Truman Capote and Katharine Graham at the Black and White Ball, photographed by Harry Benson. “I felt a little bit that Truman was going to give the ball anyway and that I was part of the props,” Graham would later say.

The Swan Who Was Spared

The real reason Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, Truman Capote’s guest of honor at the Black and White Ball, was the only “swan” he didn’t betray

By Joseph Rodota

When the November 1975 issue of Esquire magazine hit the newsstands and Truman Capote revealed therein the deepest secrets of a small group of rich, beautiful women known to history as his “swans,” reaction at the top of Manhattan’s social dogpile was swift and nearly universal.

“Ostracizing Truman became the thing to do,” Sam Kashner wrote in a recent issue of AIR MAIL. Slim Keith refused to take his calls and considered suing him for libel. “The next time I see Truman Capote, I’m going to spit in his face,” fumed Gloria Vanderbilt. Babe Paley never spoke to him again.