertained graciously. She was in charge of the guest list, seating plans and who was coming and who would be there and who would be introduce and how. Mary lincoln didnt entertainment because there was a war going on and show was morning. After the civil war, entertaining got to be better as we moved into the 21st century, to t what changed in terms of the role of the first lady . Transportation was a big factor in what changed. It didnt take six weeks to cross the ocean. You could do it in one week now. And after president wilson was the first president to leave our shores and go abroad. I think haft went abroad briefly but it was wilson who went abroad and that is when heads of state were coming to the country. During that earlier period, the diplomats were like quasi. They were representing their governments. They were treated royally. I think the first head of state came during the grant administration. And then during roosevelts administration, he had the brother of wilham who put on a grand affair for him. And the mood of the whitehouse and oplence increased a lot. Any examples of a mistake at a state dinner and how a first lady handled that . Or a faux pas. They with well loved and kept in the protocol loop of who is to go where and everything. But the one story i love the most is the sad story, if you want a sad story, i will tell you one. This is about nelly taft who was first lady in 1910 and about three months in she had a stroke at 48. She had aafacia. She could not read or watch and her mouth drooped and she could not be seen in public. She is a very active first lady and wanted it like crazy. She was very ambitious. A man named buck painted a beautiful picture. Nelly helped prepare a state dinner but couldnt attend. It was a big affair. There was a little room adjoining the state dining room. Before the dinner, she comes down to this little room and she is dressed in her beautiful downton abby outfit with jewelry and hair down. And they had a table for one prepared. She sits outside in this little room adjacent to the state dining room and they left the room ajar is little bit so they can here what was going on. That is a beautiful story foster is joining us from virginia. She is the author of a number of books. Thanks very much for joining us. You are very, very welcome. Thank you for having me. Tune in monday for the final look at the first ladies influence and image. Julianna smoot is here. She is a veteran of state dinners. I am excited to be here. Lets get to the guest list. Steven cobert. Eric cantor. David stern the former nba commissioner. Paul ryan. Julia dryfus and 350 people invite fork invited for the dinner tonight. That is exciting. How do you get an invite . It is a long process. We get the dirfferent departmens with the whitehouse together, nscs is a part of it, and it is a building wide planning section. We start meeting three months out with weekly meeting to figure out who we can invite, figure out what the day and dinner will look like last year the president was scheduled to have a state dinner were the president of france because of the nsa that was postponed. Today that came up and the president made a point that france is our longest ally. There is a picture from the white house of the president s yesterday in the home of Thomas Jefferson and he served as a u. S. Envoy to france. As we look at the history of the relations, how is it determined we will have a state dinner for the president of france and what is involved in the Decision Making progress . The country decides what country they would like to honor and what leader they would like to have. And then it goes into the process of figure out a date. It is hard to figure out a date in your family. Imagine across the globe and figure out how to make a date that will work. That is figured out first. And then you go from there. The other story that is getting a lot of attention is the french president is here by himself because of the separation from his longtime girlfriend. Who is seated next to the president since he is coming alone . Thelma goldman and steven coburt is next to the first lady. I think that is a good idea. It will make the president feel more comfortable and those are good dinner partners for the president and first lady i want to share with you a tweet and you can join in with the cspan chat. Bill king says you are a cspan junky when you are watching a state dinner over olympic coverage. They are taking a trolley attend on the south lawn. It is being called a monet spring festival. What but there is a winter approaching soon. The whole building, the whole staff, really go all out to host the guess and do everything they can to make it a beautiful ev t event. We have a wonderful flourrist a the whitehouse and the chef are wonderful. Give us a sense of what is happening right now . The guest have arrived. We know earlier when the president and first lady greeted the president they went to the blue room and that has monroe furniture. As the guest are moving from one location to the other, what is happening and taking place . It is a lot to move a group of 350 people from one place to the other. There are cocktails and orders being passed around and folks are getting out to the tent where they will be seated i want to share what sally quinn wrote back in 1975. She said when putting together a guest list, you had to be sure to invite people that should be invited and dont invite the people that should not be invited and soothe the ones who should be but cant. It is building wide effort where you come up with a lot of names of folks you want to have invited to this very special occasion. So folks might be called from the list because, you know, it is a small veneue. 350person dinner party is big. If it were inside, it would be limited to about 200250 dinner. So you think about you and you get to bring a guest, it is really 150. You get a phone call from someone you know and they say i want to come to the state dinner. You put together one for the chinese head of state and mexican head of state. What do you tell them . If it is somebody i know we will say we would love to be able to accommodate you, lets see what we can do. When you are invited to a state dinner you should do everything you can to attend. We can try to make accommodat n accommodations but it is hard to do. We can make a list of ongoing folks we would like to invite. If you get a lastminute cancelation, what do you do . There are folks that might drop everything to be on a plane if you want to invite them. We tend to do that. This is a mix of administration, members of congress, eric cantor, nancy pelosi and some famous people like steven coburt. And bradley cooper. Of course. It is a really great group. I love we have democrats and republicans attending which i think is so wonderful. That is such a testament to how this is a nonpartisan event and it is as a Great American tradition and people come together and celebrate. Mary jay blige and the performer tonight. How does that come about . The performers are people that the president and first lady enjoy. And we talk to the honored guest staff to see if there is anybody they would like to hear from or listen to on their ipod. You go from there and back to the process of availability. Our phone lines are open for the eastern and central time zones. And for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zone it is on there. 350 people is a lot of china and silverware. How is that determined . There is staff at the whitehouse that has been there for many years. They know if i say i would like to use the regan china and they will say me might not have enough. Or if the decor is hot pink you probably dont want to use red. Not that we use hot pink. But they will help you figure out the china, and what linens look the best. There is a storm expected to hit washington, d. C. On thursday. What do you do if the weather doesnt cooperate . That is the most stressful thing. I can imagine departments were doing a weather call on the phone. Luckily it was a Beautiful Day but it was cold. The decision was to go forward. We have had decisions where it rains and we have the guy standing behind with the umbrella. But the weather is a call that is made the dayof the event in the two state dinners you were responsible for; were the inside the whitehouse or did you have the tent . For mexico we were inside for dinner and then outside for a tent where beyonce performed. For china, we had three tables in three different rooms and everything was inside the whitehouse your work is done by the time the dinner is underway. So what is your job like on this night . You are running around making sure everybody is comfortable. And also enjoys the night. How do the obamas repair prepare for this . I think the first lady spends time on what she is going to wear. She is involved with the menu planning. This is what the table is looking like. It is beautiful. The first lady is very involved. So is the president. They will look at the books and they go up every night a month out they are getting memos about the state dinners. Where the invitations are going out, tasting test, and a week before you start the process of a sea and say these are the people we want to sit here what will they dine on this evening . It is all food inspired by america. There is going to be stuff from the first ladys garden. But chris comeford is the chef and she is amazing. When we had guest chefs, for my first state dinner, we had rick bales who is an American Chef but cooks mexican food. It is hard to fix a dinner for 300 people or even 200 and making sure it all comes out at the same time and it is hot. If you run a restaurant that is great. You can have perfect food with balance. But chris is great and billy is the pastry chef and he is great, too. They have a delightful menu planned i would imagine the best is the tasting that is very true. And during the holidays there are cookies left over and they will show up and you have to be careful not to eat them. Annie chicago is on the line. Are you with us . Go ahead, please hi, let us know your most favorite part of the whole experience was for you. Well, that is a great question, annie. Thank you. I loved the first state dinner. It was big and scary. I was working with a Wonderful Team both mine and in the social office. It was wonderful to be into that state dinner and saying we did it and people had a great time and no body had a terrible time or got sick. You mention the seating plans, what kind of protocol is in involved in that . My other social secretary friend would say you would never seat spouses together. But the obamas feel different about that. They think spouses and friends dont spent enough time together so we seat them together. We typically split up men and women and make it boy girl. But it varies. From houston, texas. Kin kingsley is on the phone. Just a couple questions for you first of all, what influence or input does mrs. Obama have for setting the dinner of the state menu. And given the fact there could be a female president , is the whitehouse set up for a male first gentlemen. Who might be coordinating the state dinners ms. Obama is very involved with the decor and definitely the menu. She is part of the tasting as well and decides what to serve ultimately. Social office in the whitehouse is incrediblely small. I had two deputies incredi y incredibly small. And that format would probably stay the same, i would think, if there were a female president. I would presume that if the first gentlemen would want to be involved with this, they would happily take their advice. I think it would just be individual this is a photograph from french newspaper that haws the french president with president obama this morning. And i want to talk about changes because he didnt bring his longterm girlfriend. What does that change mean . You try to account for every detail, but you cannot be so ridged, you cant be flexible. We were talking about changing the invitation, but the folks that got it received it as it was. We have cligfers down the house from the social office and they work long hours and can make any changes needed for theman for the menus we welcome the listeners on the radio. We are talking about state dinners. We have our next caller from indiana. I wanted to know i also see politici politicians and Business People and important people are only invited to the state dinner. Do they occasionally let hard working, average americans come . That is a great question. It might look like that in the booksellers as they are announcing the bradley coopers of the world. There are several hardworking americans that are invited to the dinner. When i was social secretary for the mexican state dinner, we had wonderful folks that were local to washington, d. C. Who run nonprofits here in towni. The first lady is very adement about having hardworking people. You have the president of france, and i want to ask you, france is known for many things, especially their food. Does that add to the challenge for the chef . Yes, i believe so. I am glad i am not the chef how does the whitehouse prepare for the food and wine for somebody who is coming to the United States for a country known for its food and wine. Any time you have the french president coming there is a little extra pressure as the french are known for their food. There is going to be a little extra emphasis in being sure the ts are cross and is are dotted. But the food is always taken serio seriously and there are no loose ends typically. How was it determined based on your experience of serving past visitors . It has a very french take in it. And in other respects a very american take. It is good blending of the two different styles. The first class of caviar, and quail eggs, and finger link potatoes is a french style. I am sure the executive chef at the whitehouse put her own particular american spin on it. But if i read that without the word american in it i would think this is a french course. This isnt atypical for the state dinners. We tried to do the first dish by honoring an ingredient or plate from their county. The second course is Winter Garden salad. It is curious because in my recollection there is cheese on the entre so they have moved the salad to the first place and this is probably a product coming from the whitehouse garden. It looks to be, while it is called a salad, it is probably a Room Temperature style venl vegetable dish. And very nutritional in keeping with the mandate of a healthy and nutritional lifestyle. The dry aged beef is the next course and that is american through and through. To have the blue cheese on it is a tip of the hat to the french style but a very american blue cheese. Even the spelling is the Blue American spelling here. There is a blending of these Great American ingredients with a french take on it. The desert is going to be great because you cannot go wrong a chocolate chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It sounds like a light, refreshing healthy menu. The dryaged ribeye steak is great. They have a french sensibility with american ingredients and take on it. There is a tasting before it is finalized, but what else goes into account . The first thing that happens is the States Department officer of protocol will forward a paper going through the dinner. From the food stamp point we talk about cultural, personal taste and health of the guest. And typically the chef meets with the social secretary or with the first lady to talk about their thoughts on what the menu should be. Several menus will be generated addressing all of the different concerns. And from that the first lady picks out a menu or number of courses she likes. There may or may not be a tasting. Ms. Bush liked them. Ms. Clinton didnt do that many. If there is a tasting, there is a followup and corrections or amendments to the menu. And then we would go through making and remaking and rehearsing if you will to get them the way you want them. A state dinner is like a broadway opening. Once it hits the bright lights, you have to hit your mark and you cannot be experimenting at the last second. The dinner isnt the only thing happening that night so you have to find the niche within the entire options what about the vegetarian options . There are a number of options. When the invitations are ontario out there is a line that says let us know if you have dietary concerns. Rather they are vegan, vegetarian or nongluten it will be addressed. The whitehouse is a private home so the first lady wants to be gracious and having people coming into their home and be comfortable. So in many cases we go out of the way to make sure all of the alternative menus were offered. American wines from california and Washington State the reasoning behind that . The whitehouse is all about highlighting american food, wine and entertaining. So even though france has a story history of wine, we are pretty good at it. I was looking at the wines. It would appear we have a couple really, really good ones. Again, i think they are in the french style but by american producers. I am looking at the sparkling wine. It would appear that it is montechello in virginia which is an interesting tie between jefferson and the french. I think they are going to be excellent wines. They are not well known but they are exceptional. And the logistics that go into this. This isnt a large whitehouse kitchen and 350 guest. It is smaller than many peoples home kitchens. It is sort of a little portion that is small, high powered and all of the staff that works there are talentalented and at top of their game. You are talking about a great team of professionals and an equipped kitchen. This is like a broadway opening. People are rehearsing and rehearsing. There is no margin of error. It is like a hotel or restaurant, where if it doesnt go well you get 10 off the bill. You have to hit this. That is the real difficulty of it. The dinner is well rehearsed but the pressure is there that there could be no slip ups. What advice would you give the staff tonight . What have you given them in the past . The chef there now is exceedingly talents culinary and great eye and palate for design. She will have no problemxcuti problemxcuting problem executing i dont have words of wisdom because she is doing a super, super job. The only important thing is that everyone pulls together and realizes while it is a state dinner, the true stars there are not the chef or the service or the floral. It is the president and the first lady. Walter was the former executive chef and the author of the book whitehouse chef. Now living in new mexico. Thanks for being with us. My pleasure you can join in on the conversation at facebook and share your thoughts about the state dinner for the french president. We will get more of your calls in just minute. We are told now that the guest of honor, the first lady and president on the south lawn, with tent setup with a monetstyle them. We will see what it looks like inside the tent and the toast by the president and french president. But in the area known as the cross hall, the president , first lady and the french president in a receding line before they met with the 150 guest in attendance. [music playing] as they move from the private quarters to the state florida and went to the blue room, that is a standard protocol for the dinners . Yes, they were coming from the private residence. What the social secretary does is stay to the gentlemen, well they are standing up there ready as they are all of the time, and they say are you ready to accept the colors. And they come down and do a dignified move and come down the stairs followed by the head of state and the first lady. They go to the blue line and they have a receiving line with 350 guest and that is a lot to shake hands with. It is. But the social aids that you see in the photographs around the whitehouse are just wonderful. And they are so polite and nice at moving the guest through if someone wants to spend a little bit more time with the president chatting i know you have one story about being prepared for the unexpected and we will get to that. But first we will go to sarah from south carolina. Good evening. Go ahead, sarah. I wanted to ask how you talked about the staff earlier and how well they are trained and ready for anything. I would like to ask her as far as the number is concerned, how many aids does it take to make everything run smoothly from the start to the very end and be able to have everything cleared away . How many is there . Gosh, i am from North Carolina so i love your accent. It varies on the set up the dinner. The flow is beautiful to see. You bring in wait staff that is trained very well and knows how to place the plates down all at the same time. I dont know how many. I think we have had as many as 5060 waiters that move. It is like a butterfly show the way they move in and out. It is cleaned up by the time the next course is coming out. They are very well trained. But the numbers vary based on the table and how easy it is to move. You have 200 so you have to think about moving the extra staff around. Tim is on the phone from alexander, virginia. Thanks for taking my call. I think you did a great job as social secretary. Put i would like to know how did you make sure you got all of the etiquette and protocol issues just right . That is a good question. The preview social secretary are a great group. And now we have the first male social secretary. And we have been supportive of him. But they are a Wonderful Group that will help with anything. You can call and say what do you do in this situation. I worked with marsha who is the chief of protocol when i took over. So i could pick up the phone and is ask her anything. She was so nice and lovely working with it it isnt partisan. We were there to help each other. The formality of the event as you look at the wait staff and everyone in their finest. Can this be stressful for guest . It can be. You wear clothes that are not comfortable. And they are walking on marble. But you sit down and have a nice dinner and the foods and wines are wonderful and you get to be entertained with wonderful ene ener entertainment we have our next caller how did you become social secretary