Disappointed Daughters

The Daughters of the American Revolution have been on edgy terms with the White House ever since Franklin Roosevelt reminded them, in 1938, that "all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants." Harry Truman did not help matters in 1952 by suggesting that the ladies send a committee to count the bars of bullion at Fort Knox when they had expressed suspicion that some of the gold might be missing. So it was no wonder that the D.A.R. preened itself last year when Dwight Eisenhower came to address its annual meeting, the first President to do so in 16 years. Said a satisfied delegate: "We've come into our own at last."

But the 64th "Continental Congress" of the D.A.R., which met in Washington last week, was in for another disappointment. Although they passed resolutions condemning some of President Eisenhower's programs, e.g., the atoms-for-peace plan, the Daughters were ready with a whole tableful of surprise gifts for the Eisenhowers, mostly the products of D.A.R. handicraft projects. When Presidential Aide Bernard Shanley brought regrets that the President (who was busy at the White House) and the First Lady (who was at the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg) could not come, there was a moment of silence, and then only a barely polite smattering of applause. Sniffed President General Gertrude S. Carraway: "We've been looking for him to come since last January."

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