"Dinner of the Century"

 Wednesday, Aug 13 was a day of funerals for the victims at the Cielo Dr murder scene.  Sharon, Jay, Abigail, and Steven were buried that day.  But it wasn't all mourning.  Oh no no no.  Just 1 1/2 miles due south(and within sight) of the Tate house, there was a huge celebration that very evening.  The host was The President of the United States, who invited 1400 of the Power Elite to the Century Plaza Hotel on the Avenue of the Stars in the Century City area of LA for a formal Presidential Dinner to celebrate the first landing on the moon and the safe return of the astronauts of Apollo 11.

The Los Angeles Times called it the "Dinner of the Century," and the New York Times said it was "one of the largest, most prestigious, and most publicized state dinners in history."  It was also allegedly the first White House Dinner outside the White House.  A good chunk of the governing body of the country was there that night.  Among the notables(and their wives) were:


The President and First Lady
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
The former Vice President Hubert Humphrey
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
50 Members of the House and Senate of the United States
44 out of 50 Governors of the States
14 members of the Nixon Cabinet, including Defense and State
83 Ambassadors or Charge D'Affaires from foreign countries
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Chief of Naval Operations, The Commandant of the Marine Corps, The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and The Chief of Staff of the Army Gen William Westmoreland
The Director of the CIA, Richard Helms and the Deputy Director of the CIA
William J. Casey of New York (future head of the CIA)
Vice Adm William Raborn, ex-Director of the CIA
Asst to the Pres Henry Kissinger
Donald Rumsfeld
Gen Omar Bradley
Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty
Evelle Younger, DA for LA County (and Bugs' boss)
Mrs. Martha Mitchell, wife of the AG



And the Chairmen/Presidents of:
The Export-Import Bank of the US, The Council of Economic Advisors, The Atomic Energy Corp, McDonnell-Douglas, Boeing, North American Rockwell, Martin Marietta, Northrop, General Dynamics, Grumman, Fluor, Lockheed, Southern California Edison, Rocketdyne, Goodyear Aerospace, Chrysler, Pepsi Cola, United Air Lines, Delta Air Lines, Western Air Lines, Continental Air Lines, Pan American World Airways, Eastern Airlines, the AFL/CIO, and the United Auto Workers

And William Randolph Hearst and the Publishers of a dozen big city newspapers, the President of ABC-TV, the President of RCA and all the bigwigs from the local TV media.  And Walter Cronkite, Clare Booth Luce, Roy Disney, and Walt Disney's widow.

And from the Hollywood crowd there was Jack Warner of Warner Bros Studios, Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray, Art Linkletter, Jimmy Stewart, Mr. & Mrs. Edgar Bergen (parents of Candace Bergen), and a dozen other household names.

Also the Rev Billy Graham, the Archbishop of the LA diocese, Howard Hughes aide Robert Maheu, Willy Messerschmidt of Munich, Germany, and of course Nixon sidekick Bebe Rebozo.



Does it mean anything?  Beats me.  Unanswered is why the President wanted this dinner to be held way out in Los Angeles.  Why not Washington DC, or Houston, the home of NASA?