Carterland's Fifth Estate

Jimmy Carter's election victory has set off a second race for power in Washington--this one social, but contested every bit as vigorously as the political campaign that brought the Georgians to power. The struggle, waged chiefly in and around a handful of Georgetown drawing rooms, is over who will become the new doyennes of capital society. The contest has some importance as well as entertainment value in Washington, a company town in which hostesses constitute a sort of fifth estate; they bring together the men (and women) of power to get to know each other better and sometimes to make history at the dinner table.

This is one Washington institution that Carter is not likely to be able to change and may even help perpetuate. Says Pamela Harriman, wife of Democratic Elder Statesman Averell Harriman: "We are all going to do more or less what we've always done, but with new faces, of course."

The Harrimans have been one of the main social bridges linking old Washington and the new Administration; they held one of the first post-Inauguration dinner parties for the Carter crew. Another bridge builder is Liz Stevens, wife of George Stevens, the director of the American Film Institute; many Carter friends and staffers were at her party for Tom Brokaw, host of NBC's Today show. Other partygivers in Washington, where the sitdown, candlelight dinner still prevails, have duly noted that the Harrimans and the Stevenses both served buffet style, in keeping with the Carter crowd's informal manner.

Some other would-be social bridges have been campaigning, with varying degrees of zeal, for roles as certified Carter hostesses. One of them is Vicki Bagley, wife of an heir to the Reynolds tobacco fortune. Vicki, 33, and Husband Smith Bagley, 41, moved to Washington from Winston-Salem, N.C., almost two years ago. They paid $650,000 for a big house in Georgetown, added a tennis court and other amenities, and eventually carved themselves a niche as big Carter boosters. It clicked. Says Vicki: "Six months after we were here, we were associated with Carter and all the dinnerparty invitations started coming."

The Bagleys are not close chums of the President--he showed up at their house for a fund raiser during the campaign and rented their estate on St. Simons Island, Ga., for two post-election vacations. Nonetheless, Vicki claims a "political friendship" and plans to work on it. "It's very exciting," she says. "You're meeting at night with people who have made history during the day." She may have a few formal dinners but prefers a more casual style: "With Carter in the White House, it will be more acceptable."

Another entry in the Carter social steeplechase is Alabama-born Yolande Fox, 44. She is a former Miss America (1951), the widow of a film executive who died 13 years ago and a constant companion of Cherif Guellal, the former Algerian ambassador to the U.S. Her first effort at entertaining for the Carter circle was a dinner for Andrew Young, Carter's U.N. ambassador. Yolande owns three houses in Georgetown: the 18-room digs she occupies with Guellal; a second home, now rented by LaBelle and Bert Lance, director of Carter's Office of Management and Budget; and a summer house with a pool. She laughs at Washington's formality ("Do you believe those invitations that come six weeks ahead? You might have swine flu by the time the day rolls around!") and likes to entertain in blue jeans.

Then there is Barbara Howar, a witty Washington fixture since the Johnson days who is currently co-host of CBS-TV's new Who's Who show. Lately she and Gerald Rafshoon, the Atlanta adman who worked for Carter during the campaign, have been a number. Howar expects the Georgians to bring some needed zing to the capital. Says she: "It's a frontier town again, and that's Washington at its best." Still another potential survivor is blonde Page Lee Hufty, 29, a member of an old moneyed family, who paints, rides, plays tennis and is one of the most eligible bachelor girls in town. She finds the Carter people to be "fairly young, gregarious and open--I hope they stay that way."

Down-Home Profile. Administration insiders say the hosts that the Carters will see most are the Lances. No other members of the White House family are likely to emerge as social lions (most Carter staffers, says Vicki Bagley, "have an intense feeling for work rather than play"). But the Lances have both the wherewithal (from Atlanta banking) and the flair to become the Administration's top entertainers. So far, they have kept a down-home profile. The eleven-room house they rent from Yolande Fox is considerably smaller than their 40-room mansion in Atlanta, where they entertain elegantly in a dining room that can seat 50 people. Their Washington phone has a listed number--a rarity in high Government circles--and is often answered by Bert himself.

The Lances plan to hold their entertaining to dinners for six or eight. "I'll do the cooking," says LaBelle, and only wine and soft drinks will be served. Says Bert: "If all they're coming for is a drink, there are plenty of bars out there." Their guests will not be drawn from any list. Explains LaBelle: "I hope we're beyond that. That's silly. If someone invites us out, I hope it's because they like us."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.