Meryl Gordon's "The Woman Who Knew Everyone"

Meryl Gordon is the director of NYU’s graduate Magazine and Digital Storytelling program. A graduate of the University of Michigan whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, Vanity Fair and the New York Times, she has written four biographies about influential, talented and wealthy women, all born at a time (ranging from 1892 to 1910) when women’s opportunities were limited.

Two of her books -- Mrs. Astor Regrets (2008) and Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend (2017) -- were New York Times bestsellers.

Gordon applied the “Page 99 Test” to her newest book, The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess, and reported the following:

On page 99, Perle is giving a 1948 party in honor of President Harry Truman at the gloomy Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, a time when everyone thought Truman would lose the election. She would go on to raise money that fall for Truman at a crucial moment, helping keep his campaign afloat, and he beat Thomas Dewey in an Election Night shocker. (The Chicago Tribune was so convinced of the likely outcome that an early edition ran the erroneous headline: Dewey Defeats Truman.)

At the Philadelphia party (page 99) Perle declared, “This is no wake. I’m tired of this kind of talk. This is a victory party.” She welcomed an NBC camera crew, the first time the networks had covered a convention. With the Democratic Party bitterly at odds over civil rights and segregationalist Southerners threatening a walk-out, one of the few Black delegates was invited to and attended Perle’s party. Noted on page 99, “As far as Perle was concerned, he was a Democrat, he was a delegate and he was welcome.”

The Page 99 Test gives a flavor of Perle’s commitment to Harry Truman and her support of Civil Rights. She was not a crusader but believed in quietly leading by example, consistently including a diverse array of people at her own parties and those she organized for the Democratic Party, such as co-chair of the 1949 Inaugural Ball.

Visit Meryl Gordon's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Phantom of Fifth Avenue.

Writers Read: Meryl Gordon (October 2017).

The Page 99 Test: Bunny Mellon.

My Book, The Movie: Bunny Mellon.

My Book, The Movie: The Woman Who Knew Everyone.

Writers Read: Meryl Gordon.

--Marshal Zeringue