Wild Guess: You’re President of the United States
It might seem like the road to the White House is an unending Halloween fright show, but in 1956 First Lady Mamie Eisenhower couldn’t have imagined how creepy things would get. She was the first resident to decorate the State Dining Room for a Halloween luncheon she hosted that year for the wives of White House staff members (is it possible the entire WH staff was male? Scary).
Since that time, each administration has put their own personal touches on the Halloween festivities, with private affairs making way for public spectacles spilling out onto the White House lawn.
John and Caroline Kennedy were the first children of a President to trick-or-treat at private White House parties. I imagine their bags were stuffed to overflowing.
The Nixon administration was apparently very social. They were the first to host star-studded public Halloween events, with family members in costume welcoming children from human services organizations, schools and hospitals.
The 600 children attending the “Bush 41” party on the South Lawn in 1989 got more than candy to chew on when George H. W. Bush told them about the ghost of a former President (Abraham Lincoln) often seen roaming freely about the White House rooms.
(My favorite Lincoln ghost story involves British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, climbing out of the White House bathtub stark naked, smoking a cigar, stopped in his (wet) tracks by the ghost of Lincoln sitting calmly by the fireplace in his old bedroom.)
The Clintons may yet again host a White House Halloween blow-out. In 1993 the Power Couple, with Bill at the helm, dressed as James and Dolly Madison at a party in the East Room of the White House where friends (the Trumps?) and family also celebrated Hillary’s October 26th birthday.
Somehow I don’t see the Clinton’s included on next year’s Halloween party guest list should Donald Trump pull out a win on November 8th, but no matter. The party will be HUGE, really HUGE, with or without them.
But if you don’t believe the polls or can’t wait until November 8th for the final outcome of this interminable campaign, you might be interested in a totally random, unscientific study.
Since Richard Nixon first ran for President in 1968, the candidate whose Halloween mask sells the most is “far more likely to win the election.”
According to Savers/Value Village, a for-profit, global thrift retailer currently stocked with a massive selection of Halloween costumes and decor, Trump masks (76%) are outselling Clinton masks (69%) by 7 percentage points.
And while that may be bad news for the Clinton campaign, it’s fabulous news for costume sellers. This year, the duel between a billionaire businessman and the first woman ever to run for President has the candidates’ masks flying off the shelves, selling at twice the rate of other Halloween merchandise.
If you have an ounce of energy left, you might want to hurry and make your mask selection before Monday. The outcome of this election may depend on it.
Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140
White House Halloween Parties Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Nixon Adminsitration Mamie Eisenhower George H. W. Bush John Kennedy Caroline Kennedy Savers/Value Village
