In September 1955, President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while visiting Denver. He was rushed to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, where he would spend seven weeks recovering. While convalescing, he continued to carry out his executive duties from his hospital suite (which is now open to tours). Early the following year, in February, the President and the First Lady returned to ... Read More »
In September of 1960, the U.S. and Japan were celebrating 100 years of diplomatic relations. Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko traveled to Washington at the end of the month to celebrate the occasion with an official state visit. An amusing article was published in the Washington Post on September 28th of that year, detailing the state dinner at the ... Read More »
You know how bad it sucks to accidentally lock yourself out of your house. How about when you’re locked in and your home is the White House? Well, that actually happened to President Eisenhower. Here is an amusing article from the Baltimore Sun on August 2nd, 1958. Washington, Aug. 1 (AP)–A 19-year-old blonde from Texas padlocked the White House gate ... Read More »
This is a guest post by GoDCer from Poolesville, Jack (the guy that tipped us off to some great stories, like the decapitated convict). President Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration was just five days away. For days the advance guard of a huge crowd had been streaming into Washington. In the days before commercial air travel had become popular, many travelers chose ... Read More »
If you’re fortunate enough to be participating in WABA’s “Down the Tubes” ride tomorrow, the last stop on your journey is going to be Poplar Point. Probably 70% of District residents don’t know what this is or where it is, but a number of important historical events have happened here. One of these events involved a future president. 1. Bonus ... Read More »
Dailymotion has a bunch of great five minute history videos of D.C. Here’s one that I think you’ll like about the Kennedy Center. [gigya src="http://embed.5min.com/517229558/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="opaque" width="560" height="345"] Sorry for the late post this morning. I might be slacking a little bit this week because I’m traveling and I didn’t get the chance to finish any posts ... Read More »
President Eisenhower needed a quick and effective way to travel from Washington to his summer home in Rhode Island. Air Force One was too large for the trip and a motorcade would take too long, causing major traffic jams. Helicopters were relatively new in aviation and the military began conducting tests to see if one would meet the needs of ... Read More »
I came across this one on YouTube. This was the first time the President of the United States was videotaped and then broadcast in color. This is the earliest surviving color videotape. It was filmed on May 22nd, 1958 in the WRC-TV studios in Washington (the local NBC affiliate). The video starts off in black and white while Eisenhower’s motorcade ... Read More »
Aviation has a strong history in the Washington area. Following on the heels of our last aeronautical first (Concorde at Dulles), here is another first for the region and the country. In the fall of 1958, Pan Am (i.e., the planet’s largest and coolest airline) was getting set to inaugurate their transatlantic passenger jet service. The four-engined Boeing 707 was ... Read More »
One of the most powerful and important inaugural addresses of all time, this is something worth watching in its entirety. The whole speech is below if you’d like to read it. This is a truly amazing and powerful speech. If you want to skip to the famous quote, start watching at 13:45. The full text of the speech is below ... Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington