First Lady, Staffers Team to Catch President Off Guard With Party

WASHINGTON —  A three-layer spice cake, a little teasing from his wife and a band called “It’s a Free Country” livened up President Clinton’s early birthday party Friday.

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the White House staff conspired to surprise the president as he returned from a fund-raising luncheon. A snappy unit of the Marine Band and an invitation-only coterie of aides turned out on the lawn just outside the Oval Office to sing “Happy Birthday” and present gifts--a donation to the I Have a Dream Foundation and pledges of volunteer activity. Clinton turns 52 on Wednesday.

“We ate cake, we drank iced tea, we had a jolly good time,” White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said.

Hillary Clinton teased her husband about “such a momentous occasion,” McCurry said.

The vanilla-and-spice cake was decorated with a map of the world and featured icing portraits of Buddy the dog and Socks the cat, with pictures of a golf ball and an eagle in the corners.

As for the Marine Band, recently accused by reporters of purposely playing over their shouted questions about the Monica S. Lewinsky investigation, McCurry joked, “They played on cue and drowned out all of our questions. You know, we all said, ‘How you doing? How are you enjoying your birthday?’ and you couldn’t hear anything.”