Washington Star Society Columnist Betty Beale, 94

Mostly in the early days, her job amounted to asking hostesses for the names of the honored guests who "poured" the coffee and tea at afternoon functions. She also debated the social hierarchy of tea and coffee pourers.

"A perplexed hostess finally called the Protocol Office in the State Department to settle this world-shaking problem," she wrote in her memoir. "Protocol pronounced no difference between the two beverages; I passed this important government ruling on to my readers, thereby settling the question and soothing the coffee pourers' egos."

Tiring of this, she began to insert into the column political commentary overheard at the parties. The managing editor told her the women's page was no forum for such talk, but she later made a successful case to send the society writer -- herself -- to national political conventions.

At the 1952 Democratic convention, she met Adlai E. Stevenson II, the Illinois governor then running for president, and a decade later began a love affair with him that lasted until his death in 1965.

"Looking at Stevenson's picture today, you would never suspect his great appeal," she wrote. "He wasn't handsome; he did not have a physique that draws feminine raves. But he had a marvelous speaking voice, great charm, elegance, kindness, and a delicious wit."

During the Vietnam War period, Ms. Beale received many letters from readers asking how in good conscience Washington's powerful could maintain an elaborate social life. She defended the right of presidents and other powerful men -- they were all men -- to release tension through socializing at night. She wrote back asking what possible advantage would there be if they "went straight home and moped all evening about the world situation."

She also sided with the establishment during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago because she was appalled by the methods of the youthful protesters. Her column criticizing the rioters -- a rare departure from mainstream coverage that blamed the police for the violence -- won an award from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pa.

After the Star ended publication, Ms. Beale worked briefly for the Washington Times. She wrote an autobiography, "Power at Play: A Memoir of Parties, Politicians, and the Presidents in My Bedroom."

Survivors include her husband, George K. Graeber, whom she married in 1969, of Washington; two stepchildren, George B. Graeber of Bethesda and Gretchen Quigley of Medford, N.J.; two grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.