A Biography of Perle Mesta Sheds Light on a Famed DC Figure

Perle Mesta was one of DC’s most famous socialites, a newspaper staple known for her charm and influence—“the hostess with the mostest,” as she was famously dubbed. Her hot-ticket parties were attended by the city’s elite, including friends such as Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Dwight Eisenhower. But she was also an activist and important fundraiser, as journalist Meryl Gordon’s new biography, The Woman Who Knew Everyone, makes clear. Here are a few interesting things we learned from the book.

She Was a First-Wave Feminist

Mesta was active in the National Women’s Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, pushing for its inclusion in the Democratic and Republican platforms. In 1959, she threw a party for legislators and ERA activists at DC’s Alva Belmont House to galvanize support. Mesta and suffragist leader Alice Paul stood in the receiving line together, welcoming guests like speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.

She Was the Subject of a Broadway Musical

Playwright Howard Lindsay read a Time magazine cover story about Mesta—while he happened to be on vacation with Ethel Merman. That led him to cowrite Call Me Madam, which Merman ended up starring in as a clearly Mesta-based figure. Irving Berlin wrote the music. The term “hostess with the mostest” comes from the musical, as does the line “They like Ike,” which Eisenhower heard when he attended the 1950 premiere and later borrowed for his presidential campaign.

She Was a Big-Deal Fundraiser

Mesta was renowned for her political money-raising efforts. For example, she was credited with saving Truman’s presidential reelection campaign, which was struggling financially: In 1948, she was chosen as the first woman to co-chair the Democratic Party’s annual fundraising gala, and the turnout was so big that the organizers had to add a second venue. She raised more than $250,000 (around $3 million today)— making it, at the time, the most successful fundraiser in Democratic history.

She Liked Playing Matchmaker

Mesta once set up First Daughter Margaret Truman with John F. Kennedy, sending them on a series of dates at concerts and the Ice Capades and seating them together at a dinner for the Trumans. She was more successful when, as the US envoy to Luxembourg, she started a scholarship for two students to travel to the United States. She matched her two picks romantically—and they eventually married.

This article appears in the January 2025 issue of Washingtonian.

Tatyana Masters

Editorial Fellow