Public Paces

While the Kennedys fought for their right to informality in their private lives, they went through their public diplomatic paces last week with the same zesty grace. At the first big White House wingding of the season, the President and First Lady greeted ambassadors and their wives as they sipped champagne and nibbled at small cakes. There were fires in all the fireplaces, and the flowers, said Mme. Herve Alphand, wife of the French ambassador, "looked as if they have been arranged by a human hand instead of by a florist." It was a warm and friendly gathering. President Kennedy in his new club coat and striped trousers managed to talk to almost every guest except Russian Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov. (Attorney General Bobby Kennedy did the family honors. Smiling Bobby invited Smiling Mike down to the Justice Department, "where we check up on Communist spies.")

Little Caroline Kennedy was almost an assistant hostess. Togged out in a white organdy dress embroidered with pink and green rosebuds ("It's my very best"), she had a smile for every visitor and tapped her foot delicately when the Marine Band played her own request: Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Said the First Lady, pleased by her daughter's White House social debut: "I'd much rather she learned these things firsthand than have her hear us talking about them upstairs."

At week's end the Kennedys deserted Washington and flew out by helicopter for their first visit to Glen Ora, their rented estate in Middleburg. Va. The press was told that there would be no news, no tours of the house, precious few beds in the nearby Red Fox Tavern for stubborn reporters. There were no weekend visitors. One morning Jackie went riding on her bay gelding, Bit of Irish, over bridle paths that had been specially cleared of snow. For the Kennedys, Glen Ora visits will be one more front in the fight for privacy and informality.

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