Home Notes

Thanks to Jackie Kennedy's antiques program, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and Teddy Roosevelt might recognize some of the White House trappings. But more recent Presidents would probably have a hard time finding their way around the place and its premises. For if the New Frontier has done nothing else, it has certainly changed 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue--and, for that matter, the ways of presidential life.

Take the White House swimming pool, once F.D.R.'s pride and joy. It used to have one wall with windows. But no longer. The windows have been filled in and in their place, as a gift from the President's father, is a mural depicting a glorious sunset scene of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. To keep dampness from peeling the sunset off the wall, Joe Kennedy had a special exhaust fan system installed.

Grass & Pooches. Then there is the famed Rose Garden. It is still the setting for many ceremonial occasions. The only thing is, it is no longer very rosy. Many rose plants have been removed and replaced with other flora; the idea is to keep the area in bloom all year round. The South Lawn, once a classic mixture of crab grass, Kentucky bluegrass and good old American weeds, has been plowed up and resodded with as deep a green carpet of bluegrass as ever a presidential helicopter dripped oil upon.

Elsewhere on the grounds are a tree house, a jungle gym, barrels, sandbox, swings and a playhouse--a veritable Disneyland for the Kennedy children and their lucky friends. As a menagerie, the White House rivals the Washington Zoo.

To be sure, Robin, a canary, died. Tom Kitten, a cat, was given away and died thereafter. A rabbit, presented to the President with the claim that he could play a trumpet, apparently went off on a toot and has not been seen in months.

But Tex and Macaroni, the ponies, graze contentedly on the lush grass. Caroline's Welsh terrier, Charlie, skitters happily around the place, and in nice weather lives in a house under the magnolia tree that Andy Jackson planted near the back door. Pushinka, a pooch who came as a present from Nikita Khrushchev, has had a hard time of it: he had a nervous breakdown, was shipped off to Walter Reed Hospital for treatment, but is back now. and is apparently hale and hearty.

Both dogs have a new friend, a German shepherd dog, gift of Joseph P. Kennedy.

His name is Clipper--pronounced Clippah.

Long & Short Hops. By far the most sensational new presidential appurtenance is an $8,000,000 Boeing VC-137C fan jetliner. The White House flatly denies rumors that it is equipped with a swimming pool and a sandbox. But it has almost everything else, including five lavatories, two galleys, three sitting rooms, and $2,000,000 worth of secret electronic gear that provides, among other things, instant communication with the White House. It can go 7,000 miles without refueling, stay aloft 13 1/4 hours, average 550 to 600 m.p.h.

The President's private quarters amidships include a bedroom with two beds and a desk, a sitting room with six chairs, a desk and a couch, and one of the two galleys. For short hops, there is a new fleet of jet helicopters, with wood-paneled cabins that are decorated with prints of old trains and clippah ships.

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