What happens when the President visits?
The countdown is on to C-Day. By the time this issue is published President Clinton will have hit the beaches in East Hampton. Preparations for the landing have been secret—at his end at least, as it usually is for the invader. People here, forewarned and expecting the encroachment on our territory, are taking cautionary measures, with plans to avoid certain locations where our paths might cross. There will be no face-offs on Further Lane or Town Lane. He will get the right of way.
I don’t recall reading about any incumbent Presidents outside of John Tyler who visited the Hamptons. Tyler did not, as certain stories have it, establish a “Summer White House” here, but he visited East Hampton in the summer of 1845. John F. Kennedy visited before he was elected President. According to some histories, he met the young Jacqueline Bouvier at one time in East Hampton—but the real meeting and romance began later in Washington when he was a member of Congress. George Washington certainly knew the area from a military perspective, from the time he commanded the Revolutionary Army and fought battles in western Long Island. But as far as I know he never slept here, as they say. As President, he commissioned the construction of the Montauk and Cedar Point lighthouses. And old boxwood shrubs in Sag Harbor and North Haven are said to be gifts of Martha Washington. Theodore Roosevelt, then a colonel, was in command of the Rough Riders, quartered in Montauk in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.
President Clinton will be busy with fundraising and perhaps with golf. If I were one of his handlers, I would want him to visit some of our historic sites. I think it would lend dignity and seriousness to his visit and be good for his image.
I’ve already seen some hints of security measures here in Georgica. Everyone in town is wondering what it is going to be like on the weekend. It is only in recent years that people here have started locking their doors and putting in alarm systems. I don’t think there are any more burglaries now than there used to be, but there are more people, more money and more cautionary urban attitudes. Lots of us still don’t lock our doors on a regular basis. When I asked Lys Marigold what she was doing about mail while on an extended trip abroad, she told me that since the front door was unlocked, the mail carrier would simply bring it in the house.
We are really a series of villages strung out along the Atlantic coast. The Hamptons, at the core, is composed of real communities, with many of the values and traditions that make small towns worth living in. That is the foundation on which we have constructed the lovely lifestyle we have. The celebrities and the glamour and the parties are one component of our lives here, and it is the part to which the world outside pays most attention. I admit—it makes living here distinctive and fun, but it is only one chapter in a rich and varied story.
I do not suppose President Clinton will feed the ducks at the Nature Trail, or sit in the shade at the pavilion at Main Beach, or see other small town aspects of East Hampton. He’ll have security guards on one side and the rich and famous on his other side. That, by necessity, is the nature of a Presidential fundraising trip.
In case you are avoiding politics, or even if you are going to the Alec Baldwin cocktail reception early evening, you should get to the free outdoor screening of “The Mighty”. The Hamptons International Film Festival is presenting the film under the stars at the high school practice field on Long Lane, Saturday at 9 P.M. To be released in the fall, the movie stars Sharon Stone and, according to Variety, could be “a breakout success”. Bring your own blanket. I go to this event every year, and it’s a wonderful way to watch a movie.