Society The Basics 14Th Edition Macionis Test Bank Full Chapter PDF

Society The Basics 14th Edition
Macionis Test Bank

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Macionis: Society: The Basics, 14/e
In this revision of the test bank, I have updated all of the questions to reflect changes in
Society: The Basics, 14th edition. In this revision, the questions are tagged according to
six levels of learning that move from lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The
six levels are:
REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material

UNDERSTAND: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas
APPLY: a question applying sociological knowledge to some new situation
ANALYZE: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their
interrelationship
The 107 questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into four types of questions.
True/False questions are the least demanding. As the table below shows, all of these
questions fall within the two lowest levels of cognitive reasoning (“Remember” and
“Understand”). Multiple-choice questions also fall within the three lowest levels of
cognitive reasoning (adding some “Apply” questions). Short answer questions span a
broader range of skills (from “Understand” to “Evaluate”). Finally, essay questions are
the most demanding, falling within the four highest levels of cognitive reasoning
(“Apply,” “Analyze,” “Evaluate,” and “Create”).
Types of Questions
Easy to Difficult Level of Difficulty
True/False Mult Choice Short Essay Total Qs
Answer
Remember 33 (83%) 30 (64%) 0 0 63
Understand 7 (17%) 10 (21%) 4 (40%) 0 21
Apply 0 7 (15%) 2 (20%) 2 (20%) 11
Analyze 0 0 4 (40%) 8 (80%) 12
40 47 10 10 107
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

CHAPTER 6: SEXUALITY AND SOCIETY
TRUE /FALSE QUESTIONS
TB_Q6.1.1
There are few areas of life in which sexuality does not play some part.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 6.1: Describe how sexuality is both a biological and cultural
issue
Topic: Understanding Sexuality
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q6.1.2
Historically, U.S. culture discouraged open discussion of sexuality, so researchers did not
begin to study sexuality until the middle of the twentieth century.
Answer: True
issue
TB_Q6.1.3
Standards of human beauty are exactly the same for people everywhere in the world.
Answer: False
issue
TB_Q6.1.4
Sociobiologists point out that, in every society throughout the world, people are attracted
to youthfulness.
Answer: True

issue
TB_Q6.1.5
Sociologists point out that human sexual attitudes and behavior are very similar across all
cultures.
Answer: False
issue
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q6.1.6
Primary sex characteristics refer to reproductive organs.
Answer: True
issue
TB_Q6.1.7
People in all cultures respond to intersexual people with confusion or even disgust.
Answer: False
issue
TB_Q6.1.8
Although there is a human “sex drive,” our biology does not dictate any specific ways of
being sexual.
Answer: True

issue
TB_Q6.1.9
Every state in the United States permits lawful marriage between a woman and a man
who are first cousins.
Answer: False
issue
TB_Q6.1.10
No sexual practice—not even the incest taboo—is found everywhere in the world.
Answer: False
issue
TB_Q6.2.11
Historically, public attitudes towards sexuality in the United States have been an
inconsistent mix of cultural repression and support for individual choice.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 6.2: Explain changes in sexual attitudes in the United States
Topic: Sexual Attitudes in the United States
TB_Q6.2.12
During the twentieth century, U.S. society experienced profound changes in sexual
attitudes and practices.
Answer: True

TB_Q6.2.13
The publication of Alfred Kinsey’s first book in 1948 received considerable attention
because scientists were actually studying sex.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.2.14
The baby boom generation—people born between 1946 and 1964—became the first
cohort in U.S. history to grow up with the idea that sex was part of everyone’s life,
married or not.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.2.15
While the sexual revolution increased sexual activity overall, it changed behavior among
men more than among women.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.2.16
The sexual counterrevolution did little to change the fact that most sexually-active people
in the United States had a high number of sexual partners.
Answer: False


TB_Q6.2.17
The region of the world where people use birth control the least is North America.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.2.18
Survey research shows that, even though the public remains divided on the issue, U.S.
society is more accepting of premarital sex today than it was a generation ago.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.2.19
Despite the widespread image of “swinging singles,” married people have sex with a
partner more often than singles do.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.2.20
Most married adults in the United States are sexually unfaithful to their spouses at some
point in their marriages.
Answer: False

TB_Q6.3.21
The fact that many people are bisexual demonstrates that sexual orientation is not clear-
cut.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 6.3: Analyze factors that shape sexual orientation
Topic: Sexual Orientation
TB_Q6.3.22
Homosexuality and heterosexuality are mutually exclusive, meaning that all people fall
into one category or the other.
Answer: False
Difficulty Level: Moderate
TB_Q6.3.23
A majority of adults in the United States report engaging in homosexual activity at some
point in their lives.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.3.24
Transgender is a concept that refers to appearance or behavior in ways that challenge

conventional gender norms.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.3.25

The existence of a category of people in Mexico called Muxes shows us that there can be
more than two gender categories.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.3.26
Homophobia refers to a fear of sexuality.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.3.27
Transgender is a simple matter of sexual orientation.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.3.28
Teenage pregnancy raises the risk of girls not finishing school and becoming poor.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 6.4: Discuss several current controversies involving sexuality
Topic: Sexual Issues and Controversies
TB_Q6.4.29
The U.S. rate of teenage pregnancy was actually higher in the 1950s than it is today.
Answer: True


TB_Q6.4.30
The sexual revolution raised the level of teenage pregnancy in the United States.
Answer: False
TB_Q6.4.31
Pornography is a moral issue for some people and a power issue for others.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.4.32
Prostitution is greatest in poor nations where women have fewer economic opportunities.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.4.33
Although some people think rape simply reflects a desire for sex, it is an expression of
power.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.4.34

On U.S. campuses, the majority of women express dissatisfaction with the culture of
“hooking up.”
Answer: True
TB_Q6.5.35
The structural-functional approach highlights patterns of inequality that are linked to

sexuality.
Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 6.5: Apply sociology’s major theories to the topic of sexuality
Topic: Theories of Sexuality
TB_Q6.5.36
The symbolic-interaction approach highlights the various meanings people attach to

sexuality.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.5.37
The social-conflict approach highlights the ways sexual attitudes and practices are a
benefit to some people and a disadvantage to others.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.5.38

Feminist theory considers sex and sexuality to be an important dimension of social

inequality.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.5.39
Heterosexism refers to rejecting or stigmatizing anyone who is not heterosexual.
Answer: True
TB_Q6.5.40
The abortion debate is about nothing more than the question of when life begins.
Answer: False
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
TB_Q6.1.41
A reason to study sexuality using the sociological perspective is ________

a. sexuality is both an important and controversial element of social life.
b. most people understand sexuality very well.
c. sexuality plays a minor part in many areas of social life.
d. sexuality has already been thoroughly studied.
Answer: a
issue

TB_Q6.1.42
Which of the following concepts refers to the biological distinction between males and
females?
a. Sex
b. Primary sex characteristics
c. Gender
d. Gender roles
Answer: a
issue
TB_Q6.1.43
The development of breasts in females and deeper voices in males are examples of
________
a. gender norms.
b. primary sex characteristics.
c. secondary sex characteristics.
d. cultural variation.
Answer: c
issue
TB_Q6.1.44
Which of the following concepts refers to genitals that distinguish females and males?
a. Gender
b. Primary sex characteristics
c. Secondary sex characteristics
d. Sexual chromosomes
Answer: b
issue


TB_Q6.1.45
Which concept refers to humans who have some combination of female and male sexual
characteristics?
a. Multi-sexed
b. Bisexual
c. Transsexual
d. Intersexual
Answer: d
issue
TB_Q6.1.46
If you often have the feeling of being “trapped in the wrong body,” you might be
________
a. a hermaphrodite.
b. a homosexual.
c. a transsexual.
d. a bisexual.
Answer: c
issue
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q6.1.47
Comparative research indicates that ________

a. although sex has a biological foundation, sexual practices vary from place to
place as an element of the culture.
b. people throughout the world engage in the same sexual practices.
c. sex is not permitted in some societies, but it is encouraged in others.
d. sexuality is defined entirely by a biological “sex drive.”
Answer: a

issue
TB_Q6.1.48
One norm found everywhere is the incest taboo, which refers to norms forbidding
________
a. young children from engaging in sex.
b. sexual relations or marriage between certain relatives.
c. women from becoming sexually active before marriage.
d. sex except for the purpose of having children.
Answer: b
issue
TB_Q6.1.49
The incest taboo ________

a. limits sexual competition within families.
b. confuses people’s rights and obligations towards each other.
c. breaks down the kinship system.
d. discourages contact of family members with the larger society.
Answer: a
issue
TB_Q6.1.50
About what share of the states in this country have laws that permit marriage between
first cousins?
a. None of the states
b. Five of the states
c. Half of the states
d. All of the states

Answer: c
issue
TB_Q6.2.51
When did the sexual revolution truly come of age?

a. It began during the colonial era.
b. It began during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
c. It began in the 1940s and then grew quickly in the late 1960s.
d. It began about 1980.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.2.52
The importance of Alfred Kinsey’s research on sexuality in the United States was
________
a. making sexuality a focus of scientific study.
b. showing that people were more conventional than most of society thought.
c. encouraging less openness towards sexuality.
d. that it signaled the end of the sexual revolution.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.2.53
The sexual counterrevolution had begun in the United States by ________

a. 1920.
b. 1960.
c. 1980.
d. 1995.
Answer: c


TB_Q6.2.54
The effect of the sexual counterrevolution was ________

a. to keep sex only within marriage.
b. to encourage people to limit their number of sexual partners or, in some cases, to
abstain from sex entirely.
c. to finally close the historical “double standard.”
d. to discourage the use of birth control technology.
Answer: b
TB_Q6.2.55
Survey research on attitudes towards premarital sex tells us that ________

a. the public is more accepting of premarital sex than it was a generation ago.
b. there has been little or no change in public attitudes towards premarital sex in
recent decades.
c. the public is less accepting of premarital sex than it was a generation ago.
d. almost no one today claims that premarital sex is wrong.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.2.56
According to the Laumann study of sexual patterns among U.S. adults, ________
a. almost everyone has about the same amount of sexual experience.
b. single people have more sex than married people.
c. there are striking differences in sexual experience within the U.S. population.
d. in the age of AIDS, almost all sex is limited to married partners.
Answer: c

TB_Q6.2.57
Research on extramarital sex shows that about _____ of married men and about _____ of
married women remain faithful to their spouse throughout their married lives.
a. 18 percent; 22 percent
b. 25 percent; 75 percent
c. 75 percent; 50 percent
d. 81 percent; 88 percent
Answer: d
TB_Q6.3.58
Which of the following concepts refers to a person’s romantic and emotional attraction to
another person?
a. Sex role
b. Sexual orientation
c. Sexual experience
d. Personal transsexuality
Answer: b
TB_Q6.3.59
Sexual attraction to someone of the same sex is called ________

a. heterosexuality.
b. bisexuality.
c. homosexuality.
d. asexuality.
Answer: c

TB_Q6.3.60
Sexual attraction to people of both sexes is called ________

a. heterosexuality.
b. bisexuality.
c. homosexuality.
d. asexuality.
Answer: b
TB_Q6.3.61
Sarah feels little or no sexual attraction to people of either sex. Her sexual orientation is
called ________
a. heterosexuality.
b. bisexuality.
c. homosexuality.
d. asexuality.
Answer: d
TB_Q6.3.62
The majority of evidence indicates that sexual orientation is rooted in ________

a. human biology, although social experience plays some role.
b. how societies construct sexuality.
c. individual choice.
d. the way young children are raised.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.3.63

In 2012, about what percentage of U.S. adults claimed homosexuality is “always wrong”
or “almost always wrong”?
Only 5 percent
About 30 percent
About 46 percent
Almost 100 percent
Answer: c
TB_Q6.3.64
About ______ of men and _____ of women in the United States claim to have a
homosexual identity.
a. 1.8 percent; 1.2 percent
Answer: a
TB_Q6.3.65
The concept of “homophobia” refers to ________

a. fear of pregnancy.
b. fear of one’s own sexuality.
c. fear of close personal interaction with people thought to be gay, lesbian, or
bisexual.
d. fear of attracting sexual interest from another person.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.4.66
The category of teenagers with the highest probability of pregnancy is ________

a. teenage women with low incomes and weak families.

b. teenage women with high incomes.
c. teenage women with little sexual experience.
d. teenage women with high levels of education.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.4.67
Pornography is ________
a. a proven scientific cause of violence against women.
b. condemned by almost all conservatives but defended by almost all liberals.
c. rare in the United States.
d. very popular in the United States.
Answer: d
TB_Q6.4.68
From a global perspective, prostitution is most common in ________

a. high-income nations, where women are free to choose their profession.
b. poor nations, where women have fewer economic opportunities.
c. all nations, because prostitution is found in every country to about the same
extent.
d. Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, where women have
fewer choices about their lives.
Answer: b
TB_Q6.4.69
Elite prostitutes—young, attractive, and well-educated women—are widely referred to as

________
a. streetwalkers.

b. brothel workers.
c. call girls or escorts.
d. sex criminals.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.4.70
Prostitution is regarded by many people in the United States as a ________

a. victimless crime.
b. corporate crime.
c. crime against the person.
d. white-collar crime.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.4.71
Many people call prostitution a victimless crime because ________

a. they believe that prostitution subjects women to outright violence.
b. they believe that prostitution plays a part in spreading sexually transmitted
diseases, including AIDS.
c. they believe that many poor women become trapped in a life of selling sex.
d. they believe that adults should be able to do as they please as long as no one is
harmed.
Answer: d
TB_Q6.4.72
A common myth is that ________

a. many rapes are not reported to the police.
b. official rape statistics include only victims who are women.
c. in most cases of rape, the victim does not know the attacker.

d. most men who rape men are not homosexual.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.4.73
A widespread—but false—idea about rape is that ________

a. many rapes take place in the home.
b. women who are raped must have encouraged their attackers.
c. men who rape are interested in power rather than sex.
d. “date rape” is a common problem on college campuses.
Answer: b
TB_Q6.4.74
The campus culture of “hooking up” involves sexual relationships between partners who
________
a. know little about each other.
b. are dating.
c. desire long-term relationships with each other.
d. are both content with these encounters.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.5.75
The idea that society needs to regulate human sexuality is highlighted by ________
a. the structural-functional approach.
b. the symbolic-interaction approach.
c. the social-conflict approach.
d. queer theory.
Answer: a

TB_Q6.5.76
Based on what you know about the history of human sexuality, once a society gains birth-
control technology ________
a. social control of sexuality becomes more strict.
b. families, rather than individuals, make choices about sexual partners.
c. social norms regarding sexuality become more permissive.
d. the incest taboo no longer is observed.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.5.77
Assume that you are investigating the consequences of the incest taboo for kinship
organization in a number of societies. You are using ________
d. queer theory.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.5.78
The more global our view of sexuality ________

a. the more variety we see in the meanings people attach to sexuality.
b. the greater the evidence that biology defines sexuality.
c. the clearer we see that sexual practices are mostly the same all around the world.
d. the easier it is to understand the latent functions of sexuality.
Answer: a


TB_Q6.5.79
If you were to study the changing meaning of virginity over the last century in our
society, you would discover that the norm stating that people remain virgins until
marriage ________
a. has changed little.
b. has become stronger with regard to women.
c. has become stronger with regard to men.
d. has become weaker.
Answer: d
TB_Q6.5.80
If you were teaching a class about the symbolic-interaction approach to sexuality, you
likely focus on ________
a. understanding men’s power over women.
b. raising public concern about sexual harassment.
c. how individuals in various settings engage in different sexual behavior and attach
different meanings to sexual activity.
d. understanding why society must regulate with whom and when people reproduce.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.5.81
The ways in which sexuality is linked to social inequality is highlighted by ________

d. the social construction of sexuality.
Answer: c


TB_Q6.5.82
The social-conflict approach emphasizes that ________

a. the process of reality construction is highly variable, so that one group’s views of
sexuality may well differ from another's.
b. sexuality plays an important role when it comes to the organization of society.
c. U.S. culture often depicts sexuality in terms of sport and violence, such as when
we speak of men “scoring” with women, and men “hitting on” women.
d. different societies attach different meanings to sexual behavior.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.5.83
Queer theory is a growing body of knowledge asserting that ________

a. sex has always seemed strange to most people.
b. no sexual practice should be considered wrong.
c. people fear discovering their homosexuality.
d. there is a heterosexual bias in U.S. society.
Answer: d
TB_Q6.5.84
__________ refers to stigmatizing anyone who is not heterosexual as “queer.”

a. Homophobia
b. Heterosexism
c. Heterophilia
d. Homophilia
Answer: b

TB_Q6.5.85
Criticism of the social-conflict approach’s view of sexuality would include the fact that
________
a. sexuality is not a power issue for everyone.
b. U.S. society has failed to take steps to reduce gender inequality.
c. heterosexual culture victimizes a wide range of people.
d. abortion is the most divisive issue involving sexuality.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.5.86
The text suggests that the most widely contested issue involving sexuality in the United
States in recent years has been ________
a. homosexuality and gay rights.
b. abortion.
c. prostitution.
d. teen pregnancy.
Answer: b
TB_Q6.5.87
According to national survey data, about what percentage of adults in the United States
state that a woman should be able to obtain an abortion for any reason?
a. 22 percent
b. 42 percent
c. 72 percent
d. 92 percent
Answer: b

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
TB_Q6.1.88
Define the concept of sex. Distinguish between primary sex characteristics and secondary
sex characteristics and explain how these are linked to people’s sex.
Answer:
issue
TB_Q6.1.89
What are several functions of the incest taboo for society as a whole?
Answer:
issue
TB_Q6.2.90
What significant changes took place during the sexual revolution? What about during the
sexual counterrevolution?
Answer:
TB_Q6.2.91
Define the concept of transgender. In what what ways is the transgender movement trying
to change U.S. society?
Answer:

Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q6.3.92
Define the following terms: heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and asexuality.

Explain why sexual orientation is sometimes not easy to apply to specific individuals.
Answer:
TB_Q6.4.93
Why do some people consider prostitution to be a victimless crime? Can you provide
arguments against this position?
Answer:
Difficulty Level: Difficult
TB_Q6.4.94
State two common myths about rape. Explain why these beliefs are wrong.
Answer:
TB_Q6.4.95
What are the traits of the campus culture of “hooking up”?
Answer:
TB_Q6.5.96

Why would societies seek to control human sexuality? Why would some societies be
more permissive than others?
Answer:
TB_Q6.5.97
What is the basic assertion of queer theory? Using this approach, what criticism would
you make of our society?
Answer:
ESSAY QUESTIONS/TOPICS FOR SHORT PAPERS
TB_Q6.1.98
Many people think of sexuality as a biological matter; however, sexuality is largely

cultural. Explain the biological foundation of sex—how people become female and
male—and then go on to explain why sexuality as a dimension of social life is mostly
cultural. Consider the variation in attitudes and behavior towards the cultural character of
sexuality over time and from society to society.
Answer:
issue
TB_Q6.2.99
Explain the significance of the sexual revolution and the sexual counterrevolution. What
changed in each case? How do these opposing trends show that U.S. society is of two
minds—permissive and restrictive—regarding sexuality? Do you think that our society is
becoming more accepting or less accepting of diversity in sexual behavior? Why?
Answer:

TB_Q6.3.100
Identify four sexual orientations. What do we know about the extent of homosexuality in
the United States? What is our understanding about the causes of sexual orientation?
Answer:
TB_Q6.3.101
Explain the significance of the Muxes of central Mexico for our understanding of gender.
Develop a similar argument that takes the existence of transgender people in the United
States into account. In other words, what cultural changes would be necessary for our
society to recognize the full range of sexual diversity that exists here?
Answer:
TB_Q6.3.102
Is it possible for a society to exist without clear-cut categories of “female” and “male”? If
so, describe what such a society would be like. If not, explain why not.
Answer:
TB_Q6.4.103
Is there a culture of “hooking up” on your campus? Why has this pattern evolved on
many campuses at this point in our society’s history? What do you see as the advantages
and disadvantages of “hooking up”?

Answer:
TB_Q6.4.104
Consider the issue of rape. Why have most cases of rape gone unreported? Why is this
pattern changing now? What factors make date rape an important issue on college
campuses? What strategies for change might reduce this problem?
Answer:
TB_Q6.5.105
Based on the information found in Global Map 6-2, describe women’s access to abortion
around the world. How do rich nations differ from low-income nations? What other
patterns do you see?
Answer:
TB_Q6.5.106
Apply the three theoretical approaches to the topic of sexuality. What are important
insights provided by the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict
approaches?
Answer:
TB_Q6.5.107.

How does sexuality play a part in social inequality? Consider factors including
prostitution and pornography and their effects on women. Also, consider heterosexism
and its effects on the social standing of gay and intersexual people.
Answer:

Name ________________________________
Quick Quiz: Chapter 6

Sexuality and Society
Multiple Choice:
TB_Q6.2.108
The sexual counterrevolution had begun in the United States by ________

a. 1920.
b. 1960.
c. 1980.
d. 1995.
Answer: c
TB_Q6.2.109
Research on extramarital sex shows that about _____ of married men and about _____ of
married women remain faithful to their spouse throughout their married lives.
a. 18 percent; 22 percent
Answer: d
TB_Q6.3.110
In 2012, about what percentage of U.S. adults claimed homosexuality is “always wrong”
or “almost always wrong”?
a. Only 5 percent
b. About 30 percent
c. About 46 percent
d. Almost 100 percent
Answer: c


TB_Q6.4.111
Prostitution is regarded by many people in the United States as a ________

a. victimless crime.
b. corporate crime.
c. crime against the person.
d. white-collar crime.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.5.112
The idea that society needs to regulate human sexuality is highlighted by ________
d. queer theory.
Answer: a
TB_Q6.6.113
The text suggests that probably the most widely contested issue involving sexuality in the
United States in recent years has been been ________
a. homosexuality and gay rights.
b. abortion.
c. prostitution.
d. teen pregnancy.
Answer: b

TB_Q6.5.114
The ways in which sexuality is linked to social inequality are highlighted by ________
d. the social construction of sexuality.
Answer: c
True/False
TB_Q6.1.115
Sociobiologists point out that, in every society throughout the world, people are attracted
to youthfulness.
Answer: True
issue
TB_Q6.3.116
A majority of adults in the United States report engaging in homosexual activity at some
point in their lives.
Answer: False
Short Answer
TB_Q6.4.117
State two common myths about rape. Explain why these beliefs are wrong.
Answer:



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were formerly the Diplomatic Dinner and the Supreme Court Dinner,
but we inaugurated a Speaker’s Dinner, so there are now four. These
are state functions pure and simple, but by the exercise of a little art
one can manage to make them most enjoyable affairs. To the Cabinet
Dinner only the Vice-President and his wife, the members of the
Cabinet and their wives and a few especially distinguished outsiders
are invited.
The hostess doesn’t have to worry about seating the Cabinet
officers because it is all a matter of precedence and is attended to by
the Social Executive Secretary. The rank of a Cabinet officer is
determined by the date on which his office was created and not, as
one might think, by the relative importance of his official status.
The only time when a friendly democracy presents itself to the
President en masse is on New Year’s Day. At the New Year’s
Reception he receives just as many persons as he can shake hands
with between the hours of eleven in the morning and half past two or
three in the afternoon. His wife, the wife of the Vice-President and
the ladies of the Cabinet receive with him as long as it is physically
possible for them to do so. While writing in the third person I am
thinking in the first, of course. These were our customs.
Yet if anybody unfamiliar with Washington life imagines that a
New Year’s Reception means throwing open the White House doors
and admitting the public without consideration of rank or the rules
of precedence he is mistaken. The Reception, up to a stated hour, is
as carefully regulated as any other function, and I consider the list of
the especially favoured most interesting as a revelation of the
complexity of Washington’s social life.
THE TAFT COTTAGE AT BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS
Announcement is made that the President will receive at 11:00 A.M.

—the Vice-President, the members of the Cabinet and the Diplomatic
Corps; at 11:20 A.M.—the Supreme Court, members of the Judiciary of
the District of Columbia, former Cabinet officers and former
diplomatic representatives of the United States; at 11:30—Senators,
Representatives and Delegates in Congress; at 11:45—Officers of the
Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Militia of the District of
Columbia; at 12:15 P.M.—Regents and Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution, all the various Commissions, Assistant Secretaries of
Departments, the Solicitor General, Assistant Attorneys-General,
Assistant Postmasters-General, the Treasurer of the United States,
the Librarian of Congress, the Public Printer, heads of all Bureaus
and the President of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and
Dumb; at 12:30 P.M.—The Secretary of the Cincinnati, the Aztec Club
of 1847, the Associated Veterans of the War of 1846–47, the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Grand Army of
the Republic, the Medal of Honor Legion, the Union Veteran Legion,
the Union Veterans’ Union, the Society of the Army of Santiago, the
Spanish Minute Men, the Sons of the American Revolution and the
members of the Oldest Inhabitants’ Association of the District of
Columbia; at 1:00 P.M.—Citizens.
As all the men present themselves in the dress uniform of their
various services or orders, or wearing the decorations they have won
in epoch-marking events, one gets a most illuminating view of
organised American patriotism.
There is an old system obtaining at the White House known as
inviting guests “behind the line.” This means that a chosen few are
permitted as special guests to be present in the Blue Room while a
reception is in progress. It is a system which has at times been so
carelessly regulated as to engender jealousies and dissatisfactions,
and we determined if possible to avoid on all occasions any
appearance of favouritism. So at our first New Year’s Reception we
decided to limit special privileges to the Diplomatic Corps, the wives
of Assistant Secretaries and our own house guests. This made the
distinction a mere matter of official rank and did away with all
possibility of unpleasant comment from distinguished members of
civilian society.
For instance, there has always been a delicate question in
connection with the Judicial Reception as to whether or not on this
occasion the Justices of the Supreme Court take precedence over the
members of the Diplomatic Corps. The Justices have always
contended that at their own Reception they do, but the unwritten
code has it that no person under the rank of President or Vice-
President ever takes precedence over an Ambassador who is the
direct representative of his sovereign.
We settled this question by inviting the heads of all Missions to the
Blue Room where they were greeted by the President before he took
his place in the receiving line, and where they were permitted to
remain as long as they desired, being, as it were, a part of the
receiving party. This was a solution which satisfied everybody and
pleased the Diplomats particularly.
A great many special arrangements are necessary for a New Year’s
Reception at the White House. For every state occasion or any large
function there are always many extra footmen, policemen, guards,
waiters, cloak room attendants and ushers on hand, but on New
Year’s Day the array of them would be most imposing if they were
not almost lost in the midst of a thronging populace. All the people
who come to these receptions do not pass the receiving line. Many of
them find points of vantage in the vicinity merely to look on, and yet
the President shakes hands with from six to eight thousand of them
before the gates are closed. I have seen the line of waiting people
stretching out through the spacious grounds, down the street,
around a corner and out of sight at a time when I had already given
up in utter exhaustion. And the way the carriages come and go in
perfect order, without a hitch, each coachman with his card of a
particular colour telling him just where to make his exit, was a thing
I never could understand.
The corps of aides arrange all these details and each department,
including the police and the secret service, has its printed and
explicit orders for the day a long time ahead. Some of the police
orders are interesting. For instance: “No person under the influence
of liquor, disorderly in his behaviour or bearing any advertisement
will be allowed in line. Conspicuously dirty persons will not be
admitted.” Also: “Except in the most aggravated case a coachman
will not be taken from his box and put under arrest. It will be
sufficient to take his name and address and arrest him on the
following morning.”
After a New Year’s Reception the White House is a sorry sight,
even though by using extra strips of carpet to protect the polished
floors and by removing fine rugs and breakable bric-à-brac every
possible precaution is taken to make the damage as slight as
possible. But it doesn’t take long to restore the house to its normal
condition. The way the crowd of workmen used to go about putting
the place in order after an invasion of this kind always reminded me
of the well-drilled stage hands at a hippodrome who manage to set
different scenes and keep things spic-and-span without even
interfering with a continuous performance.
Very shortly after the New Year’s Reception, three days later in
fact, we gave the next big event of the season, the Diplomatic
Reception. It is understood, of course, that one of the chief
occupations of the President of the United States is shaking hands. I
am moved to this observation by memories of uncounted hours by
my husband’s side in a receiving line at the White House when
thousands of guests passed by, each separately introduced to both
the President and to me and each extending an untired hand to give
and to receive the hearty grasp which all good Americans so highly
regard. And there is no conceivable form of work or exercise more
fatiguing. If it were not for the mental stimulus afforded by the
friendliness of a gay throng, by music and lights and a general festive
atmosphere, it could hardly be borne.
For Mr. Taft it was never so hard because in his long public career,
and especially through a political campaign, he had had considerable
training for it. But for me it was somewhat more difficult. My friends
used to wonder how I could stand it, but when I was well I never
found it so much of a strain that I could not very quickly recover
from it. When I was not feeling particularly strong I would resort to
all manner of innocent pretexts to give myself short intervals of rest.
I would turn around and engage in important conversation with
someone behind me; I would consume minutes in taking a drink of
water; or I would get into serious difficulty with my flowers or
something. Then, too, I sometimes would sit frankly down and let
the crowds pass by.
To me the long standing was the real strain and I soon came to a
point where I was willing to sacrifice appearance to approximate
comfort by wearing wide flat slippers with low heels.
The Diplomatic Reception is undoubtedly the most brilliant of the
set state functions which are given at the White House each year, but
to me it was never as interesting as the Diplomatic Dinner which
follows it. There are thirty-nine foreign Embassies and Legations in
Washington. Each Ambassador and Minister has his own distinctive
and sometimes very elaborate regalia; each attaché, military and
naval, wears the uniform of his service, in many cases very
picturesque and often positively flamboyant; the foreign women,
gowned exquisitely, are many of them crowned with tiaras and laden
with jewels, and when they are all gathered around one great,
glittering and gorgeously decorated table they present such a picture
of varied colour and magnificence as is not to be seen on any other
occasion in Washington.
© Harris & Ewing.
THE CRESCENT TABLE IN THE STATE DINING-ROOM

ARRANGED FOR THE DIPLOMATIC DINNER
I used always to wonder how they managed to get along with each
other. There is an impression quite general among us that we are the
only nation on earth that sends abroad diplomatic representatives
without any knowledge of the French language. This is not quite true.
There are a good many diplomats in Washington who do not speak
French, and there are more diplomats’ wives. But as both men and
women are seated at the Diplomatic Dinner in strict order of rank,
there is no chance to take into consideration the seemingly
important question as to whether or not dinner partners will be able
to communicate with each other very freely. They do speak English,
of course, but many of them imperfectly, and, taking them all, with
exactly thirty-nine different accents. Imagine the wife of the Chinese
Minister sitting between the Minister of Salvador and the Minister of
Cuba, or the wife of the Japanese Ambassador having on one hand
the German Ambassador and on the other the Minister of Costa Rica!
It all depends on how long they have been in Washington. When I
first went to the White House the Italian Ambassador was the Dean
of the Diplomatic Corps, with the Austrian Ambassador next, while
among the Ministers those from Siam and from Costa Rica, I think,
had precedence over all others. If the Minister of Haiti remained in
Washington long enough he could outrank the Minister of Spain. The
Minister of Haiti is the only negro diplomat in the Corps and his
place at table in my time was with a group of envoys of almost equal
rank who sat together near one outer end of the great crescent.
It was not possible to invite many outsiders to the Diplomatic
Dinner because there were enough of the Diplomats themselves with
their wives and attachés to tax the capacity of the State Dining Room.
But Mr. Taft never did take space limits into consideration. For both
Receptions and Dinners I used always to go over the invitation lists
and do my best to keep them within bounds. Regretfully enough
would I cut them wherever I found it possible, but my husband,
according to his fixed habit, invariably added more names than I
took off, so, thanks to him, we have to our credit the largest dinner
parties ever given in the new Executive Mansion. Mr. McKim in his
report on the restoration of the White House says the Dining Room
will hold one hundred, but strained to its utmost capacity ninety-two
was as many as I could ever crowd into it, and then everybody was
aghast at the number. We might have put a star in the hollow of the
crescent so as to accommodate a few more, but I never thought of it
until this moment. I’m glad it never occurred to Mr. Taft. With his
expansive disposition he certainly would have had it tried.
The Reception crowds I did manage to cut down. It simply had to
be done. When more than two thousand people get into the White
House it is a literal “crush” and nobody has a good time. We not only
introduced dancing in the East Room at Receptions, a feature which
delighted everybody and especially the young people, but we always
served refreshments to every guest within our gates.
This was, I suppose, the most generally approved departure from
established custom that was made during my administration. It was
made possible by cutting down the list of guests one half and inviting
one half to one reception and the other half to the next. As a matter
of fact, preparing a buffet supper for a company of 2,000 people is
not much more of a strain on ordinary household resources than
serving a nine or ten course formal dinner to eighty or ninety guests.
Neither undertaking is particularly simple, but the White House
kitchen and pantries are large and adequate, we had an efficient staff
and we never had any mishaps or embarrassments that I remember.
Several days before a large reception my cooks would begin to turn
out piles upon piles of small pastries and to do all the things that
could be done in advance. Then on the day of the reception, with
plenty of extra assistants, it was found easily possible to prepare all
the salads and sandwiches, the ices and sweets, the lemonades and
the punches that were necessary. Nor did we find that it interfered in
the least with the usual household routine. We took our meals in the
small family dining room adjoining the State Dining Room, and even
gave small and successful dinner parties while the State Dining
Room was in the hands of the carpenters and decorators.
Referring to the serving of refreshments reminds me of an incident
which gave us some uneasiness shortly after Mr. Taft’s election. It
was during that phase of his career which all Presidents pass
through, when his most casual remark was likely to be construed into
an “utterance,” and his most ordinary act was likely to become a
widely heralded “example.” It was while he was still being held up as
a model of all the excellencies—framed in a question mark: “What
will he do?” In other words it was before his Inauguration.
He was at a dinner at Hot Springs, Virginia. As the wine was being
served one of the diners turned down his glass with the remark that
he had not taken a drink for eighteen years. Mr. Taft, in the most
usual and commonplace manner, followed suit, saying that he had
been a total abstainer for nearly two years and expected to continue
so. The incident was made the basis of a sensational newspaper story
which created the impression that he had acted with great dramatic
effect and that his remark amounted to a declaration of principle
which he would turn into a Presidential policy.
Immediately he was overwhelmed with memorials, with
resolutions of commendation framed by some of the most worthy
and admirable Christian and temperance organisations in the
country. It was taken for granted that he would banish alcohol in
every form from the White House. In simple honesty he had to tell all
the reverend gentlemen that he had made no pronouncement with
regard to limiting White House hospitality, that he had no desire to
interfere with any normal man’s personal habits and that as
President he had no intention of trying to do so.
The truth is that he is a total abstainer because never in his life has
he indulged in stimulants to any extent; they have no attraction for
him whatever, and he found in those days that with so much dining
out, it was wiser to decline all wines and liquors. Being naturally
abstemious he has always rather objected to being given personal
credit for such virtue.
It was about this time that I, too, got into trouble of a peculiar sort.
In the mass of correspondence which began to roll in upon me as
soon as my husband was elected, there were requests of every
possible kind from all parts of the world. Among these came a letter
from a society of women engaged in political and social reform work
in one of the newer Balkan States, asking me to lend my aid in
forming a similar society in the United States.
I declined with as much grace and courtesy as I could command
and thought nothing more about it. Imagine my surprise to find
almost immediately that my reply had been construed by its
recipients into a sort of expression of personal interest in and
sympathy for the people of their country in general. I was proclaimed
the warm friend of the young State and an enemy to all her enemies.
The incident became the subject of an exchange of diplomatic notes
in Washington, and it took a bit of the suavity of the State
Department to extricate me from the tangle in which my alleged
active participation in the trouble in the Balkans had placed me. It
taught me a lesson.
MRS. TAFT’S OWN PICTURE OF THE WHITE HOUSE
Throughout my four years in the White House my mail contained

surprises every day, but I soon learned not to be surprised at
petitions for assistance in various forms. It is extraordinary how
many of these a President’s wife receives. The greater number came
to me from small charitable organisations throughout the country. It
seemed to me that nobody ever thought of organising a bazaar or a
church fair without asking me for some sort of contribution, and
before holidays, especially Easter and Christmas, I was simply
besieged. They did not want money ever; they wanted something that
could be sold as a souvenir of myself. I never, to my knowledge,
refused a request of this kind. Mrs. Roosevelt had used a photograph
of the White House, and I decided, finally, to do the same. I chose a
view of the South Portico eight by ten inches in size which I thought
very nice, and asked to have it reserved for me. With my signature
across one corner it became a most satisfactory souvenir. I hesitate
to hazard a guess as to the number I signed and sent away, but,
ordered by the hundreds, they didn’t cost very much, so contributing
them to good causes became a pleasure unmarred by a sense of
unjustifiable extravagance. Handkerchiefs, too, were in great
demand and I always kept a supply of them on hand.
I see I have wandered away from the receptions and dinners and
my attempt to tell in some sort of consecutive fashion what a social
season at the White House consists of, but remembering the crowds I
lived in for four years it seems to me that everybody must know just
as much about these things as I do. I have to keep reminding myself
that I am not writing altogether for people who live in Washington,
but for the people in the far places who have never been to
Washington, but who have just as much of a personal property right
in the nation’s capital and just as much interest in the proper
conduct of its affairs whether they be legislative, administrative,
diplomatic, or merely social, as any President ever had.
CHAPTER XIX
CONCLUSION
Our second summer at Beverly began with a call from Mr.

Roosevelt. When the ex-President returned to the United States, on
the 18th of June, 1910, after an absence of a year and a half, Mr. Taft
sent two members of his Cabinet, the Secretary of the Navy and the
Secretary of Agriculture, and his aide, Captain Butt, to New York to
meet him and to extend to him a personal as well as an official
welcome home. According to Captain Butt’s Official Diary:
“Immediately upon the arrival of the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste
Victoria at Quarantine the Presidential party scaled the sides of the
steamer by means of a rope ladder and proceeded to the staterooms
of Mr. Roosevelt where each member of the party greeted the ex-
President. Then Captain Butt, who was in full dress uniform, saluted
Mr. Roosevelt and presented to him the letter of welcome entrusted
to his care by the President. Mr. Roosevelt read it and expressed his
great appreciation of the honour of the receipt of the letter, as also
for the ordering of the U. S. S. South Carolina and other vessels to
accompany him from Quarantine to New York. Captain Butt also
presented to Mr. Roosevelt a letter (from Mrs. Taft) supplementing
the President’s invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt to pay them a
visit at the White House now or at any time when it might be
convenient for them to do so.... Mr. Roosevelt took occasion to send
his sincere appreciation and profound thanks to the President by
Captain Butt both for the official and personal welcome extended to
him.”
I removed the Presidential household to Beverly the week Mr.
Roosevelt arrived and did not see him until after Mr. Taft joined me
about ten days later. Again to quote from Captain Butt’s carefully
kept record:
“June 30—At 3:30 o’clock ex-President Theodore Roosevelt,
accompanied by Senator Lodge, called to pay his respects to the
President. He was met at the entrance by Captain Butt, who
announced his arrival. The President immediately came out and
greeted his visitor most affectionately, addressing him as Theodore.
“Colonel Roosevelt took both hands of the President, and said,
“‘Mr. President, it is fine to see you looking so well.’
“‘But why “Mr. President”?’ laughed the President.
“‘Because,’ replied Colonel Roosevelt, ‘it used to be “Mr. President”
and “Will,” now it must be “Mr. President” and “Theodore.”’
“The President conducted his distinguished predecessor to the side
porch where they started into a series of delightful reminiscences of
the past Administration.... Colonel Roosevelt remained two hours,
during which he gave the President an interesting account of his
trip.”
I was present at this interview and remember it as being
remarkably pleasant and entertaining. Everybody will recall that the
question of Mr. Roosevelt’s attitude toward my husband was even
then a debatable one, but Mr. Taft had resolutely refused to believe
that it could ever be anything but friendly. I did not share his
complete faith, but I was glad on this occasion to find the old spirit of
sympathetic comradeship still paramount and myself evidently
proved to be unwarrantably suspicious.
Mr. Roosevelt had just been in England where he acted as the
representative of the President of the United States at the funeral of
King Edward, and that solemnly magnificent event seemed to have
overshadowed in his mind every other experience he had had during
his long absence. He described the stately ceremonies and the
mediævally picturesque procession in vivid detail and did not fail to
emphasise their grave and reverential aspects, but he dwelt
particularly, and to our great amusement, upon the humorous side of
the situation in which he had found himself.
It will be remembered that among Kings and Emperors and Czars,
and even lesser potentates, the rank of Presidents was a difficult
thing to determine. Should minor royalties take precedence over the
representatives of the French Republic and the United States of
America, to say nothing of Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, and all the
other great and small democracies?
Mr. Roosevelt had great difficulty in finding his place. Then, too,
he was constantly running into kings and other royalties to whom he,
naturally, owed ceremonious respect. They were so numerous in
London at the time that familiarity with them bred carelessness in
one whose tongue had not been trained to the honorifics of Court
life, and he found himself making extremely funny blunders. He told
us many stories of his adventures with the world’s elect and, with his
keen appreciation of the ridiculous and his gift of description, gave
us as merry an afternoon as we ever spent with him.
I dwell on the memory of this agreeable meeting with Mr.
Roosevelt and the entertainment it afforded me, because by his
manner he succeeded in convincing me that he still held my husband
in the highest esteem and reposed in him the utmost confidence, and
that the rumours of his antagonism were wholly unfounded. I was
not destined to enjoy this faith and assurance for very long.
In mid-July of that year we started off for a short cruise on the
Mayflower, the only one we ever made. It is not really possible for
the President to have a vacation, but if he happens to be a good sailor
I know of no better way for him to get short intervals of rest than by
boarding the Presidential yacht and steaming away, out of the reach
of crowds.
We had only a small party with us, my husband’s brother, Mr.
Horace Taft, my sister, Mrs. Louis More, Miss Mabel Boardman and
the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Beekman Winthrop, and
Mrs. Winthrop; and Captain Butt, of course, was with us always.
We headed north for the Maine coast with Eastport as our first
stopping place. The mayor of that interesting city of fisheries came
on board as soon as we dropped anchor, made a felicitous speech of
welcome and proceeded to lay out a programme of sightseeing and
festivities which would have kept us there for a considerable longer
time than we could stay if it had all been carried out, and this
experience was repeated everywhere we went. We had to decline
everything except a motor ride about town for the purpose of getting
a glimpse of the weir fisheries and the sardine canneries, but a
President doesn’t visit Eastport very often, so the people thronging
the streets made it seem quite like a holiday.
Then a committee from the Island of Campo Bello, which lies a
short distance off the coast and which is a British possession, waited
upon us with an invitation to come across and go for a buckboard
ride around a part of the island. It sounded like such a homely and
restful form of amusement that Mr. Taft was sorely tempted to break
the unwritten law which decrees that a President may not set foot
outside United States territory, but he concluded that he had better
not. The rest of us, however, decided to go and we had a jolly, jolting
ride which ended at the summer home of Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt.
Everywhere we went we were most delightfully entertained,
finding beautiful homes and merry summer hosts at every port and
town. At fashionable Bar Harbor we found a colony of friends whose
winter homes are in Washington and Mr. Taft got some excellent
golf. There were luncheons and dinners, of course, every day and
everywhere, to say nothing of teas and large receptions, and Mr. Taft
had to make speeches, too, and meet all the Maine politicians. But
there were the long restful nights on the Mayflower, steaming along
among the crags and rocks of the broken, picturesque coast, or lying
at anchor in some quiet harbour with only the soft water sounds to
break the stillness, and it would not have taken much persuasion to
have kept me aboard indefinitely.
The Mayflower is used ordinarily for official purposes in
connection with naval reviews and other naval ceremonies, and at
such times, with the President on board, there is a punctilious
formality to be encountered which makes a mere civilian feel like a
recruit under the eyes of a drill-sergeant. But it is very interesting.
One gets so used to seeing everybody in uniform standing stiffly at
attention as the President passes that one almost forgets that it isn’t
their natural attitude.
And then the guns. They shake one’s nerves and hurt one’s ears,
but they are most inspiring. The President’s salute is twenty-one
guns. It is fired every time he sets foot on the deck of the Mayflower,
or any other naval vessel, and when he passes, on the Mayflower,
between the lines of naval vessels on review he gets it from every ship
in the fleet, not one by one, but altogether, so I think I know what a
naval battle sounds like.
Shortly after we returned from our little cruise on the Maine Coast
we received a visit from the President of Chili, Señor Montt, and
Señora Montt. He was on his way to Europe, having been ordered
abroad on account of ill health. He stopped in New York at the
request of his government, and at Mr. Taft’s invitation came to
Beverly to pay his official respects to the President of the United
States. He made the trip to Boston by special train and was there met
by the Mayflower and by Captain Butt.
President Montt was very ill indeed. On the way down to Beverly
he had a heart attack which alarmed everybody and made it seem
very probable that he would not be able to land. But he recovered
sufficiently to become the most cheerful and confident member of
the party and we found him and Señora Montt to be among the most
delightful of all the distinguished visitors we had the pleasure of
entertaining during our term in the Presidency. After the
ceremonious presentation and the exchange of international
compliments were disposed of they took luncheon with us and we
spent several most interesting and memorable hours together. The
members of his numerous entourage for whom there was no room in
our modest summer cottage were entertained at luncheon on board
by Captain Logan of the Mayflower and by Captain Butt. We were
told afterward that they managed to create quite an entente cordial,
toasting each other’s Presidents and armies and navies and ministers
and attachés and everybody else they could think of with great
enthusiasm and gusto. Señor Montt died a week later just as he
reached England on his health-seeking trip. In his death Chili lost an
eminent citizen.
Mr. Taft remained with us at Beverly, playing golf, attending to
routine business, seeing the never-ending line of visitors and
preparing speeches until September when there began for him one of
those whirlwind seasons, so many of which he had lived through.
With a printed itinerary in his pocket he was off from Boston on the
third of September to attend the Conservation Congress at St. Paul.
With two speeches to be delivered, one at the Congress and one at
the State Fair in Minneapolis, to say nothing of another in Chicago
and numerous short speeches from the rear platform of his train, he
was still back in Boston on the eighth to be present at an aviation
meet where together we saw the performance of the best aviators of
that day.
A short interval of rest and he was away again to New Haven to
attend a meeting of the Yale Corporation, then out to Cincinnati to
the Ohio Valley Exposition and back to Washington as quickly as a
long programme of speeches and hospitalities could be disposed of.
The political skies were then beginning to cloud up in earnest; he
had a Democratic Congress to prepare messages for, and I suppose
the approaching winter looked anything but alluring to him.
For the first time in the history of the Executive Mansion it was
turned into a bachelors’ hall during my various absences. My
husband always had one or more men staying with him, he would
move his aides and secretaries into the White House, and so arrange
things that my frequent desertions of him never weighed very heavily
on my conscience.
When he arrived in Washington this time he organised a Cabinet
House Party so that Washington and the newspaper correspondents
had something to worry about for quite a while. He gathered all the
members of his Cabinet under his roof and kept them there where he
could have three Cabinet meetings a day besides the ones he called in
the Executive Offices. People made wild guesses at all kinds of crises
and at all manner of important disclosures to be made, but it was
only a house party after all. There were a great many problems to be
solved, proposed legislative measures to be discussed, and with every
woman in the Cabinet off summering somewhere it was an excellent
opportunity for the Executive branch of the Government to do extra
work.
The distinguished gentlemen had to “double up” in rooms, too, so I
have often imagined that they got very little rest at any time. The
Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury had the
southeast room; the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the
Interior had the northeast room; the Attorney General and the
Secretary of Commerce and Labour had the northwest room; the
Postmaster General had Robert’s room; the Secretary of Agriculture
had the housekeeper’s room, and the Secretary to the President had
my son Charlie’s room. I think probably as a house party it was
unique, but if there had been any more Departments of Government
the President would have had to fit up a dormitory.
© Harris & Ewing.
THE LONG EASTERN CORRIDOR

THROUGH WHICH GUESTS ARRIVE
FOR STATE FUNCTIONS
© Harris & Ewing.
THE MAIN STAIRWAY LEADING TO

THE PRESIDENT’S PRIVATE
APARTMENTS
At this point in Archie Butt’s record I find the note: “Mrs. Taft left
this morning for New York to fit her son Charlie out in long
trousers.”
That brings up unpleasant memories. Like any sensible woman I
never would admit that I had reached the high point in life as long as
I had one son still in knickerbockers, but with one son at Yale, with a
young lady daughter ready to be presented to society, and with
Charlie going into long trousers I felt that the day was approaching
when the unhappy phrase “getting on in years” might be applied to
me.
The very rapid lengthening of Charlie’s legs had been a subject of
much discussion at Beverly during the summer and the necessity for
bestowing upon him the dignity of man-style garments had been
manifest to everybody sometime before I would consent to recognise
it.
One day the telephone rang and Helen answered it. A voice at the
other end of the line said:
“I’d like to speak to Master Charlie Taft, please.”
“Somebody wants to speak to you, Charlie,” said Helen. Then
sister-like she stood by to see who it was and what he could possibly
want with her unimportant younger brother. She was surprised to
hear this half of a very earnest conversation:
“Who said so?”
“Certainly not!”
“Well, somebody has been giving you misinformation.”
“An absolute denial.”
“Well, if you want to quote me exactly you may say that I said the
rumour is false; wholly without foundation.”
“All right. Good-bye.”
Helen was sufficiently startled to place Charlie under cross-
examination at once. She had visions of grave complications wherein
he played the unfortunate part of a President’s son who had
forgotten the rigid discretion exacted of him by the nature of his
position.
Charlie admitted that it was a reporter who had called him up.
“Couldn’t you tell that from the way I talked to him?” said he.
He had heard enough such conversations to have acquired the
natural “tone,” but he insisted that the subject of his conversation
with his reporter was “purely personal” and had nothing whatever to
do with his sister nor yet with any matters of high importance to the
Government.
The question had to be referred to the President, his father, before
he would admit that the reporter wanted to write something about
his going into long trousers.
“And if that isn’t a personal matter,” said he, “I should like to know
what is.”
To his intense delight, his “absolute denial” to the contrary
notwithstanding, I fitted him out, kissed my baby good-bye and sent

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REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material

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CHAPTER 6: SEXUALITY AND SOCIETY

TRUE /FALSE QUESTIONS

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Primary sex characteristics refer to reproductive organs.

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Topic: Sexual Attitudes in the United States

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Transgender is a concept that refers to appearance or behavior in ways that challenge

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Homophobia refers to a fear of sexuality.

Transgender is a simple matter of sexual orientation.

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Topic: Sexual Issues and Controversies

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The structural-functional approach highlights patterns of inequality that are linked to

The symbolic-interaction approach highlights the various meanings people attach to

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Feminist theory considers sex and sexuality to be an important dimension of social

Heterosexism refers to rejecting or stigmatizing anyone who is not heterosexual.

A reason to study sexuality using the sociological perspective is ________

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Skill Level: Remember the Facts

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Difficulty Level: Easy

Comparative research indicates that ________

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The incest taboo ________

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When did the sexual revolution truly come of age?

The sexual counterrevolution had begun in the United States by ________

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Topic: Sexual Attitudes in the United States

The effect of the sexual counterrevolution was ________

Survey research on attitudes towards premarital sex tells us that ________

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Skill Level: Understand the Concepts

Sexual attraction to someone of the same sex is called ________

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Sexual attraction to people of both sexes is called ________

The majority of evidence indicates that sexual orientation is rooted in ________

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The concept of “homophobia” refers to ________

The category of teenagers with the highest probability of pregnancy is ________

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a. teenage women with low incomes and weak families.

From a global perspective, prostitution is most common in ________

Elite prostitutes—young, attractive, and well-educated women—are widely referred to as

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Prostitution is regarded by many people in the United States as a ________

Many people call prostitution a victimless crime because ________

A common myth is that ________

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d. most men who rape men are not homosexual.

A widespread—but false—idea about rape is that ________

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The more global our view of sexuality ________