From the West Wing to Studio 54: President’s men accused of snorting cocaine at the home of disco in a very American scandal

It was the most unlikely setting for a drugs scandal to unfold, writes Stuart Cosgrove.

On September 3, 1979, President Jimmy Carter was enjoying a week-long August vacation on board a Mississippi River steamship called the Delta Queen, a floating hotel powered by a traditional paddlewheel.

The president was relaxing into his family break when he received an

ominous telephone call from the newly appointed Attorney General, Benjamin Civiletti, who regretfully told the president that he had instructed the FBI to investigate two of Carter’s’ closest White House aides, chief of staff Hamilton Jordan, and press secretary Jody Powell. The reason for the investigation was both redolent of the times and potentially damaging to the presidency.

Jordan had been accused of snorting cocaine during a visit to New York City’s celebrity nightclub Studio 54. Disco was at its height and the venue alone was enough for the press to elevate it as a story. Nor was it a simple story of recreational drugs. At the

time, two of Studio 54’s owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were deeply entangled in tax evasion charges which had spiralled into obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges.

The two were accused of skimming more than $2 million in unreported income from the club’s receipts. Rubell had hired Manhattan lawyer Roy M Cohn. He convinced Rubell there was a prospect of immunity, if they could entrap the White House in a cocaine scandal and so identified a low-level dealer who worked the bathrooms in Studio 54 and tape-recorded him admitting he had sold cocaine to the White House aides in what became known euphemistically as the Disco Scandal. Carter only knew of the place by reputation yet when he discussed the scandal in private with his mother weeks later, she confided she had been at

Studio 54. Two years before, at the age of 79, Lillian Carter had sat next to the cardinal of Pop Art, Andy Warhol, at an awards ceremony where she was recognised for her work in social care and nursing.