February 23, 2026
Assassination with a Side of Lo Mein
The story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination is well known. What’s less known is the role this Chinese restaurant played in the saga. What today is...
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Blog
September 30, 2024
Sonny Bono Park
Washington DC is known for memorials to great Americans – Abraham Lincoln, Mary McLoud Bethune, Franklin Roosevelt, and Sonny Bono. Yes, Sonny Bono is...
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September 30, 2024
Markers at Arlington National Cemetery: Size Doesn't Matter
In the off season, I enjoy randomly walking through Arlington National Cemetery. I love the quiet dignity of the honored dead at rest in their final...
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April 26, 2024
The Most Important American You've Never Heard Of
George Marshall is the most important American you’ve never heard of. He is the model of selfless public service. He’s 5-star army general. Organize...
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March 30, 2024
The Duke of DC
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born in DC in 1899 and grew up in a house which used to stand on what is now Ward Place NW in the West End neighbo...
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February 21, 2024
Churchill’s Statue: Feet In Two Countries
Outside the British Embassy on Washington’s Embassy Row is Winston Churchill, a statue with a foot in two countries. Churchill’s father was the Duke o...
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February 21, 2024
Washington Was Never a Swamp
OK, let’s end this myth once and for all: Washington, DC was never a swamp. Only one percent of today’s city could ever be defined as swamp, and that...
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February 21, 2024
Theodore Roosevelt Gets His Own Island
The most unusual memorial to a president in Washington, DC is the one to our 26th chief executive. Theodore Roosevelt gets an entire island to his mem...
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February 21, 2024
The New World War I Memorial
Until last month our country had no national memorial commemorating World War I. In 1919 Congress debated constructing such a memorial, but aside from...
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