Susan Ford, daughter of President Gerald R. Ford, hosted her senior class prom in the East Room of the White House in 1975. The all-girls school students paid for the event and danced to the Outerspace Band and Sandcastle. The president and first lady were out of town.
Getting dressed up and dancing the night away at prom is a major event in the life of any high school student, but the girls in the senior class at Holton-Arms School had a night more memorable than most on May 31, 1975. Thanks to the their classmate, Susan Ford, daughter of President Gerald R. Ford, their prom was held in the East Room of the White House, the only time the executive mansion has ever hosted a prom. The girls wore floor-length dresses and drank non-alcoholic punch while dancing “the baby bump” with their dates to the groovy sounds of the Outerspace Band and Sandcastle. Although the president and first lady were out of town that night, the students had several other chaperones, including Gerald Ford’s sister-in-law Janet Ford.
Read more about the only White House ball:
Susan Ford had been attending Holton-Arms School, an all-girls school in Bethesda, Maryland, since freshman year.
The students paid for the entire event (which cost $1,300 USD in 1975 dollars) by holding fundraisers such as bake sales.
Susan Ford’s date for the evening was William Pifer, a medical student at Washington and Lee University.
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