Red faces at White House over state of the glassware

GUESTS at formal White House events might expect to be wined and dined with the finest dinnerware and crystal glasses, but a failure to replenish glassware since the Nixon era means they are more likely to be sipping wine from rented glassware.

After successive administrations failed to replenish the store, the shortage is now acute, at a time when Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to resume large-scale events after more than a year of pandemic restrictions.

The issue has become a source of severe embarrassment among some staff.

“It’s like going to the Met Gala in a [rented] gown,” one former employee at the White House social secretary’s office said.

“Here you are at the White House, but you’re drinking from glasses you could get from the local caterer. Some people don’t think it’s a big deal, but some people really, really do.”

The job of maintaining the presidential crystalware belongs to the First Lady, who typically commissions a set that reflects the aesthetics of the administration.

With Franklin D Roosevelt’s presidency dominated by the Second World War, his wife Eleanor opted for a set engraved with an American eagle. But the last purchase of crystal to service a 400-guest state dinner was during the Nixon era, according to the White House Historical Association.

Melania Trump was aware of the shortage but declined to commission a new set, CNN reported.

Stewart Mclaurin, president of the historical association, said that the idea of getting a crystal set from Mrs Trump’s native Slovenia had been considered.

‘Here you are at the White House, but you’re drinking from glasses you could get from the local caterer’

“Some of the best crystal in the world could be made in Slovenia, and that is a nice connection to her history, her heritage,” he said.

“It was a thought we had, but ... it is not our role to say, ‘Do this, do that.’ That is up to the First Lady and her team.”

It is unclear whether the current First Lady, Jill Biden, will commission a new set.

“We would say we are not lobbying for this at all. It is just a consideration we make,” Mr Mclaurin said.