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like to sit, and this dinner, i thought, gosh, i would like to be at this table with joan crawford and don hewitt and joe califano and cathy douglas, who was the brand-new, young bride of a supreme court justice bill douglas, and did i say joan crawford? yep. well, joan crawford had arrived with her own flask of vodka. i mean, we did pass a lot of drinks, but she didn t there there was going to be enough, so she had her own flask. anyway, the dinner was served, and then the in joan crawford s defense, i would say, we weren t smart enough to know we also invited her ex-husband, douglas fairbanks? no, some other one. well, i think there was more than one. yeah, and they were passing notes back and forth during the dinner, but then the dessert plates came, and cathy douglas is now a very grown-up, very sophisticated lady, but she was very new on the scene then, and so joan crawford, who was seated across the table from mrs. douglas, and joan crawford knew t ....
ladies from lady bird johnson to laura bush. all three worked in a wartime white house. whether it was organizing a barbecue for lady bird johnson or exercising their diplomatic skills at a state dinner, these social secretaries were the right hand of the first lady. in this hour-long conversation at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas, texas, they recalled their duties and life inside the white house. i d like to introduce the panel. richard norton smith, who will be chairing this panel, is a nationally renowned author. between 1987 and 2003 he served as director of the herbert hoover presidential library, the dwight d. eisenhower presidential library, the ronald reagan presidential library and the gerald ford presidential library. so he has presidential library experience, and in 2003 he was appointed the founding director of the abraham lincoln presidential library in springfield, illinois. he is an author, a commentator on c-span, pbs, and he s now wo ....
social secretaries were the right hand of the first lady. in this hour-long conversation at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas, texas, they recalled their duties and life inside the white house. i d like to introduce the panel. richard norton smith, who will be chairing this panel, is a nationally renowned author. between 1987 and 2003 he served as director of the herbert hoover presidential library, the dwight d. eisenhower presidential library, the ronald reagan presidential library and the gerald ford presidential library. so he has presidential library experience, and in 2003 he was appointed the founding director of the abraham lincoln presidential library in springfield, illinois. he is an author, a commentator on c-span, pbs, and he s now working on a biography of nelson rockefeller. on our panel today is bess abell. bess as president johnson said a kentucky girl who can walk with kings and prime ministers, maintained the common touch but could al ....
duties and life inside the white house. i d like to introduce the panel. richard norton smith, who will be chairing this panel, is a nationally renowned author. between 1987 and 2003 he served as director of the herbert hoover presidential library. the dwight d. eisenhower presidential library, the ronald reagan presidential library and the gerald ford presidential library. so he has presidential library experience, and in 2003 he was appointed the founding director of the abraham lincoln presidential library in springfield, illinois. he is the author, a commentator on c-span, pbs, and he s now working on a biography of nelson rockefeller. on our panel today is bess abell. bess as president johnson said a kentucky girl who can walk with kings and prime ministers, maintained the common touch but could also lecture the president. she was five years white house social secretary. miss abell organized dinners for kings and prescriptions, planned two white house weddings, a ....
crawford and don hewitt and joe califano and cathy douglas, who was the brand-new, young bride of a supreme court justice bill douglas, and did i say joan crawford? yep. well, joan crawford had arrived with her own flask of vodka. i mean, we did pass a lot of drinks, but she didn t there there was going to be enough, so she had her own flask. anyway, the dinner was served, and then the in joan crawford s defense, i would say, we weren t smart enough to know we also invited her ex-husband, douglas fairbanks? no, some other one. well, i think there was more than one. yeah, and they were passing notes back and forth during the dinner, but then the dessert plates came, and cathy douglas is now a very grown-up, very sophisticated lady, but she was very new on the scene then, and so joan crawford, who was seated across the table from mrs. douglas, and joan crawford knew that you re supposed to put the fork and the spoon here and take the finger bowl and the do ....