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The criticism of Mrs. Smith in the campaign was that she drank too much, that she was a drunk. She didn't drink. My guess is that Katie was a teetotaler. I never saw her drink a glass of beer even. I never questioned her about whether she was a teetotaler or not, but when beer was being passed around in the executive mansion when we used to go over later after working on something or other, Katie never drank anything. I think she was probably a teetotaler, or nearly so. Certainly she never drank.

People would tell you they had seen her drunk in a night club and they would name the night club. I'm sure it was not so. Nobody who knew her or knew Al ever thought it was true. But there were dreadful, hideous gossipers who did it. It's the same kind of loud mouthed wretchedness that Joseph McCarthy uses. They would gladly spread a dirty lie about somebody.

Katie was overdressed a little, I would say. She had a double chin. As she grew older, she ate too much and it all went to chin. So her photographs were not good. What with a little overdressing, too plump, and a heavy double chin, she didn't look like the kind of a lady that they thought ought to be in the White House. When I say “they” I mean the carping critics and the slightly more elegant Republican ladies. She was a little overdressed.