Post by lordroel on Dec 15, 2017 13:43:56 GMT
Along with official presidential guests and honorees, including former presidents, vice-presidents, cabinet members, and other Washington officials, the Kennedys invited famous men and women of the arts, including Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Brendan Behan, Mark Rothko, and fashion icon and future Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.
Five first Ladies, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower and Jackie Kennedy attended the event, as did future First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford.
Former President Harry S Truman joined Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy on the platform, as did future Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford, making this, retroactively, the largest conclave of the "presidential fraternity" prior to the opening of the Reagan Library in the 1990s.
Think more famous people attend but have not found a list so far, wonder if Ernest Hemingway can claim back his house and royalties to everything he has created.