Exclusive Book Excerpt | February 19, 2025
Exclusive book excerpt from Meryl Gordon’s latest triumph
The Woman Who Knew Everyone: The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington’s Most Famous Hostess
Perle Mesta was a force to be reckoned with. In her heyday, this wealthy globe-trotting Washington widow was one of the most famous women in America, garnering as much media attention as Eleanor Roosevelt. Renowned for her world-class parties featuring politicians and celebrities, she was a regular at the White House for four decades and had very close ties to three presidents—Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.
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A pioneering supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a prodigious Democratic fundraiser and rescued Harry Truman’s financially flailing 1948 campaign. In return, he named Perle as envoy to Luxembourg, only the third woman in American history to hold a diplomatic post.
In her intensely researched biography, author Meryl Gordon chronicles Perle’s lavish life and society adventures in Newport, Manhattan and Washington, while highlighting her important, but nearly forgotten contribution to American politics and the feminist movement.
