First Lady Has Gingriches Over for Tour

Standing under the North Portico of the White House, Hillary Rodham Clinton flashed a smile Friday and waved goodby to the Speaker of the House, his mother and the capital’s most recent teapot tempest.

The First Lady had just conducted an hourlong personal tour of the White House, honoring an invitation she issued after Kathleen Gingrich stage-whispered to a television interviewer that her son, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), considered the First Lady to be “a bitch.”

Gingrich wouldn’t respond when he was asked on entering the East Wing of the White House whether he would apologize for his mother’s remark. His mother said: “No comment.”

But when the Speaker emerged from the executive mansion’s main door, he waved and gave a thumbs-up when a throng of reporters flanked by television cameras and still photographers shouted: “How did it go?”

Entering the White House, Gingrich was asked what he and the First Lady would talk about.

“Not much; just chat,” he replied.

A bystander at the east entrance, which adjoins a pedestrian walkway, shouted: “We love you, Newt!”

But when a tourist asked: “Can I have your autograph?” Gingrich responded with a terse “no.”

Reporters were not admitted to the White House during the First Lady’s tour. President Clinton was attending an investment and trade conference in Cleveland.

The First Lady’s press office said Gingrich and his mother were met at the door to the East Wing by White House curator Rex Scouten, who showed them the modern sculpture on temporary display in the First Lady’s garden, then escorted them to the state floor where Hillary Clinton was waiting.

Neel Lattimore, a spokesman for the First Lady, said part of the tour was strictly private.

CBS-TV and anchor/reporter Connie Chung have been criticized for airing the characterization of the First Lady, which Kathleen Gingrich whispered after Chung told her it would be “just between you and me.”