The Man in the Business Suit

THE INAUGURATION

F.D.R. is remembered for his navy blue cape, Eisenhower for his Homburg, and Kennedy for the jaunty way he carried the top hat that he really didn't want to wear. Lyndon Johnson wants to be remembered as the man in the business suit. In a break with prevailing custom, the White House announced that Johnson will attend the Inauguration wearing "an Oxford gray suit, black shoes and a fedora."

Johnson's decision took Vice President-elect Hubert Humphrey by surprise. Assuming that Johnson would wear the traditional cutaway, Hubert had already dropped by to see Washington Tailor Sam Scogna and get measured for the full-dress attire. Sam, forgetting that only spools rush in where tailors fear to thread, told everybody that the Vice President-elect was his customer for an inaugural outfit. Next thing Humphrey heard was a report that Tailor Sam was making a $175 cutaway for him. Making? cried Humphrey. I'm only renting one--for $ 12.50!

It took some time to get the misunderstanding straightened out, and the affair ruffled the Vice President-elect's usual good humor. Humphed he: "No. 1, it was a rental. No. 2, he just lost a good customer. No. 3, I'll even quit renting from him if the man can't keep his mouth shut. I've rented from Sam Scogna five or eight years. So have my sons. So has my staff. I've sent him a lot of business over the years, and he's just lost all of it."

Sam was saddened. He tried to explain that he was no longer in the rental business and that Humphrey just had not realized it. He was really very fond of Hubert, he insisted. In fact, said Sam gently, "I wouldn't rent a suit to the Vice President. I'd want him to have a new one."

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