| Show white house social season curtailed by european war president attends all receptions but stay long WP washington ASHINGTON when VV president resident and mrs roosevelt entertained the diplomatic corps at that strained reception in december it marked the start of the most abbreviated social season the white house has seen since world war days five state dinners have been abandoned and in their place five short receptions are being arranged reason for this short calendar is the european war which has commanded so much of the presidents attention that he was loath to give up several complete evenings to social pleasures moreover the tension among diplomats created by the war made it inadvisable to risk incidents by entertaining envoys at a lavish din ner during the world war while the united states was still neutral this problem was solved by holding two diplomatic dinners one tor for the germans and their allies and another for britain and france and their allies entertain all agencies the judiciary reception january 8 is the second major event on this seasons calendar to be followed by similar affairs for congress the a army rm y and navy and another tor for all other departments and agencies not represented at the first four receptions the state department gets its recognition at the diplomatic reception cep tion while justice department officials are invited to the judiciary event the Roosevel ts are breaking no traditions by curtailing their social calendar for this function has always been expanded or curtailed in keeping with exigencies of the mo ment and social feeling in washington the diplomatic affair traditionally the most colorful reached a new low this year with the smallest crowd in many seasons moreover riot of color usually provided by gold braid jeweled medals and brilliant uniforms was lacking foreign diplomats are turning more and more to americanized dress for such occasions receptions are now more informal than during previous administrations trat ions partly became the roose belts are made that way and partly because of necessity the grand march down the broad stairway has been eliminated instead the president reaches the blue room by way of an elevator and takes his place in the reception ln line later he goes upstairs alone and mrs roosevelt mingles with the guests |
