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Show Tvice-Told Wliite Heuse Tole Heboid John Adams Hung Clothes On Limb, Swam in Potomac By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WASHINGTON. At a recent press and radio conference, one of the reporters ribbed the President about the balcony he was building on the White House, which the Washington fine arts commission objects to as destroying the architec-i architec-i tural beauty of the building. Someone suggested he might conduct a "back porch" political campaign cam-paign from it. Mr. Truman came right back with the remark that it was a front porch. That, in a sense, is correct, for the southern facade of the White House originally was intended as the front of the building. Of late, the President has been given to historical anecdotes -he's a great student ' of American his- tory and this 'time he told us a ' story which I have heard before be-fore from presidential presi-dential lips anent the White House "front yard" of other days. In the time of President Presi-dent Adams, the story goes, a canal ca-nal skirted the I lowered edge of $ "According to Adams' diary . . . 'She continues to make herself her-self noxious to many persons; tolerated by some and feared by others, by her deportmant and her books; treating all with a familiarity which often passes for impudence, insulting those who treat her with incivility, and then lampooning them in her books. Stripped of all her sex's delicacy, but unable to forfeit for-feit its privilege of gentle treatment treat-ment to others, she goes about like a viragoerrant in enchanted armour, and redeems herself from the cravings of indulgence by the notoriety of her eccentricities eccen-tricities and the forced currency they give her publications, . . "Although Adams chronicled all unusual incidents while swimming, and had referred to Mrs. Royal in his diary, he makes no mention of the supposed meeting of this woman while swimming. "While Adams lived in the White House, Mrs. Royall was a resident of Washington, but travelled about most of the time. She was known as an author at that time, but not as a newspaper woman. Her journalistic career began two years after Adams retired as President. In 1831 she established a newspaper aptly named 'Paul Try,' and later she founded another small newspaper, the 'Huntress.' It does not seem possible pos-sible that Anne Royall could have interviewed President Adams, at least in her capacity as a journalist. "Adams was mentioned In 'Paul Pry' just once, on July 28, 1832. There are references to him in the August 1, 1840; August Au-gust 20, 1842; December 14, 1844; February 6, 1847, and the March 4, 1848, issues of the 'Huntress.' Mrs. Royall also mentioned Adams in her 'Sketches,' p. 166, and in her 'Black Book,' p. 126. But nowhere did the woman who was supposed to have been involved in the Potomac shore incident ever refer to any interview inter-view with John Quincy Adams. "The supposed Incident still makes a good story, and especially, I suppose, when newspaper men are interviewing the President, and when news' is somewhat dull. However, How-ever, I cannot believe that any of the known facts can justify the truth of this old story." 1 But, I insist, it's a good story and I, for one, will not disillusion any President as to its authenticity. ' BAUKIIAGE the grounds, and that gentleman was fond of slipping down to its banks for a swim au naturel in the early morning hours. There was, in those days, said Mr. Truman, a certain female journalist jour-nalist who had been unable to get an interview with the President. So she slipped down to the canal bank at dawn, waited until he was immersed, im-mersed, then sat on his clothes and stayed there until he answered her questions, decently draped in the waters. I repeated the story on the air as Mr. Truman told it, and in ihe next day's mail received a letter from Mr. Daniel J. Kelly Jr., of South Bend, Ind., who is a collector of early historical newspapers. Wrote Mr. Kelly: "I enjoyed your reference in a recent broadcast to the newspaper woman who sat on President Adams' clothes until he agreed to give her an interview. "The President Adams was John Quincy Adams, and the woman newspaper reporter was Anne Royall. Roy-all. However, the story does not conform con-form to the facts, and you might mention this to President Truman the next time the story is brought up. "John Quincy Adams was an ardent ar-dent and accomplished swimmer and he enjoyed a daily plunge into the Potomac even while President. He was also an ardent diarist, and his diary contains many a mention of his dips in the river. "Anne Royall was Adams' Washington Wash-ington contemporary a vicious writer and a malevolent journalist. In 1829 she was convicted of being a "common scold.' Her first contact con-tact with Adams was in 1824 when she called at the White House to demand de-mand a pension as a Revolutionary war widow. Adams mentioned her in a very uncomplimentary manner in his diary. |