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 Washington, greeted at Washington National Airport (read up on your National Airport trivia) by Vice President Nixon, former President Hoover, and a cheering crowd of supporters. Below is footage of his arrival at the airport.

Ike was fully recovered and by the end of the year was reelected to a second term, crushing the Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson (457 to 73 electoral votes).

The post Eisenhower Paroled by Doctors in Denver; Returns to Washington appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 White House.

Japan’s Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko actually stopped traffic inside the White House last night as President Eisenhower‘s 4-year-old granddaughter Mary Jean was detoured down another corridor in her battery-powered miniature Thunderbird convertible.

Shortly before the royal couple’s arrival for the state dinner in their honor, Mary Jean was happily utilizing the wide marble-floored halls for driving practice, skillfully avoiding potted plants and dodging the shins of uniformed security sentries. As the hour neared for formality to commence, the preoccupied girl was dispatched elsewhere to play by a message relayed down from her parents, Lt. Col. and Mrs. John Eisenhower, who were upstairs dressed to join the other 88 guests.

…

Though Mary Jean’s 5-mile-an-hour auto looks luxurious, to her it’s a long-awaited secondhand hand-me-down. It belonged first to big brother David, who long ago graduated to a stripped-down soapbox derby type vehicle that zooms around the White House grounds at 15-miles-an-hour.

…

“We’ve been looking forward to your coming,” FIrst Lady Mamie Eisenhower told Princess Michiko during a personally conducted tour of the White House. At one point early in the evening, both women smiled at an obvious difference in Eastern and Western viewpoint. “This is quite old–the 1700s,” said Mrs. Eisenhower, indicating a yellow silk Philadelphia Chippendale chair in the Oval Room.

“Old in our country, that is,” she corrected herself, “not in yours.”

Both old and priceless of course. I’m surprising Governor Romney didn’t break that one as well during his clumsy visit.

The post Japanese State Visit to Eisenhower White House appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Angeline Cliett with Rep. Clark Thompson (D-Tex) – July 23rd, 1958 (Daytona Beach Morning Journal)

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 today after failing to get inside.

The girl, Angeline Cliett, of Waller, Texas, showed up ten days ago with a heavy chain locked around her neck and heavy trouble locked in her heart.

She had sent a key ahead to President Eisenhower with the idea that he could unlock the chain after helping to settle the trouble. The White House, however, simply left the key at the main gate with word that Angeline could pick it up any time.

Angeline and her aunt, Mrs. Lucy Mayberry, kept coming back day after day but there was no sign of Mr. Eisenhower and no invitation to pass through the gate.

Finally, today–it was raining and everything was pretty dismal–Angeline asked the guard for her key. She unlocked her chain, looped it through the gate, and calmly snapped the lock shut. Then she and her aunt sauntered away from there heedless of he anguished shouts of the guard.

Being locked in, he couldn’t pursue the pair.

It took a workman with hammer and pliers about three minutes to pry the chain loose and get the gate back under White House control.

Angeline’s trouble? Her mother is waging a court battle over 350 acres of Texas ranch lang and is on the losing side right at the moment.

This is part of the same ranch that tried to secede from the union and join the United Nations last spring.

…

James Hagerty, White House press secretary, said no action would be taken against Angeline for locking Mr. Eisenhower in.

This is quite an amusing story, but I’m shocked that no action was taken against Cliett. I think we all know what would happen if this took place today.

padlocked gate

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The post Girl Padlocks White House Gates; Locks Eisenhower Inside appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

This is a guest post by GoDCer from Poolesville, Jack (the guy that tipped us off to some great stories, like the decapitated convict).

Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive sticking out of the basement of the station (Photo courtesy Trains magazine)

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 the train.

Union Station was already crowded on the morning of Jan 15th, 1953. The cathedral-like structure had opened on January 7th, 1907 and at the height of World War II seventy million passengers passed through its portals each year; at the time the Baltimore & Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Southern Railroads all serviced Washington.

John Feeney, 45 years old of Kensington, was at work in the Trainmasters office. He had worked at Union Station since he was a teenager. His job was to supervise all control tower operators and ensure safe operations of all passenger trains entering and leaving Washington.

Out at C Tower Harry Ball had just come on duty and was expecting a busy day routing trains at their first interchange track.

Further up the track, Harry Brower had control of Pennsylvania’s Federal Express. It was a crack express passenger train that had begun its journey in Boston the night before. The train was led by an electric locomotive that drew its power from overhead lines. Engineer Brower had taken control of the train at New York.

After leaving Baltimore, Brower saw nothing but green signals which were indicators that he could proceed as fast as the speed limit allowed. His train barreled through the Maryland countryside at speeds up to 80 mph. Two miles from Washington he saw a signal that ordered him to slow down and to begin the approach to Union Station. Brower applied the air brakes but little happened. The train was now traveling at about 65 mph as it hurtled underneath New York Avenue. Engineer Brower was now certain that his train was out of control. He yelled to the fireman to begin sounding the whistle to warn whatever was ahead. In 1953 trains did not yet have two-way radios.

Locomotive and cars through the concourse (Photo courtesy of Trains magazine)

To make matters worse the last few miles before the station were on a slight downgrade. As the Federal Express blew past C Tower Harry Ball recognized that a disaster was imminent. He could not divert the runaway train because it took three minutes to line up the necessary switching equipment. He picked up the telephone and called John Feeney in “K” Tower who was just a mile away. He shouted, “173 (The Federal Express) is running away!” The train was on track 16 which could not have been a worse choice. Track 16 was in center of the boarding tracks and Feeney knew that the platforms and concourse would be full of people at that hour.

He then phoned the stationmasters office and shouted that everyone should evacuate. Somehow, miraculously, everyone in the office ran out, and waiting passengers ran from the concourse. The train sped down the boarding track and at about 40mph struck the bumper, crashed through the gates, destroyed a newsstand, and went through the concourse floor into the basement.

Officials inspect the wrecked train that had crashed through the floor of the concourse. (Photo courtesy of Trains Magazine, August 1953)

What happened next is best described in the coverage by the Washington Post.

For hair-raising seconds yesterday a runaway railroad train attempted to test the old physics class poser of the irresistible object.

The brakeless Pennsylvania Railroad engine and 16 cars and coaches didn’t prove themselves an irresistible force but they turned the immovable Union Station concourse into a shambles.

The powerful electric locomotive heading the procession weight 447,000 pounds, or 228 tons, according to railroad officials The cars behind it weighed at least 1000 tons.

The tearing power of this juggernaut brushed aside the track-end safety bumper, a sturdy device of steel I-beams. It tossed aside the iron grille track gate, hurling pieces throughout the concourse ceiling, smashed a newsstand, and destroyed part of the stationmaster’s office.

The ponderous engine furrowed across the cement concourse floor supported from below by steel columns. Part of the way across the concourse the floor gave way and the locomotive and two stainless steel coaches plunged to the floor below.

As was the custom of the time, doctors and nurses were rushed to the scene as well as every available ambulance. Incredibly, there were no fatalities but 87 people were injured.

Station officials had a huge problem on their hands. There was a gaping hole in their concourse, a train was sticking out of the hole, and the inauguration was just days away. Tens of thousands of visitors would be descending on the station shortly. The creative and improvised solution was nothing short of remarkable.

The two coaches were dragged out of the hole and the locomotive was lowered into the basement. A temporary wooden floor was erected over the hole and by the next day passengers were walking over the planking. After the inauguration the locomotive was extracted from the basement of the station.

Engineer Brower, no worse for wear, was back at work in a few days piloting the same train from Washington to Boston.

Eventually the Interstate Commerce Commission determined that a device that was supposed to supply air to the brake line was defective and thus caused the train to lose its brakes. The engineer was held faultless.

“K” Tower. The runaway train passed just to the right side of this tower.

Today’s view of K Tower. Runaway train passed just to the right side of this tower.

Reference material; Washington Post, Interstate Commerce Commission report 3497-A, Trains Magazine, August, 1953

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The post Runaway Train Crashes Through Union Station Lobby appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 Army and the Summer of 1932

Over 43,000 marchers came to Washington in 1932 demanding payment for their World War Adjusted Compensation Act bonuses. The law was passed on May 1924, entitling each veteran of World War I to $1.00 for each day of military service within the United States and $1.25 for each day served overseas during the war.

This was a financially viable idea during the Roaring Twenties, but the economic implosion on Wall Street and the subsequent Great Depression, times were tough, and budgets were tight. Many of the veterans were awarded these bonuses in the form of certificates, with compound interest, not redeemable until 1945. Most of the men, having lost their jobs, were without income and came to Washington demanding immediate payment for their service in the military.

The men came to Washington with their families and camped on the south bank of the Anacostia River and, within a short period of time, a Hooverville had grown on the banks of the river.

Bonus Army encampment in 1932 (Shorpy)

On July 28th, Attorney General William Mitchell ordered police to remove the Bonus Army from their illegal campsite. After their brief eviction, the veterans returned, but in doing so, a crowd rushed two policemen, cornering them. The policemen drew their guns and shot two veterans at close range, William Hushka and Eric Carlson. Both Hushka and Carlson died — they were later buried with honor at Arlington Cemetery.

President Hoover was informed of the incident and demanded the immediate eviction of the camp by the U.S. Army. General Douglas MacArthur (familiar name?) was the commanding officer, supported by Major George Patton (also familiar?) and the General’s aide, Dwight D. Eisenhower (in 20 years, he’s going to be president).

The Bonus Army had been congregating near Pennsylvania Avenue, north of the Anacostia River, when they were confronted with the MacArthur’s 12th Regiment and 3rd Cavalry. They (and their families) were charged and chased by fixed bayonets, across the river back to their campsite on the Anacostia Flats. Hoover ordered the assault to stop, but MacArthur disobeyed, feeling the Bonus March was a Communist insurrection, designed to overthrow the government.

The U.S. Army forcefully evicted the veterans from their campsite, this time permanently, burning all the structures to the ground. Countless veterans were injured in the process, over 100 were arrested, one woman had a miscarriage and a baby died after being caught in a tear gas attack.

This was one of the lowest points in United States military history as well as American history and it happened on the banks of the Anacostia River (aka, the Eastern Branch of the Potomac), all within site of the Capitol Building.

Bonus Army eviction in 1932 (Wikipedia)

2. A proposed stadium site

The southern bank of the Anacostia River is an excellent place to put a stadium. D.C. United would love a shiny new home there. Well, they were not the first to think about this. I dug up an article from October 25th, 1925, proposing a new stadium on the river.

Sixty-six acres of the Anacostia Flats, known as section E, was recommended as a suitable site for the construction of the proposed athletic stadium at a meeting of the Anacostia Citizens Association last night in the Masonic temple at Fourteenth and U streets northeast.

This tract is bounded on the north by the Pennsylvania and B. & O. railroad tracks and on the south by Pennsylvania avenue. Need of such a stadium in the National Capital was stressed by the citizens. It was pointed out that a stadium would attract intersectional games here as well as large crowds of visitors.

Well, the stadium didn’t happen then, and it’s not going to happen today.

3. Bolling Field opens for air mail

An article in the Washington Post on July 5th, 1918 marks the opening of Bolling Field, the day earlier. On the Fourth of July, the air field was opened to provide air mail service for the Washington area.

Bolling field is the name given to the aviation station opened yesterday on the Anacostia flats, opposite the War College, under an order issued by Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly, director of military aeronautics. It is a single-squadron field, with capacity of eighteen planes.

It will serve as a place for experiments, as the terminal of the New York, Philadelphia and Washington air mail line and as a training field for administrative officers to practice. It will supplement the Potomac Park field, where the mail heretofore has been landed. The first mail was delivered on Bolling field yesterday.

The field is named in memory of Col. Raynal C. Bolling, of the signal corps, who was killed in action March 29 on the road between Estree and Foukan Court, France, during the German offensive.

In 1938, the disastrous crash in Anacostia originated from this field, killing Leslie MacDill (they named a base after this guy) and Joseph Gloxner.

This was an epic post and I hope you enjoyed it. More importantly, I hope you enjoy your bicycle tour of our city. WABA is a great organization with an important mission. If you’re not on the ride, maybe you can give them a small donation to help advocate for more bicycle use in Washington.

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• Anacostia River and Surrounding Area Development Ideas (anc7d01.wordpress.com)
• 1932 Bonus March – Re Patton; MacArthur; Eisenhower, etc. (gunnyg.wordpress.com)

The post Three Things About Poplar Point and Anacostia Flats appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 this past weekend (I was busy enjoying the weather).

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The post The Kennedy Center: A Living Memorial to the Fallen President appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 the president.

Check out the video of the landing tests they performed on the White House South Lawn in 1957.

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The post White House South Lawn Helicopter Landing Tests (1957) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 approaches the studios, but then transitions to color for the first time when Robert Sarnoff, president of NBC, flips the switch in the middle of the broadcast.

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The post Dwight D. Eisenhower: The First President Videotaped in Color (1958) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Pan Am logo

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 to go through a christening ceremony at National Airport with the help of President Eisenhower.

The Baltimore Sun reported that the ceremony would happen on October 17th at 4 p.m. The plane would depart from National after a brief celebration and fly empty to Baltimore’s Friendship Airport (i.e., Baltimore Washington International Airport today). The airplane would not be able to take off loaded down with passengers from National due to the shorter runways.

The first American-built jet airliner was to arrive in Baltimore just after 5 p.m. The invited dignitaries — members of Congress, government officials and other important people — would be flown to Friendship via a smaller standard plane and entertained while the 707 was being readied for the journey. The passengers would all be personal guests of Juan Trippe, founder of Pan Am, on the overnight flight to Paris.

This wasn’t the first commercial passenger jet service, but it was the first truly successful service and ushered in the beginning of the jet age. It was the dawn of the golden age of passenger service.

A Pan Am 707 on the runway

Regular transatlantic service from the United States to Europe would being on October 26th from New York’s Idlewild International Airport (i.e., JFK today).

Here’s a film from 1958, promoting Pan Am’s jet clipper service. Watching this video is almost a little sad. Flying used to be such a treat. It was a wonderful experience. Now … not so much.

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The post Pan Am’s First Passenger Jet to Europe (1958) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

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 if you’d like to read along.

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom–symbolizing an end as well as a beginning–signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe–the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans–born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage–and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge–and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do–for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom–and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required–not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge–to convert our good words into good deeds–in a new alliance for progress–to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support–to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective–to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak–and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course–both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.

So let us begin anew–remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms–and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah–to “undo the heavy burdens … (and) let the oppressed go free.”

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again–not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need–not as a call to battle, though embattled we are– but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”–a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility–I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.

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The post JFK: Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You (1961 Video) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.