of the day." Foreign policy guidelines were discussed in these salons, often over cocktails and dinner. This custom was described with the catchphrase "salonism" because politics were conducted informally here. As Phil Graham, editor of the ''Washington Post'', put it, the dinners were "a form of government by invitation."

The Georgetown Set reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. The central element was the famous Sunday "Zoo Parties" at the home of columnist