White House Arrival Ceremony, Fife & Drum Corps

White House Insider returns to the White House South Lawn on Wednesday, for the Obamas’ second State Visit Arrival Ceremony – for President Calderon of Mexico. This will be the first time I experience this event as a guest, rather than as the organizer. I’m the ONLY person, other than Presidents and First Ladies, with eight years of participation in these events, so I know all the behind the scenes scrambling that goes on that morning. And, there’s some nice symmetry, since I now LIVE in Mexico, so I’m more familiar with Mr. Calderon than most Americans.

The White House Visitors Office coordinates with the Social Office and the Military District of Washington to arrange all the details – and there are plenty. Arrival Ceremonies are highly choreographed diplomatic welcomes hosted by one Head of State for another. At precisely 9:25 a.m. the visiting dignitary and spouse step into a limo – you know, the kind with the little country flags on the front bumper – at Blair House, the President’s guest house, across Pennsylvania Ave from the North Front of the White House. The moment they depart, the Blair House manager calls the White House and alerts them. Precisely five minutes later they arrive at the South West Gate, and the limo rolls slowly up the driveway.

The President and First Lady step out of the South Door of the White House, above them on the Truman Balcony the herald trumpets play a fanfare, and the car arrives. Secret Service officers from the Dignitary Protective Division open the doors, the guests step out and there are handshakes all around. The President gestures for the head of state to step with him to a low platform with a lectern. The First Lady and guest spouse step to an area near them on the Lawn. All around are personal guests of the President, members of the Head of State entourage and security, Members of Congress, the press, and on the South part of the Lawn, thousands of invited guests stand in the sunlight taking photos of the pageantry.

In the Clinton years, the first Arrival Ceremonies we did had the press riser directly in front of the platform. Then the President asked us to add in an area for his friends in front of them. He said if he had to look at somebody, he’d rather be looking at friends when he spoke. Made sense to me! We called this area the “gold rope” area, because we never wanted to use the term “VIP.” I thought everyone who came to the White House was a VIP and we didn’t want any guest to feel less special than another. We used to put little sticky dots (from the office supply store) on their lapels so we could quickly identify them.
The two Heads of State make brief speeches. Your country and the USA, yada yada yada, long time friends, yada yada yada, Thomas Jefferson and our country, yada yada yada, Abraham Lincoln, yada yada yada … you could play buzz word BINGO from the predictability of these speeches!

Then everyone watches the President’s Own Fife and Drum Corps march in colonial style uniforms, and play colonial era music. Very colorful! The heads of state step down, the President invites his guest to join him in reviewing the troops assembled on the Lawn. And that’s about it. All the dignitaries step into the Diplomatic Reception Room and the President has a meeting with his counterpart in the Oval Office while the First Lady hosts a coffee in the Residence (top two floors) for spouse and a few others. In less than an hour they’re out the door and on their way.

The guest couple will spend the day in ceremonial activities, addressing Congress, visiting schools or hospitals or museums … when I was at the National Gallery of Art in the 1980s, it was a big deal that Raisa Gorbachev came to visit our Georgia O’Keefe exhibit. We called her security detail “Mikhail’s Navy.”

And then that night is Washington’s most important and high-profile event, the White House State Dinner – our equivalent of the Academy Awards. Remember the old saying? “Politics is show business for ugly people”? Well, this is the night all the political and diplomatic people get to show up in the limelight and shine. Just watch them walk past the press on their way in to the dinner – you’ll see some funny distinctions. The political people all scurry past, heads down, eyes averted. God forbid they get trapped into talking to the press! But the movie stars, musicians and athletes who make the dinner interesting aren’t afraid of the press – they LIVE for the press. So they stroll in, smiling and happy to chat with reporters.

This is a great opportunity for all White House fanatics. We’ll all be watching to see who’s on the guest list, what the ladies wear, and what’s on the menu. I like to see how the tables are decorated – which china is used, the Reagan red or Hillary Clinton yellow? What do the flowers look like? There’s a new florist in the White House since Nancy Clark retired after 25 years. He’s got a more modern take on flower arrangements, and clearly Mrs. Obama likes his unusual arrangements (I do too.) You may think flowers are frivolous, but they’re NOT. During the cold war when Soviet leaders stayed in Blair House, the florists were instructed to change the flowers in every room EVERY time the guests moved to another room. EVERY time. The idea was to make the point that America is a country of limitless riches and resources. With flowers!

Well, I’m really looking forward to being on the Lawn on Wednesday. I hope the Obamas get the same great weather for outdoor events we always did – except for poor Tony Blair who came in an ice storm … and regardless of weather, it’s always an honor to be at the White House!

Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House

I was all set to provide the expert commentary on the event on C-SPAN tonight, but the President’s toast was 45 minutes late and it took away  my 10 minutes!  Next time please be more punctual, Mr. President!

The dinner looked beautiful.  apple green table cloths, violet roses and orchids in low, gold bowls, violet stemware and THREE different Presidential chinas: the Eisenhower base plates with the wide gold band on the rim, the Hillary Clinton china with pale yellow and gold rims, and a china I don’t know, from George and Laura Bush.

Three hundred twenty guests dined in a tent set up on the South Lawn, which is something we did a LOT for the Clintons.  I carefully noted they installed a floor.  ONE time we didn’t do that, and it rained, and the guests had to step through mud and soggy grass to get to their tables – a lot of expensive gowns and shoes were ruined, and it was awful.  I guess that lesson is carefully settled with the White House Ushers, and they’ll never do that again!

I am surprised that the President, who I greatly admire, seems not to be well advised on protocol and etiquette.  Last week he bowed to the Emperor of Japan while holding out his hand to shake – a very awkward and silly move.  You may have seen the smile on the Emperor’s face, the polite Japanese equivalent of rolling on the floor laughing.  How did that happen?  The Chief of Protocol, Capricia Marshall, was Social Secretary to the Clintons and is a very smart and capable woman.  Surely she advised the President to simply shake hands?  Americans DO NOT BOW to foreign leaders.  We fought a revolution that pretty much settled that!

And then, at the State Dinner, the Indian PM offered his toast, in honor of the President, Mrs. Obama and the American people, and the President took a glass and drank!  No. No NO!  You never drink to yourself!  Someone toasts in your honor and you smile and nod while everyone else sips!  No.

But that’s a miniscule thing to criticize when the rest of this important and high-profile event went so well.  Congratulations to the White House Visitors Office and Social Office for pulling off their first – and therefore most difficult and stressful – State Visit.

White House State Dinners are the most exclusive, elegant events in Washington, and the highest-level expression of diplomacy and protocol.  And even with all that, they’re a lot of FUN!

The planning starts with the guest list, and this may be the hardest part – ‘cause EVERYONE wants to come, and there’s just not enough room.  The State Dining Room is the traditional venue, but it only seats 140 at round tables of 10.  That may sound like a lot, but it’s not when you factor in all the politicians who have to be invited, the diplomats from our government and the guest country, the major supporters who naturally expect an invitation, and the celebrities who liven up any dinner party.  Diplomats and politicians by themselves would make a mighty dull party, so let’s hear it for the actors, actresses, musicians, writers, poets, painters and assorted creative people who spark it all up!

To make room for more guests the dinner can be moved to a tent on the South Lawn, and that’s what the Obamas are doing, with 400 guests coming on Tuesday for the PM of India.

The Social Office solicits guest suggestions from major White House departments, and I remember sitting in some of these meetings as names were offered and accepted or cut.  I especially remember the meeting for Hungary, when someone suggested a major film maker of Hungarian descent.  I couldn’t believe my ears – this guy had produced and directed a scummy movie about strippers, and then went on TV to urge young teens to evade the NC17 rating by sneaking in to his movie.  Not a perfect White House guest, and I let them all know it.

Beautiful calligraphed invitations go out about a month before, and there’s still plenty of begging from people who absolutely, positively HAVE to be on that list!  Sometimes that works, but usually not.

Major planning begins months in advance on the menu, décor and entertainment.  The White House chef does research on the taste preferences and dislikes of the visiting Head of State.  State Dept has to ask about allergies, ‘cause God forbid a guest gets sick.  Sample menus are suggested to the First Lady, and the dishes that appeal to her are prepared for a tasting, with the Social Secretary and anyone else they want to include.  The pastry chef does research too, and is expected to come up with something so spectacular the guests will all gasp when it’s brought to the table.

The White House has its own Flower Shop, and there’s a new head florist this year who’s also doing her research about what colors and flowers are appropriate for a specific country.  White, for example, is not a good choice for Japan, because there it’s a color of mourning.  Which china will Mrs. Obama choose – the Reagan red and gold, or the Hillary Clinton pale yellow and gold?  Maybe both, to serve 400 guests!

It’s a great honor for an entertainer to be asked to perform at a State Dinner, even though they only get about 20 minutes (Washington politicians have short attention spans.)  And they don’t get paid; they do it for the prestige.  Sometimes the performance is about purely American styles of music and dance, and sometimes it’s about the traditional forms of the guest country as they’ve been adopted and adapted by American artists.  The King of Morocco loves jazz, so he got the Modern Jazz Quartet.  The President of Argentina got an American ensemble, QuinTango, playing tango, and American actor Robert du Vall dancing tango with his Argentine fiancé, and famous Argentine tango dancers Pablo Veron and his elfin and elegant partner.  Since Hillary knew I loved tango, she asked me to arrange the entertainment, and it was the most exciting night of my life!

More about this in the next blog post!

I dance with tango god Pablo Veron at the Argentine State Dinner