1 the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs

The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Program Foreign Service Spouse Series ELIZABETH MOFFAT WHITE Interviewed by: Jewell Fenzi Initial interview date: July 26, 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS Education and Early Years c. 9 0- 920 Attitude toward mobile life influenced by two women Years at Miss Chapin)s School in New York City Chapin first school to mandate bloomers for sports Preparedness for social demands of Foreign Service Demands of social life in Argentina ,etreating to bed when -teary- .Mrs. ,obert /. 0liss1 Advice to Congressman 0acon about fatigue Pierrepont Moffat)s problems in Protocol Office Successful dinner with 2 guests in ,iga, 4atvia 5alue of 4atin background for language study Entertaining unsophisticated 0altic guests 6oat)s milk for Margaret in 5ene7uela Traveling by horseback into Nepal /omen and girls dressing to -look pregnant- Dances and -dead sheep polo- in Afghanistan Social customs, attitudes toward women in Calcutta Assignments in India and 6ermany 920s No need for volunteer activities in Calcutta Feeding programs for children in post //II Europe Singing in choir in Calcutta, bridge and tennis Erroneous assumption of 6erman nobility about Hitler Hitler shoots ,oehm9 tennis in spite of political events Incidents with :ewish friends /hite)s advice to US6 that 6ermany is rearming is unheeded Calcutta assignment, Margaret remains in 0erlin Margaret to India with her grandmother Travel experiences in Kashmir and Pakistan 1 man with elephantitis auto accident driving rain cattle in the road hitting an antelope Developing tertiary malaria as result of trip Margaret . 51, moonlight and her escort .471 How Margaret meets Tap 0ennett Description of Caracas in the 920s Personal memories and Assignment Morocco 940s 0angkok in the )20s, in the )A0s, and change in women)s role Changes in travel methods to Nepal, Tibet :ack appointed ,esident Minister in Tangier Circuitous travel to Tangier because of //II 0erlin to 0aghdad railway and extreme heat Pierrepont interested in foreign affairs, Abbot in local politics, EM/hite in people and ideas Travels in Turkey, Yugoslavia, air raid warnings in ,ome Three week trip from Calcutta to Tangier, -always a little bit homesick for the last post- Change in Embassy si7e after //II, large staff in Peru Only Embassy proper invited to Bmas party -From then on it .diplomatic life1 wasn)t as much fun- /hite learns through local press that /m. Pauley be his successor in Peru :ack /hite)s 9 A letter stating that Consular Service more important than Diplomatic as it dealt with trade and people Observations about Alexander Kirk Comments on state of the planet, conservation, food Margaret)s education, principally school in Argentina Social Comments and ,evolution in 5ene7uela 920s Conservative upbringing, using lipstick for first time in Argentina, cutting hair in ,iga 0o Peep costume in Metropolitan Museum, dislike of her wedding gown 0lue dress for /hite House dinner from /oodward C 4othrop Her costume jewelry and MarDorie Merriweather Post)s diamonds Discussion of Henry /hite house on Crescent Place Discussion of Mrs. Henderson and Prohibition ,evolution in 5ene7uela Haiti in 920s Peru in the 920s Travel and development of primitive art and handicrafts Hiram 0ingham and Machu Picchu 2 Archaeology in Peru and textile designs Embassy politics in Peru Accelerated heart rate in Andes, Margaret bothered by altitude .humor1 Change in style of accommodations at Machu Picchu -Seating- famous people at dinner parties in Heaven Discussion of languages, travel, dance in India Conclusion Social work in India, a tableau vivant for A0th anniversary of 0ritish Y/CA in India -It)s what you bring to a thing always. I remember hearing two people talk about the same thing. One woman made it so romantic. Of course, that was my problem -- it always was -ordinary-, -everyday-. I said I couldn)t write because everything was perfectly -normal-. /hite-Meyer House, Assignment 0erlin Discussion of Henry /hite)s /ashington, DC houses ,enting a house in 0erlin 6erman nobility attitude toward Hitler Description of domestic staff in 0erlin Description of the house in 0erlin Selecting furniture from Meridian House Hunts at Count Seherr Thoss estate .brother-in-law1 ,oehm roughs up nobility at Stahlhelm meeting Dinner party given by Hitler when he became Chancellor Description of Hitler)s eyes Hitler kills ,oehm, reaction of :ewish friends Only small talk at dinners given by 6oebbels, 6oering Traveling through 6ermany with her Mother, Margaret Story of the governess, MiEuette)s, wartime experiences Problems with liner President Harding Description of life at A24 Crescent Place Demands of diplomatic life, need to -self-nourish- Discussion of Mary Henderson, Henderson)s Castle Discussion of portraits of Henry /hite and his wife Addendum: Notes taken immediately following Interview 2 describing Mrs. /hite)s first flight from 4ima to Mollendo, Peru, to arrive in 0uenos Aires ahead of president-elect and Mrs. Herbert Hoover. INTERVIEW 3 Q: This is Jewell Fenzi on Tuesday, July 26, 1988, I am interviewin Elizabeth Moffat White, Betty White, at my home in Washin ton. Mrs. White 'at a e 90) has come by bus from the Eastern Shore 'of Maryland) this mornin for the interview, and I am loo,in forward to tal,in to her about her husband-s and her distin uished career from 1921, from Mrs. White-s point of view, until the mid, late 1940s. Let-s be in with the two women who had an enormous influence on your life. /HITE: Yes, I was going to say that I first went to visit my brother, GPierrepont MoffatH in /arsaw in 920 with my mother as a young girl Gof 22H. And the first person I met was the wife of the dean of the GdiplomaticH corps, and she had a very great influence on me because she couldn)t bear the country she was in. She couldn)t say anything bad enough about it, whereas the country before that was Euite nice. And then I was told that in the country before she was just as against that country. And I said, if I am ever going to be married to a diplomat, and I don)t think I will be, I am going to enDoy the country while I am in it. The other woman who had tremendous influence on me was an American woman who went to 5ene7uela with her husband, who was on a business trip. They went for two weeks and stayed six weeks, Gand kept putting off coming homeH, and eventually stayed for twenty-eight years. She had never learned Spanish, she had never settled, she had never lived. And so I said wherever I am I am going to dig in immediately, I shall start learning a language immediately, I shall get my house and start making it attractive immediately. 0ecause even if you are only going to stay two years, at least you will have lived those two years. Now of course when we were in the Foreign Service, the Foreign Service was very small. And we got to know each other very well, but we didn)t see each other too often. /e were more with the people of the country. If there was an American colony, we would see them too, but we would meet the people of the country. For instance, in Argentina, I was so in the society that I never went with the other Americans to the night clubs and restaurants because the Argentine men there went with other women Gnot their wivesH, and therefore Argentine ladies could not go. And I was so in Argentine society that I didn)t dare go. The Americans used to go there but actually, I didn)t really care. During our fifth year there, the Argentines who had come back from Europe because they could no longer get their money out of Argentina, said if we must be exiled to this miserable town we)ll have some night clubs, so overnight four or five night clubs sprang up, and those I went to because they were possible, everybody went to them. Although the AcciIn CatIlica was very much against it. Q: I was interested in a number of thin s, one of them was that you grew u. in New 2or, City, you went to Miss Cha.in-s. Was Miss Cha.in-s more than a finishin school4 /HITE: It started with kindergarten and I entered in the third grade, and the highest class 4 was the eighth. In other words, I graduated in 9 A, the first class to graduate was 9 , and it went straight up with me. I was just five years behind. Q: Now was this pro ressive education for women in its day4 /HITE: No, no, it was not progressive. It was a good classical education. 0ut she was very advanced in her ideas. She was the first person of that type of school to have sports. She had a real PhysEd teacher. /hen I first came there we had -- what did she call it -- we had to do elocution. /e had to recite and do various other things, and we were told to put one heel in the hollow of the other foot, stand on the ball of your feet, and your hips would stick out, and chest come up which of course was good Edwardian practice, but I grew up in the time of Irene Castle, and the Debutante Slouch. So we would stick our hips out in the class, and then go slouching the rest of the time. Then she got Miss Yates, the physical education teacher, that was in 9 - 2, and my grandfather had died in November 9 , so my mother put me in a black dress.

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