Washington is one of the only places in America where an election transforms the city's social life. Plenty of people live here with no regard for who occupies the White House, but a lot of social networks get rewired when a new president comes to town and brings along thousands of ideological kin. In the Kennedy and Johnson eras, official Washington took its cues from the White House: Glamorous dinner parties were in vogue under JFK, followed by more down-home barbecues under LBJ. No matter the president, though, guest lists tended to span both parties, and the fraternizing helped keep the government's gears and levers well-enough oiled.

But in the Reagan-Bush eighties, social life in D. C., just as in the rest of the country, began to polarize, with the newly empowered conservatives who arrived with Ronald Reagan making a show of shunning D. C.'s establishm

Washington is one of the only places in America where an election transforms the city's social life. Plenty of people live here with no regard for who occupies the White House, but a lot of social networks get rewired when a new president comes to town and brings along thousands of ideological kin. In the Kennedy and Johnson eras, official Washington took its cues from the White House: Glamorous dinner parties were in vogue under JFK, followed by more down-home barbecues under LBJ. No matter the president, though, guest lists tended to span both parties, and the fraternizing helped keep the government's gears and levers well-enough oiled.

But in the Reagan-Bush eighties, social life in D. C., just as in the rest of the country, began to polarize, with the newly empowered conservatives who arrived with Ronald Reagan making a show of shunning D. C.'s establishment (though Nancy still loved entertaining her Hollywood friends at the White House). A pattern set in: Democratic presidents and their aides were quick to mingle with the city's mostly liberal establishment, and Republicans were isolated from it. But even though George W. Bush was in bed before 10:00 p.m., and despite the culture clash experienced by his Texas clan, members of his administration were not pariahs. He and Nancy Pelosi, who became Speaker of the House during his second term, had a surprisingly good relationship, one nourished by White House social events that helped prevent a total breakdown in governing. It was an echo of the now-legendary comity between Reagan and Tip O'Neill, who sometimes hashed out legislative differences over whiskey.