Free The First Lady of Radio by Stephen Drury Smith

the Park Service.
    The laundry of the bedrooms and the table linen is paid for as one of the items of maintenance, but personal laundry is paid for out of the president’s own pocket in exactly the same way as food for the family and the servants and private guests. Stamps for personal letters, personal telegrams, and telephone calls are all paid for by the president and myself. Official communications must be signed by a secretary and the official mail must go out through the secretaries.
    Any purchase for the White House, if it is a large one, must be handled through the Supplies and Warehouse Section of the National Park Service. Specifications are prepared and formal bids received and contracts awarded to the low bidders. For small purchases and emergencies, the chief of the Supplies and Warehouse Section telephones or sends one of his assistants to the various stores to obtain informal bids on the articles to be purchased. The president is authorized under the appropriation act to buy direct without securing bids or going through the Supplies and Warehouse Section, if he so desires. But as neither the president nor his wife have much time for personal shopping the more formal way is usually adhered to.
    Immediately upon receiving anything for the White House, the article is duly recorded and entered in an inventory. All changes in White House property are accounted for on the inventory and presented annually to the president for his approval. This is in accordance with a provision in a section of a certain statute, 773–774.
    You may see by this that housekeeping in the White House is a little complicated. When you buy any such things as a chair or table, or even new hangings for the formal rooms, it is customary to request the advice of the commissioner of fine arts. This is a wise practice, as it keeps theserooms harmoniously furnished, but it does add to the complications when so many people are consulted. Of course, gifts are frequently sent to the White House, either of furniture or china or hangings or rugs or paintings. These are, at once, referred to the Commission of Fine Arts, for if they are to be permanently placed in the White House, they have to be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and accepted by an act of Congress.
    Now as to the less formal duties of housekeeping, as far as possible, staple articles are bought wholesale and as the number of people in the White House is very great, a great many things are bought. In large quantities, a great many things are also sent in as presents, such as hams, game, fruit, et cetera. These are all passed on, of course, by the Secret Service and nothing is allowed to come to the president’s table which has not been carefully gone over. A large storeroom houses the supplies and the housekeeper keeps a complete list of things as they are given out to the kitchen. She also tries to buy fresh things as far as possible from the markets around Washington and she does her shopping herself.
    A very careful housecleaning is done during the summer months, besides a complete inventory of furnishings taken every June. One cannot be a lighthearted and happy-go-lucky housekeeper in the White House, for there is the weight of responsibility which always goes with handling anything which does not belong to you and which belongs really to the people of the United States. However, there is a certain pride in doing it all in a manner which will conform with the dignity of tradition, and at the same time preserve the simplicity which should exist in a democracy.

13.
    â€œWhat It Means to Be the Wife of the President”
    The Pond’s Program
    Wednesday, April 21, 1937, 7:15–7:30 p.m. (NBC Blue Network)
    Eleanor Roosevelt launched a new radio series for Pond’s Cold Cream in the spring of 1937. The national economy had improved markedly since the depths of the Depression. American productivity rose above pre-1929 levels for the first time. Payrolls and