When a naval officer is transferred to a new ship or station there is a social protocol for making a formal call on the captain and the next senior officer in the chain of command. It is a formality, but it has roots in a very practical approach to making the newly arrived officer and his family comfortable in their new surroundings. The officers of a ship constitute a social entity and are frequently friends even off the ship. Part of the proceedings for a first social call is often a mention of various facilities in the area such as schools, shopping centers, religious institutions and the like.
Usually, the new arrival, and spouse, try to determine ahead of time when they can call. The formal call is normally quite brief, and it does involve leaving a calling card. The executive officer of the Nantahala was transferred, and being next in line in seniority, it was my job to accept a formal call from his replacement. bring My wife and I made it clear that since we had an infant, the new XO and his spouse could bring their own child.
The meeting seemed to be satisfactory until near the end my wife suggested that his wife might bring their child to our home at some time in the future. Her response was that such a meeting would be impossible. They only dropped in because it was part of required formal protocol. The implicatio n was that they would not be comfortable meeting with a Jewish family in a normal social setting. In our innocence, we assumed that this kind of “Gentlemen’s Agreement” closet antisemitism was not common any longer. How wrong we were.
Wetherhorn 