Europe has given the world many wonderful things — croissants, the bikini, the sauna, the Enlightenment — but U.S. presidents act at their peril when they seek to import from the Old Country public displays of their own power, influence or style.
In other words: President Trump might want to think twice before insisting on a military parade just because he saw a cool one in France. Wrote reader Richard Stableford of Dumfries, Va.: “As I recall, President Nixon returned from a trip to France with a similar, if less grandiose, desire to emulate the French with respect to the uniformed French guards he encountered in Paris.”
The 1969 trip — Nixon’s first as chief executive — included stops in Brussels, London, Bonn, Berlin, Rome and Paris, and it’s thought it was actually the garments in Germany that most impressed the president. In comparison, the White House police uniforms lacked a certain pomp and formality.
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The commission to design a new look went to Jimmie Muscatello, a tailor who ran a uniform supply shop on 12th Street NW. Muscatello was a natural choice. He already supplied uniforms to the White House police — part of the Secret Service — and said he’d loved uniforms since his days in his high school marching band in West Virginia.
Muscatello’s original design featured a red jacket, but that was toned down in favor of a white double-breasted tunic with a stand-up collar, gold nylon sleeve trim and a gold braid on the shoulder and black shako hat.
The whole shebang cost $95, not including black pants, which carried over from the existing uniform.
That shoulder braid has a name: It’s called an aiguillette. In retrospect, it’s probably not a good idea for an American president to come out in favor of an aiguillette.
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The uniforms were unveiled on Jan. 27, 1970, during the state visit of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
Reaction was swift — and withering. A 20-year-old passer-by named Robert A. Davis told The Washington Post’s Bob Levey, “They look like extras from a Lithuanian movie.”
The Post printed a sarcastic letter from Mary C. Neuman of Annapolis, Md.: “It was intriguing to see the new South American dictatorship look of the ‘palace guard’ at the White House. We hope Mr. Nixon was able to impress the visiting head of state from the Mother Country with the grandeur and style of our form of government.”
The District’s Michael P. Zell described the regalia as “appropriate for the illegitimate offspring of a runaway toy soldier from the Ice Capades and the youngest daughter of a banana republic dictator.”
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There was also criticism that $9,500 was spent on 100 uniforms at a time when the budget of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was being slashed.
Not all reaction was negative. In a letter to the editor, J.E. Badley of Rockville, Md., wrote that “these individuals evidently resent any show of color or gaiety in this dark, uncertain world.”
And Frederick J. Doran of Arlington, Va., wrote: “Keep the uniforms, Mr. Nixon. I cannot find any reason why it would be unconstitutional for the White House guards to have new dress uniforms. Remember, Mr. President, you have your rights, too.”
For a while, at least, the uniforms were kept, though the uncomfortable black vinyl hat was replaced by a softer white one of a more traditional design.
Muscatello found himself besieged by journalists curious about how he had come up with the look. He said it wasn’t modeled after European designs for the simple reason that he had never been to Europe.
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“I only had to satisfy one man,” Muscatello said, meaning Nixon. “I haven’t heard from him, but I think he’s satisfied.”
The tailor said that a good uniform could engender respect. “My theory is law enforcement needs help,” he said. “If you have a police officer dressed real nice and neat, trimmed up and looking smart, the kids 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, say, ‘Oh, boy, that’s a pretty uniform.’”
By the mid-1970s, the uniforms — like Nixon — were gone from the White House. Two ended up at the National Museum of American History. In 1980, the General Services Administration sold 32 to Iowa’s Meriden-Cleghorn High School for use by its marching band. (The principal there, Jason Toenges, told me that the school, now known as MMCRU High, no longer has them. Meanwhile, back in the District, police and transit workers still shop at Jimmie Muscatello’s Washington Uniform Center, now across from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station.)
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In 1977, the Washington Star’s John Sherwood wrote that Muscatello was tired of people harping on the uniforms. “But the fact remains,” Sherwood wrote, “that this bit of Nixon trivia continues to spark an almost morbid fascination in reporters, who look upon the costume caper as a dark insight into the Nixon character.”
You don’t say?
Twitter: @johnkelly
For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/people/john-kelly.
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