THE PRESIDENCY: The White House Week: Jan. 11, 1926

¶Before Congress reassembled, the President was busy seeing members of that body. Senator Borah was with him one night for dinner. Senator Smoot dropped in with friends. Others came to see, to urge or to inquire.

¶Mrs. John B. Henderson, society leader in the Capital, recently looked upon modern fashions and found them bad, especially the skirts. Skirts should be ankle length she opined, and told it to the newspapers. An enterprising reporter went back to her for more opinions on account of certain information which he had: Mrs. Coolidge’s skirts hang seven to ten inches from the ground.

Mrs. Henderson was pained, exclaimed: “Let’s not pass judgment on her. I think she dresses very properly, and if all women followed her style the country would be better off. Mrs. Coolidge is a woman of tremendous common sense. I have not seen her in all types of costume, but I have never seen her when her dress was not correct in every respect.”

¶Major Coupal, White House physician, examined the President and pronounced him fit for the hard manual labor of the annual New Year’s reception.

¶At 11:00 a.m. on New Year’s day, President and Mrs. Coolidge entered the Blue Room of the White House and began to shake hands with the members of the Cabinet, the Director of the Budget, the diplomatic corps headed by its dean, Don Juan Riano y Gayangos, Ambassador from Spain, the Justices of the Supreme Court and subordinate judges, Senators and Representatives, officers of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, Coast and Geodetic Survey, patriotic organizations and plain citizens to the number of 3,130.* Secretary of Labor and Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Hoover and Mrs. Sargent were the only members of the Cabinet circle not present. In slightly more than three hours the ordeal of the President and his lady was past.

¶The President’s father, having lost the use of one leg (TIME, Jan. 4), suffered the loss of the use of the other. His condition was pronounced comfortable, not critical, but it was feared that he might not regain the use of his nether limbs.

¶Among recent visitors at the White House were three college boys from Dartmouth, the son of Congressman Louis T. McFadden of Pennsylvania, E. J. Duffy, editor of the Daily Dartmouth, and A. J. Oberlander, potent halfback.

¶ The President sent to Congress a request for an appropriation of $50,000 to enable U.S. representatives to attend a meeting preliminary to a Disarmament Conference to be called by the League of Nations (TIME, Jan. 4). He declared: “The general policy of this Government in favor of disarmament and limitation of armament cannot be emphasized too frequently. In accordance with that policy any measure having a tendency to bring about these results should receive our sympathy and support. . . .

“It is quite sufficient to note at this stage that the United States is merely invited to participate in a preliminary inquiry which may prepare the way for steps of a more definite and formal nature.

“Whether the condition and circumstances will prove such as to make it desirable for the United States to attend any conference or conferences which may eventually take place as a result of the labors of a preparatory commission or otherwise is a question which need not now be considered. . . .

“Participation in the work of the preparatory commission involves no commitment with respect to attendance upon any conference or conferences, and the attitude of this government in that regard can-not be defined in advance of the calling of such meeting.”

*The maximum attendance at a New Year’s reception was at Roosevelt’s last—over 10,000. In 1922 President Harding had 6,500 and got a swollen hand, while Mrs. Harding wore out three pairs of kid gloves. President and Mrs. Coolidge had 4,890 guests in 1924, and 3,900 last year. George and Martha Washington inaugurated the New Year’s reception (for invited guests) in her Court at the Executive Mansion in Manhattan. Andrew Jackson first opened the reception to the public.