One Thousand Club tosses big inauguration party
Jessel, Sinatra and Welles among those attending ‘essentially social’ turnout
Washington (UP) – (Jan. 20)
The One Thousand Club, its thoughts already turned toward future political campaigns saw its man sworn in today, broke bread and sipped tea with him at the White House, and tonight threw itself a party with George Jessel, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles on hand, to keep things moving.
The members, some 300 of them, were having their reward for handing over $1,000 apiece to President Roosevelt’s fourth-term campaign. They attended the inauguration, the chicken salad luncheon which followed, and the White House tea and reception for Democratic Party leaders, contributors and wheel horses.
500 guests invited
The night party at the Statler Hotel, to which the members invited 500 guests, was “essentially social in character,” according to Welburn Mayock, a club trustee. But some of the activities which preceded it were definitely political.
The club, of which Mr. Roosevelt is a member – the President having staked $1,000 of his own money on his reelection – has aspirations of permanence. For two days, club officials and members have been sitting around in smoke-filled rooms thinking about future events, among them the 1946 Congressional elections.
“They are going to be tough ones for Democrats,” a member said.
Formed in Chicago last September, the club’s original purpose was simple and direct – to help elect Roosevelt and Truman. The idea was, if possible, to get 1,000 persons to contribute $1,000 each for a total of a million dollars.
The club fell short of this goal, however, and scraped together only $252,000, of which it still had $52,000 before paying for its party.
The million-dollar goal still stands, however, as something to shoot at in the future.
Charges denied
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Roosevelt’s opposition charged, in connection with the One Thousand Club that the Democrats were “selling privilege.”
The club retorted that it had “nothing to sell.”
As though to symbolize the purity, of the club’s intentions, Member Ferd McDuff of Seminole, Oklahoma, attended the inauguration clad entirely in white – except for a red necktie on which a hand-painted donkey was kicking an elephant over the Capitol Dome.