cover image At Ease in the White House: The Uninhibited Memoirs of a Presidential Social Aide

At Ease in the White House: The Uninhibited Memoirs of a Presidential Social Aide

Stephen M. Bauer. Carol Publishing Corporation, $19.95 (324pp) ISBN 978-1-55972-061-8

An Army careerist, Bauer served for six years as a social aide in the White House under presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, then as a military aide with the official title of administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy under Reagan and Bush. With Leighton, coauthor of My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy , he here gives the details--actually, far too many--of planning and executing White House receptions, only eventually getting around to upper-echelon gossip. Bauer found the Nixons and Gerry Ford to be delightful people, Betty Ford exceedingly jealous of her husband, the Carters parsimonious and not likable, the Reagans very attuned to pomp and wealth. and the Bushes pleasant. His favorite White House guests included Mamie Eisenhower and Pearl Bailey; his least favorite was Frank Sinatra. Bauer and Leighton don't know when to call a halt to their informative chitchat--but informative it is. (Apr.)