White House, Home of the American People

Posted on March 30, 2017March 30, 2017 by Dusty Roads

The official home for the U.S. president was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the 1790s. Rebuilt after a British attack in 1814, the “President’s House” evolved with the personal touches of its residents, and accommodated such technological changes as the installation of electricity. The building underwent major structural changes in the early 1900s under Teddy Roosevelt, who also officially established the “White House” moniker, and again under Harry Truman after WWII. Counting the Oval Office and the Rose Garden among its famous features, it remains the only private residence of a head of state open free of charge to the public.

The White house is small, no Buckingham Palace for the new country of the USA. According to our tour guide this was because the White House was to represent every man’s home as opposed to “royalty”.

The White House was originally open to the citizen’s of the US. The first fence was not erected until 1803 but that fence was not to prohibit entry to citizens. To the contrary, Jefferson opened the doors to the White House for citizens to visit, with the exception of when he was sleeping. The grounds were generally open as if a public park. That fence and subsequent fences and walls were largely to direct the flow of visitors.

A guard booth was not added until 1835, after an assassination attempt on President Andrew Jackson.

In the 1850s, the gates were open from 8 am until sundown.

Open public access to the grounds during daytime continued until World War II. During the war, it was prohibited for security reasons. Those security reasons have not relaxed, since.

Ever wonder why the entrances are refereed to as the east , west, north or south entrances? It’s because we do not want any visiting dignitary to feel slighted by entering through a “back door.”

Abraham Lincoln addressed the nation from the West Portico for the last time before his assassination. John Wilkes Booth and his c0-conspirators were in Lafayette Square when Lincoln made the address. What they heard so angered them that Booth is alleged to say, that will be the last time Lincoln makes a speech from the White House. Originally they only planned to kidnap the President but now incensed , they left plotting the eventual assassination.

The White House may look small but it holds 142 rooms on six floors with floor space totaling approximately 55,000 square feet. The “west wing” was added in 1942 and more than doubled the existing space.

Department of the Treasury

Posted on March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 by Dusty Roads

No free samples here. Money is printed at the mints around the country. This beautiful building was a symbol of our new country. After all, a country has bills and how can one pay its bills without a treasury so in 1789 by an act of the newly minted Congress created the Department of the Treasury. The purpose of the department was/is to manage the revenue of the country. The Treasury is run by the Secretary of the Treasury who is a member of the President’s cabinet.

Most people know or can guess that Alexander Hamilton served as Secretary of the Treasury in the early years but he’s not the reason for this little history lesson. Albert Gallatin is. Never heard of him? Neither had I and useless you are a really history buff I would be willing to bet most people haven’t yet with out him our country might have a very different look today.

Albert Gallatin was a Swiss American politician. We all know that Switzerland is known as a banking capital of the world and it seems that Gallatin had the banking gene. Appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1801 by President Jefferson and continuing under President James Madison until 1814, Gallatin was in office nearly thirteen years, the longest term of any Secretary in the Department’s history. He was responsible for the law of 1801 requiring an annual report by the Secretary of the Treasury

But on to the good stuff. Do you remember a little land purchase called the Louisiana Purchase? The Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U.S. history.

Now a search of the Louisiana Purchase probably won’t turn up any mention of Gallatin but if not for his ideas and service the U.S> would not have been able to afford the purchase price.

Galletin preached to the congress that the MUST keep a balanced budget. They COULD NOT keep spending money they did not have.

Jefferson and Gallatin focused on the danger that the public debt, unless it was paid off, would be a threat to republican values. Gallatin was the Republican Party’s chief expert on fiscal issues and as Treasury Secretary under Jefferson and Madison worked hard to lower taxes and lower the debt, while at the same time paying cash for the Louisiana Purchase and funding the War of 1812.

When Joey Explained this as we stood in the cold and rain in front of the Statue of Galletin at the Treasury Building, all I could think was “We need him now!”

Lafayette Square

Posted on March 28, 2017March 28, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

The tour bus came to a stop near Lafayette Square. Joey told us we were going to walk across the square and meet the bus on the other side. Time to hustle because Joey doesn’t let any grass grow under her feet. She couldn’t really. Lafayette Square is a total of 7 acres! I’m kind of glad we didn’t explore the whole thing.

The Square is directly north of the White house on H street, Jackson Place is on the west and Madison Place is on the East. The 4th side is Pennsylvania Ave. The square was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1970.

Like a person who has had many different jobs, one could say that Lafayette Square has a truly varied history. Over the years it has been used as a racetrack, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War if 1812 and many political protests and celebrations.. Some of protests continue to this day.

We stopped at the Statue of the Marquis de Lafayette since the square bears his name. Although Lafayette is singled out the square actually honors all the foreigners that have supported and helped the US, especially in the early days as our country was being born.

Today’s plan contains five large statues dating from the 1930’s. In the center stands Clark Mills’ equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853; in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France’s General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland’s General Tadeusz Kościuszko; and Prussia’s Major General Baron Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben.

The area around Lafayette Square became one of Washington’s most upscale Neighborhoods. The White House, small and unprepossessing, anchors the neighborhood which includes The Blair-Lee House, Old executive Office Building, the Department of the Treasury, St. John’s Episcopal Church and the Renwick Gallery.

The Tour Begins

Posted on March 27, 2017March 27, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 6 Comments

It was still raining, windy and cold but the Navel Museum was open. The young man in charge was kind enough to let me wait inside. Admission to the museum is free. I didn’t go downstairs to see all of the exhibits, I didn’t want to miss my tour, but I looked over the items on display in the main lobby.

There was a bronze statue of a family reunion, a model of the Yorktown and etchings on the walls about other ships including the Coral Sea. My brother served on the Coral Sea and I think my brother -in – law may have served on the Yorktown. It sounds too familiar to not have a family connection.

The memorial itself wasn’t turned on because of the cold. I think there are a series of fountains. I’m told they bring in the water from “All of the seven seas” and have a huge ceremony with the admirals and top chiefs of staff when they turn them on. Washington does like it’s pomp and circumstance.

More people began to arrive while I waited and all were welcomed into the nice warm, dry lobby. Finally at about 9:45 a nice young man with a clipboard arrived to check us all in.

The bus was parked about 2 blocks away so we all hiked up the street. Our tour guide was a super nice lady named Joey. The bus driver was Tony. Joey explained that tours never leave from the Capitol building on Sunday because there is always something going on that closes the streets. She just shook her head when I told her that I was first told to go to the Capitol Building, then the Naval Memorial and finally the text with the address for the memorial that never came.

While we waited for any stragglers the other guests began to talk about what they were promised. Even though we were all on the same trip, everyone has been given different expectations. My tour was supposed to be 10 am to 2 pm to see the Cherry Blossoms. (I expected that to change since there weren’t any cherry blossoms) Others said their tours were 10 am to 1 pm and still another group was 10 am to 3:30 pm with a break for lunch and a boat ride on the Potomac.

Poor Joey had to straighten out the mess and keep everyone happy! She promised to work it all out while we were doing the first part of the tour. Her job looks like fun except for the part where she has to straighten out the “back office” mess. That would make me very grumpy!

Finally the fellow with the clip board found the last of the group and herded them to the bus. We were ready to start out.

Cherry Blossoms Galore Tour

Posted on March 26, 2017March 26, 2017 by Dusty Roads

I wanted to do a photo safari tour of the cherry blossoms.

That’s where a photographer leads the group, offers help and hints, and just shares his professional expertise. They advertised sunrise and sunset tours but when I tried to book one I was told they were all filled up. I took the next best thing, a tour called Cherry Blossoms Galore by USA Guided Tours DC.

Turns out they were a bit disorganized in the “back room”. I was told to meet at the Capitol building at 10 am, then when I called to confirm the tour was still on since the cold snap had damaged so many cherry blossoms, they told me to meet outside at the Navel Memorial at 9:30 am. They promised to text me the address. (I never got a text)

So bright and early I headed down to the complimentary breakfast, toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, fruit, oatmeal, cinnamon loaf bread, cereal and the list goes on.

After breakfast I headed out into the cold and rain. I didn’t know how long it would take to get a train (Metro) on Sunday (in Boston you can wait for an hour) or how far I would have to walk from the station to find the Navel Memorial. Turns out, not far.

The train showed up almost as soon as I got there and when I came out of the Metro station I was looking at the Navel Memorial. It was only a little after 8 am and it was cold. 32 degrees with a wind chill dropping it to 28 degrees and it was a cold, icy rain! The Navel Memorial is an outside memorial. The Navel Museum didn’t open until 9:30 am. I was going to freeze! And my camera was getting wet.

I’d left the camera bag at the hotel because the girl I spoke with said no bags allowed on the tour for security reason. ( Another misdirection.)

All of the streets around the Navel Memorial were closed off. I didn’t know if there was a demonstration ( after all, it is Washington DC) or something else. I could see the police cars blocking the streets. It didn’t make me feel too confident that the tour bus would be able to get to us. Or should I say me. Maybe it was the early hour but I was the only one there.