Susan Mary Alsop

Susan Mary Alsop (June 19, 1918 – August 18, 2004) was an American socialite and writer active in Washington, D.C. political circles. The wife of columnist Joseph Alsop and a descendant of founding father John Jay, her Georgetown home hosted dignitaries and publishers during the 1960s and 70s ranging from John F. Kennedy, Phil and Katharine Graham, and Isaiah Berlin, earning her the nickname "the grand dame of Washington society."[1][2]

Susan Mary Alsop
Alsop at the White House in 1961
Born
Susan Mary Jay

(1918-06-19)June 19, 1918
Rome, Italy
DiedAugust 18, 2004(2004-08-18) (aged 86)
Washington, D.C.
NationalityAmerican
EducationFoxcroft School
Barnard College
Occupation
  • Socialite
  • Writer
Spouse(s)
William Samuel Patten
​
​
(m. 1939; died 1960)​

​
​
(m. 1961; div. 1978)​
Parent(s)Peter Augustus Jay
Susan Alexander McCook
RelativesJohn J. McCook (grandfather)
Augustus Jay (grandfather)

Early life

Alsop was born Susan Mary Jay in Rome on June 19, 1918, the daughter of Susan Alexander McCook and U.S. diplomat Peter Augustus Jay, who served as U.S. General Consul to Egypt, U.S. Minister to El Salvador and Romania and U.S. Ambassador to Argentina.[3] She had an older sister, Emily Kane Jay, who died young.[4][5] Her paternal grandparents were Augustus Jay and Emily Astor (née Kane) Jay and her maternal grandfather was Civil War officer and prominent attorney John James McCook.[4][6]

She attended Foxcroft School in Virginia and later took courses at Barnard College.[7]

Career

In 1939, she began working at Vogue magazine as a receptionist, writer and model.[2]

Alsop authored several books and dozens of magazine articles. In 1975, she published a collection of letters, To Marietta from Paris, followed by Lady Sackville: A Biography (1978), about the Lady Victoria Sackville-West. She chronicled notable American diplomats in Yankees at the Court: The First Americans in Paris (1982), and The Congress Dances: Vienna 1814–1815 (1984). She was a contributing editor to Architectural Digest, in which she published some 70 articles.[8]

Personal life

In 1939, she married the diplomat William Samuel "Bill" Patten, and in 1945 helped him get a job with the American embassy in Paris. While in Paris, she began an affair with the British Ambassador Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, that lasted until Cooper's death in 1954.[2][9] She had an illegitimate child with Cooper.[10][11][12] Her husband died in 1960, and the following year she married Joseph Alsop.[7] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1978.[13]

Alsop was on good terms with John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline Kennedy: he visited her house on the day of his inauguration.[7] She joined the White House Paintings Committee,[7] and was influential enough to be termed the "Second Lady of Camelot".[8][14]

Alsop died in Washington, D.C. on August 18, 2004.[13] She was posthumously biographied by her son in his 2008 memoir My Three Fathers: And the Elegant Deceptions of My Mother, Susan Mary Alsop,[12] and later by French former diplomat Caroline de Margerie in American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop (2012).[15][16] Also in 2012 she was fictionalized in David Auburn's Broadway play The Columnist, based on Joseph Alsop's life, and portrayed by actress Margaret Colin.[17]

References
  1. Martin, Douglas (August 20, 2004). "Susan Mary Alsop, 86, Washington Hostess and author". The New York Times.
  2. Sullivan, Patricia (August 19, 2004). "Socialite Susan Mary Alsop Dies". The Washington Post.
  3. "Peter Augustus Jay – People – Department History". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  4. "PETER A. JAY DEAD; LONG A DIPLOMAT; Descendant of the First Chief Justice of U. S. an Ambas- sador to Argentina". The New York Times. October 19, 1933. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  5. "P.A. JAY ESTATE TO FAMILY.; Diplomat Left Property to Wife and Daughter". The New York Times. October 27, 1933. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  6. "P.A. JAY ESTATE $737,060.; Only a Fraction of Sum Diplomat Left Taxable in This State". The New York Times. November 22, 1934. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  7. "Susan Mary Alsop". The Telegraph. August 20, 2004.
  8. Braudy, Susan (February 2006). "Camelot's Second Lady". Vanity Fair. pp. 154–170.
  9. Schillinger, Liesl (November 9, 2012). "Susan Mary Alsop: a Two-Continent Hostess". The New York Times.
  10. "Death at Sea of Lord Norwich". The Times (52819). London. January 2, 1954. p. 6.
  11. Matthew 2004, p243
  12. Patten, Bill (2008). My Three Fathers: And the Elegant Deceptions of My Mother, Susan Mary Alsop. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1586485559.
  13. Cornwell, Rupert (August 26, 2004). "Susan Mary Alsop: Washington political hostess and writer". The Independent.
  14. Taylor, Elizabeth (November 10, 2012). "'American Lady' by Caroline de Margerie". Los Angeles Times.
  15. de Margerie, Caroline (2012). American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop. Viking. ISBN 978-0670025749.
  16. Bernstein, Amy D. (December 7, 2012). "'American Lady' offers a portrait of Susan Mary Alsop". Chicago Tribune.
  17. Stasio, Marilyn (April 26, 2012). "The Columnist". Variety.
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