A Duchess
and a President
It was a
cold and bitter day when the Duchess of Devonshire confided
her thoughts to her diary. She and her husband were in Washington as
guests of the Kennedy family. It was the 20th of January
1961, the day of Jack Kennedy's inauguration.
The
Duchess's day had been divided into three parts. The swearing in at
the capitol, the march-past at the White House, and the ball in the
evening. And, each part of this interesting day had provided some
fascinating glimpses of a very similar, but totally
different culture. And, the first surprise came at the White House.
The Duchess
was very clearly upset by the way that everyone
completely ignored the prayers during the most solemn part of the
swearing-in ceremony, preferring, instead to move
around taking photos! But, what happened during the march-past at
the White House was clearly one very big shocker.
Whilst an
air force contingent was marching proudly by, one of
the airmen broke rank, took a snap of the President,
then fell back into line! Just imagine this happening in London!
But, there was still more to come, and it came from the top.
Whilst the
great march was marching majestically by, the President was drinking
coffee and eating chocolate biscuits! How strange! But, the ball was
full of pleasant surprises.
The Duchess
was very obviously taken by everyone's willingness to
speak to the press. Unlike in London
at the time,
there was no aggressive questioning, and journalists were very
respected people. But, there was still one more important impression.
The whole occasion was a melting
of rank. Whoever you were, you were important. Could this happen in
England?
And,
with this thought, the Duchess stopped writing and turned off the
light. She had had a very long and interesting day and was tired.
She had not only accompanied
the making of history, but had discovered great differences, too.
Conservative Britain and liberal America. But, what is liberal and
what is conservative? It's all a question of timing! What then was
conservative could easily be liberal now, and, of course, the other
way round as well!
Last summer, I read “Wait for Me”, the Duchess of Devonshire's
memoirs. It was a very stimulating and exciting read full of
not-too-distant-past-history. And, the characters involved still mean very much to very many people. “Wait for Me”,
by the Duchess of Devonshire is published by Picador, ISBN
978-0-312-61064-7 51800. I enjoyed it very much!
Vocabulary
accompanied (accompany/accompanied/accompanied)
– begleitet
broke rank - aus
der Reihe
treten
confided (confide/confided/confided)
- vertraut
contingent - Kontingent
glimpses
– Einblicke
inauguration -
Amtseinsetzung
melting - Schmelzen
swearing-in - Vereidigen
taken - bewegt
upset – mitgenommen
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