Jan 1, 2021
Associated Press photoElizabeth Taylor and John Warner in 1977. Warner, who was Taylorâs sixth husband, became a Republican Senator in 1979.Â
This is my 1,768th opinion column. It is also my last.
Permit me a few reminiscences.
Elizabeth Taylor, the movie star, was married to John Warner, the Republican senator from Virginia. She was not at all happy in Washington. She had expected to be a political salon hostess as mistress of Warnerâs vast Virginia estate, like in the movies. But she was often alone while Warner politicked on Capitol Hill.
Ben Bradlee, then editor of The Washington Post, and I, then president of the Washington Press Club, were hosting a cocktail party for the American Society of Newspaper Editors at the Kennedy Center. I was to escort Taylor around for the evening. She looked at my lavender polyester blouse with a bow at the throat and glowered. âYouâre wearing my color. But Iâll forgive you if you keep me in three fingers of Jack Daniels all night.â