QUESTION: Why did George W. Bush ban members of his administration from playing at the Burning Tree Country Club in Bethesda, MD? The club was frequently in the news during the Eisenhower era. What is unique about this club? ANSWER: The Bush claim is made by Golf magazine but there are no supporting documents to prove it. The magazine claims Bush remembered the negative publicity his father received because of his honorary membership in the club. Burning Tree was established in 1922 and women are not permitted to be members. No women were allowed inside the club at all until the 2012 spring cocktail party. Women are allowed into the pro shop in December to purchase Christmas presents for their husbands. They can do this only during very restrictive hours. Even working female U.S. Secret Service agents are turned away. According to club lore, the only woman to hit their links was in a light plane that made an emergency landing near the 18th hole during the 1950s. She was hustled off the grounds. The initiation fee is $75,000 but is waived for honorary members such as U.S. presidents, speakers of the House and Supreme Court justices. Speaker Pelosi and female members of the court were not invited. In part because of negative publicity, the membership list is not revealed. The Washington Post says These days, membership in Burning Tree is most often publicly claimed in obituaries, a fact that suggests the issue of all-male private clubs might eventually be self-correcting. PHOTO: President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon at Burning Tree in 1959.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:52:04 +0000
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