Your DC Guide

September 1 is the anniversary of WWII. It was supposed to be the last Kindertransport of Jewish Czeck children organized by British salesman Nicholas Winton. After the war, he kept silent until his wife discovered a trunk. . .There is a movie called Nicky's Children, a bit longer than the 60-minutes introduction. Winton saved hundreds of children as a solo volunteer. who got the children both out and settled. Amazing story . .

Saving the children from the Holocaust | 60 Minutes Archive In 2014, 60 Minutes met Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who in 1939 traveled to Czechoslovakia and saved 669 children from the Holocaust."60 Minutes" ...

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On five days in 2023, all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer FREE admission to everyone.

On these significant days of commemoration or celebration, and throughout the year, the National Park Service is committed to increasing access to national parks and promoting the advantages of outdoor recreation for public benefit and enjoyment.

Mark your calendar for these entrance fee–free dates:

✔️ January 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

✔️ April 22 – First Day of National Park Week

✔️ August 4 – Great American Outdoors Day

✔️ September 23 – National Public Lands Day

✔️ November 11 – Veterans Day

Learn more at https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-free-parks.htm

Image: A visitor enjoys the view Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Photo by by Karla Rivera (sharetheexperience.org)

Today in History: In Operation Overlord, Allied forces invade Nazi-held France during WWII, 1944 https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/june-06/?loclr=fbloc

From trials involving celebrities like Oprah (pictured) and Martha Stewart, to the likes of Charles Manson and the Son of Sam, the Library holds an extensive collection of original sketches by talented courtroom artists.
Explore the digital "Drawing Justice" exhibition: https://go.usa.gov/xJg8u?loclr=fbloc

in 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse dispatched the first telegraph message from the building. Answering a U.S. House of Representatives request for a telegraph system, Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury advertised the call to inventors nationwide. Morse’s proposal stood out from others received by in that only Morse proposed an electromagnetic system which utilized electrical signals and wires to transmit messages over long distances.

In need of funding and support for his invention, Morse appealed to the House Commerce Committee in 1842. He stretched a wire to the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs to demonstrate his invention and sent a message while Representatives, Senators, and John Tyler watched closely. After a successful demonstration, the House and Senate granted Morse $30,000 to run a test line to .

After years of planning and preparation, on May 24, 1844, Morse gathered Members of Congress in a committee room to send the first telegraph message to a railroad station. Morse tapped out the prophetic Biblical verse: “What Hath God Wrought”, suggested to him by a friend’s daughter. When an identical message was received from his partner in Baltimore, Morse knew his demonstration was a success. A few days later, the telegraph would gain the attention of many as Morse’s partner delivered the news of James K. Polk’s presidential nomination “with the rapidity of lightning,” as a journalist noted.

The telegraph would come to revolutionize long-distance communication. Soon after Morse’s demonstration in the Capitol, telegraph networks began to form nationwide and by 1866, the transatlantic cable connected to the American Continent. This landmark technology helped transform world communications as well as supported the expansion and economic development of the United States.

Photo 2: The telegraph key used to send “What Hath God Wrought” (Smithsonian)

The White House

"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.

Not long after the inauguration of President George Washington in 1789, plans to build an official President’s House in a federal district along the Potomac River took shape. A contest to find a builder produced a winning design from Irish-born architect James Hoban, who modeled his building after an Anglo-Irish villa in Dublin called the Leinster House.

The cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1792, and over the next eight years a construction team comprised of both enslaved and freed African Americans and European immigrants built the Aquia Creek sandstone structure. It was coated with lime-based whitewash in 1798, producing a color that gave rise to its famous nickname. Built at a cost of $232,372, the two-story house was not quite completed when John Adams and Abigail Adams became the first residents on November 1, 1800.

Thomas Jefferson added his own personal touches upon moving in a few months later, installing two water closets and working with architect Benjamin Latrobe to add bookending terrace-pavilions. Having transformed the building into a more suitable representation of a leader’s home, Jefferson held the first inaugural open house in 1805, and also opened its doors for public tours and receptions on New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July.

Burned to the ground by the British in August 1814, the President’s House was nearly left in its smoldering remains as lawmakers contemplated moving the capital to another city. Instead, Hoban was brought back to rebuild it nearly from scratch, in some areas incorporating the original, charred walls. Upon reassuming residency in 1817, James Madison and his wife Dolley gave the home a more regal touch by decorating with extravagant French furniture.

The building’s South and North Porticoes were added in 1824 and 1829, respectively, while John Quincy Adams established the residence’s first flower garden. Subsequent administrations continued to overhaul and bolster the interior through Congressional appropriations; the Fillmores added a library in the second-floor oval room, while the Arthurs hired famed decorator Louis Tiffany to redecorate the east, blue, red and state dining rooms.

William Taft hired architect Nathan Wyeth to expand the executive wing in 1909, resulting in the formation of the Oval Office as the president’s work space. In 1913, the White House added another enduring feature with Ellen Wilson’s Rose Garden. A fire during the Hoover administration in 1929 destroyed the executive wing and led to more renovations, which continued after Franklin Roosevelt entered office.
Architect Eric Gugler more than doubled the space of what was becoming known as the “West Wing,” added a swimming pool in the west terrace for the polio-stricken president, and moved the Oval Office to the southeast corner. A new east wing was constructed in 1942, its cloakroom transformed into a movie theater.

A final major overhaul took place after Harry Truman entered office in 1945. With structural problems mounting from the 1902 installation of floor-bearing steel beams, most of the building’s interior was stripped bare as a new concrete foundation went in place. The Trumans helped redesign most of the state rooms and decorate the second and third floors, and the president proudly displayed the results during a televised tour of the completed house in 1952.

Over the course of 1969-70, a porte-cochere and circular drive were added to the exterior of the West Wing, with a new press briefing room installed inside. Following a 1978 study to assess the exterior paint, up to 40 layers were removed in some areas, allowing for repairs of deteriorated stone. Meanwhile, the Carter administration set about adjusting to a new information age by installing the White House’s first computer and laser printer. The internet made its debut in the mansion under the watch of George H.W. Bush in 1992.

The White House today holds 132 rooms on six floors, the floor space totaling approximately 55,000 square feet. It has hosted longstanding traditions such as the annual Easter Egg Roll, as well as historic events like the 1987 nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The only private residence of a head of state open free of charge to the public, the White House reflects a nation’s history through the accumulated collections of its residing presidents, and serves as a worldwide symbol of the American republic."
History.com Editors

in , 1865, Abraham was shot at Ford’s Theatre. Only one month prior, he declared: “With malice toward none, with charity for all...let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds.” Instead, he would soon succumb to his own; just one more casualty in “the great contest” where one party “would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.”

His assassin was John Wilkes Booth, a 26-year-old actor from . At his mother's behest, the Southern sympathizer never enlisted. But he admitted to her, “I have begun to deem myself a coward and to despise my own existence.” He therefore sought to aid the cause by plotting to kidnap the .

But by April 1865, had fallen, and Robert E. Lee surrendered, making his plan unfeasible. Two days after Appomattox, Lincoln gave a speech to discuss the end of the and beginning of Reconstruction. Booth was there that day, along with two of his conspirators. When they heard Lincoln say he favored Black suffrage, Booth became irate and implored one conspirator to shoot Lincoln dead on the spot. When he was refused, Booth coldly responded, “Now, by God, I will put him through.”

Against his aides' advice, Lincoln chose to attend the theater that Good Friday. Upon learning of his intentions, Booth set in motion his conspiracy to decapitate the government. At 10:15 pm, one assailant was to kill Sec. of State Seward. Another was to kill VP Johnson. And Booth—who one year earlier starred in “Julius Caesar”—was to kill Lincoln. Their hope was to inspire the South to rise again. And Booth, quixotically, thought he'd be remembered as a new American Brutus.

But just as Brutus would not live long after murdering Caesar, neither would Booth live long after murdering Lincoln. Instead, he would only survive in infamy and villainy. While Lincoln, who Saved the Union and freed the slaves, forever “belongs to the ages.”

It's National Library Week, a time to celebrate libraries and library workers. What's your favorite thing about libraries?

(Don't forget, Library of Congress hours expand this week. Plan your visit: https://www.loc.gov/visit/?loclr=fbloc)

Come and see how Chinese artist Hung Liu painted this photo. At the Reynolds Center

Among the reproduced works curated for the Library’s new exhibit is one of the most recognizable photographs in American history: "Migrant Mother."

At the Library, learn more about how photographer Dorothea Lange captured the image, and what she learned about the woman pictured. Plan your visit: https://www.loc.gov/visit/?loclr=fbloc

in , 1854, the Party was first organized in . Upon its founding, the 's foremost priority was halting the spread of slavery. Also , in 1852, “Uncle Tom's Cabin” was published. The book's shocking depiction of slavery helped invigorate the abolitionist movement in the years preceding the .

In less than a year, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more the 300,000 copies, “a sales rate rivaled only by the Bible,” writes historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Before the novel, abolitionists were largely perceived as a fringe—and extreme—interest group. But Harriet Beecher Stowe's balanced depiction of Southerners helped bring moderates to the abolitionist cause. Meanwhile, her humanization of enslaved people, and explicit description of slavery's evils, lit “a million camp fires in front of the embattled hosts of slavery,” wrote Frederick Douglas. “not all the waters of the Mississippi, mingled as they are with blood, could extinguish” them.

Just as slavery divided the nation, so too did it divide the Whig Party. Formed two decades prior to challenge Andrew Jackson, the Whigs obtained short term success, but lacked a unifying policy and message. Instead, it splintered on issues like immigration, state prohibition laws, and slavery. Earlier that March, the passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which invalidated the Compromise by allowing the new territories—regardless of geography—to become slave states, if they so chose. The explosive debate over the law prompted pro-slavery, Southern Whigs to join the Democrats; while antislavery, Northern Whigs helped form the .

Two years later, a moderate, former Congressman named Abraham joined the Party. Before long, he would become . And for too long, the nation would be at war—with itself and for its own soul.

Though the story is apocryphal, it is alleged that when first met Stowe, he asked her: “Is this the little woman who made this great war?”

Main Reading Room Holiday Opening For the federal George Washington's Birthday holiday, the Library will open to the public, including a rare opportunity to walk through of the magnificent Main Reading Room.

These DC Bars And Restaurants Are Keeping Their Vaccine Requirements Although Mayor Bowser lifted the vaccine mandate for businesses this week, several bars and restaurants will still require patrons to show proof of vacciantion.

Bald Eagles are Making a Triumphant Return to the Chesapeake Bay Region Now is the perfect time for sightings of our majestic national symbol.

Pretty purple hues in Washington DC.
Photo by SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images.

The snowy owl at Union Station has been getting a lot of attention recently, so we want to remind you of another D.C. celebrity bird: the peregrine falcon at the Washington Monument. Often spotted perched on high places, peregrine falcons are skilled hunters and daring fliers. Snatching smaller birds from the air, they can exceed speeds of 200 miles per hour during a hunting dive. Our rangers commonly find the remains of this amazing bird's prey around the monument grounds. This weekend, Ranger Gracie Housman snapped this incredible photo of the peregrine falcon flying over the National Mall. That is so cool!

Dr. Franklin’s Virtual Birthday Tour | American Philosophical Society Thursday, January 13 from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Registration Required Join us as we take a stroll through the virtual exhibition, "Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist" and celebrate Benjamin Franklin’s upcoming birthday. Our Museum Education Coordinator, Ali Rospond will take you through the virtual exh...

This is quite a rare picture taken from the balcony on top of the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The balcony has been closed ever since 1916.

Tonight's sunset was AMAZING.

Photo by National Park Service.

The Haunted History of the U.S. Capitol The spirits of democracy might not be the only spirits that reside in the halls of the Capitol. Since the beginning of its construction in the late 18th century, Spooky stories remain central to the building’s history. In October 1898, the Philadelphia Press even referred to the Capitol as “the ...

New National Christmas Tree planted in President’s Park 2021 - President's Park (White House) (U.S. National Park Service) WASHINGTON — Ahead of the holiday season, the National Park Service (NPS) planted a new National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in President’s Park today. The new tree, a 27-foot white fir (Abies Concolor) from Middleburg, Pa. was donated by Hill View Christmas Tree Farm, and will be the first wh...

Reserve your free ticket today The National Museum of the United States Army 1775 Liberty Drive, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060 (GPS Not Reliable - See Driving Directions)

A Maryland Museum Dives Into the Myth of the Mermaid | Washingtonian (DC) Maybe mermaids do exist!

https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/giant_panda/giant_pandas_no_longer_endangered/

WWF - Panda numbers on the rise Great news ! Panda numbers have increased by more than 15% in the last ten years. Discover our conservation efforts and join WWF.

You Can Get To Lafayette Square For The First Time In 11 Months Fencing remains around Lafayette Square, but pedestrians can access the park through open gates.