My Library

Chapter 45 DINNER WITH RUTH HAGY AND AL BROD On 10 July 1972, the summer was sweltering in New York. The heat was oppressive and terrible. Ruth had called in the morning. Could I come to dinner at their place that evening? Al was fixing something special to eat. The meal would be a cold one, soothing in the hot climate. So after spending the day working at the ASPR, I went to their apartment on Park Avenue South. This was a small apartment, quite unlike the tremendously roomy and elegant spreads in which little me was being lionized elsewhere. There was a tiny entry, a tiny kitchen (and I mean tiny), an equally tiny eating alcove. The living room was not all that large. Every square inch of wall space was hung with photos from Ruth Hagy’s career as a famous international correspondent in both war and peace. Al had prepared cold chicken in aspic. He was very proud of his cleverness regarding the aspic. It was made of Campbell’s tomato soup and gelatin, and there was a nice salad and some bread, and iced coffee afterward. I put some Tabasco Sauce on the chicken-in-aspic, and Ruth then began to reveal the purpose of the evening. As I’ve already mentioned earlier, both the Brods were exceedingly well connected in Washington, D.C., although they didn’t talk much about this to others. They had just returned from some function there having to do with President Richard M. Nixon.