Word: muriel
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...MANDELBAUAA GATE by Muriel Spark. 369 pages. Knopf...
Scottish Novelist Muriel Spark has never been particularly fond of any of her characters. At best, she regards them with amused detachment, and in such finely spun structures of malice as The Bachelors and The Girls of Slender Means, she meticulously exposed their peculiarities and quivering insecurities. Unhappily, in this, her eighth and longest novel, Novelist Spark finally pays dearly for her indifference. She is obviously much more interested in the sights and sounds on both sides of the Mandelbaum Gate, which separates Israel and Jordan, than she is in her characters, and soon the reader discovers that...
Ever since he arrived in Washington 17 years ago as the brash junior Senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey has been happy as a clam in his modest, $40,000 home at 3216 Coquelin Terrace in suburban Chevy Chase, Md. So has his wife Muriel. For both, the place has a strong sentimental attachment. Their children's footprints are set in the sidewalk. Muriel takes great pride in a bedroom that she has converted into a sewing room. Hubert liked to relax after a hard day in the Senate by donning an apron and sweeping the halls...
...Humphreys' case, the reasons for having a larger place are even more compelling. Under President Johnson, the Vice President has been given responsibilities for entertaining that far outweigh those of his predecessors; he must wine and dine visiting VIPs from mayors to maharajahs, yet Hubert and Muriel do well to pack 50 guests into their house for a stand-up cocktail party...
President Hubert Humphrey, whom he had summoned to the bandstand with his wife Muriel, noted that it was Humphrey's 54th birthday. Said he: "Hubert does most of the things I take credit for, and if some of those votes get split up there he'll get some of the blame." Humphrey laughed, blushed and beamed as the President led the guests in singing "Happy Birthday." With that, Johnson headed for a waiting helicopter for a holiday trip to Texas...