D.C. Political Hoopla
A number of South Fork residents - particularly Democrats - will travel to Washington this weekend for the 53rd Presidential inauguration. Although the swearing-in ceremony is intended to be more patriotic than partisan, the Democrats will have a larger presence and reason to celebrate: Bill Clinton is the first Democrat since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be elected to two terms.
Indeed, said Judith Hope, the State Democratic Committee chairwoman and an East Hampton resident, "there's a keen sense of history."
Democratic insiders who attended the 1992 inauguration and this summer's Democratic Convention in Chicago said they expected special attention to be paid to Vice President Al Gore at the inauguration this year since he is in line as his party's Presidential candidate in 2000.
Running For Committee
Though others will return home as soon as the events are over, Ms. Hope will be staying in the nation's capital. On Tuesday she will attend a meeting of the Democratic National Committee, at which new chairs and a national chair will be elected.
She will be running for a position herself, hoping to be chosen a member of the national organization's Executive Committee.
Besides official events sponsored by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, there will be nearly a hundred other events, many of them free, inside the Beltway this weekend. They will begin two days before the inaugural ceremony, whose theme is "An American Journey: Building a Bridge to the 21st Century."
Friedan Speaking
Betty Friedan, a part-time Sag Harbor resident, will be among those taking part in ancillary events. She will speak Sunday afternoon at the Holocaust Museum, as one of several "great thinkers" who have been invited to discuss the major issues our country will face in the new millennium.
"What a wonderful idea to not just have fireworks, but great thinkers," Ms. Friedan said this week. She said she hadn't thought she would be among those chosen to speak, "but I was!" Her topic is "Beyond Identity Politics: Toward a New Vision of Community."
Ms. Friedan, who attended the inaugurations of Presidents Carter and Clinton, will attend the ceremony again this year, as well as the New York Inaugural Ball, a women's inaugural ball, and, like many other East End women going to Washington this weekend, a benefit lunch for a women's political group called EMILY's List.
Fair And Fireworks
The public events will start with "Harmony in America," a presentation on the Mall of speakers, music, and ethnic foods which Ms. Hope called "a giant fair." In addition there will be a fireworks display and a public gala at the USAir Arena in nearby Landover, Md.
Those with invitations to the New York State Democratic Committee Ball will find it at a "choice venue" rather than 1993's "lousy site," Ms. Hope was happy to report. It will be at the Kennedy Center, which will be shared by the Democratic Committees of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Ms. Hope said she expected at least 1,000 people in attendance, and probably more. The ticket price, $150, would cover costs, she added.
Presidential Gala
Invitations to the Presidential Gala on Sunday night, which will be televised nationally, were sent to some 50,000 people, though only about 14,000 are expected. Tickets range from $100 to $3,000, as the Inaugural Committee tries to raise about $30 million to pay for the weekend's events in addition to the several million taxpayer dollars allotted.
Among those who will be seen in Washington during the weekend are Susan and Alan Patricof, who live on Huntting Lane, East Hampton, and in Manhattan. Ms. Patricof, who has been active in both the President's campaigns, said she had every intention of attending the Presidential Gala, the State Committee Ball, and the inaugural ceremony itself, which she called "just so exciting."
Baldwins Bow Out
Despite the tuxedos and gowns, however, Ms. Hope sprinkled a dose of reality on the weekend's coming events.
"They're just big," she said. "They're not as elegant as they sound to be. You lose a lot of elegance when you put a thousand people in a room."
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, the actors, who divide their time among Amagansett, Manhattan, and Los Angeles, attended the last inauguration but are not going this year.
"I wish we were going," Mr. Baldwin said this week. He added that he hoped to "hook up" with the President and Vice President sometime after the inauguration, however, noting that he had met them at fund-raisers about twice a year for the past four or five years.
Ticketless Attendees
Those without tickets but with warm coats can watch the swearing-in, at which Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will officiate, from the sidelines.
"When you sit there freezing . . . and watch the President raise his right hand . . . you do get goose bumps," Ms. Hope said.
Symbolically, she said, the inauguration is "the orderly transition of government, and not a single shot has been fired, not a single life has been lost. . . . It's a remarkable system that has withstood 200 years of trial and is still working."
Other East End residents who confirmed that they would be there are Barbara Lee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel of Southampton and Manhattan, who held Democratic fund-raising parties at their Gin Lane house last summer, and Jeff Sachs of Southampton and Manhattan, who plans to go to the ball hosted by the Democratic Committees of Tennessee, Vice President Gore's home state, as well as New York's.
More South Forkers
Others from the South Fork who were invited are Stanley Fink, a retired New York Democratic politician, Peter Tufo, a part-time Southampton resident, Laura Ross, who has a house in East Hampton, and Robert Zimmerman, who is a part-time Bridgehampton resident.
And, having attended every Democratic Convention and inauguration since 1972, Betty Schlein of Southampton said her "very political family" had convinced her to make the trip again.
"I'm a card-carrying Democrat," Ms. Schlein said. Though she won't attend the balls this year, she said of the scene, "I adore it."