The WASP ascendancy -- "A political village" -- "Some higher realm of intellect and power" -- "Is war inevitable?" -- "Would he go into the woods?" -- "To fight fire with fire" -- "Some brave new approach" -- "A land of conspiracy, run by conspirators" -- "Why has Washington gone crazy?" -- "A rather serious border incident" -- "Venomous, exciting and pretty frightening" -- Bold Easterners -- "Stray and gusty winds" -- "The wild pigs of Capitol Hill" -- "An act of very great folly" -- "A chap of great promise" -- "The prophet of the missile gap" -- "A breathless time, full of promise and energy" -- "We will all fry" -- "How great is one's duty to truth?" -- Dégringolade -- "The other side of the coin" -- "I'm afraid Joe is a cruel man" -- "It was the war that did him in" -- "Nobody plays by the rules anymore" -- "There is a feeling of doors closing" -- Epilogue: "We're all so old or dead": the end of the Georgetown set.