Before There Was a Beltway
Photos & related text removed.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For much of the history of the United States, the White House grounds have been reasonably open to the public, resulting in breaches far more astonishing than the one on Sept. 19, when an Iraq war veteran, Omar J. Gonzalez, rushed past a Secret Service agent at the North Portico and ran through much of the State Floor before being tackled."
In the 1920s, my grandparents had a touring car with running boards. When they traveled with the family, they fitted wooden pens to the running boards, & the family dogs rode in the pens.
My grandparents' practice would be regarded as animal cruelty today, but as Gail Collins has happily reminded us, Mitt Romney was pretty certain dogs enjoyed such fresh-air adventures.
I don't know if my grandmother thought driving great distances with dogs on the running board was cruel to the family pets, but she did think the appearance of dogs on the running board was evah-so tacky. My grandmother was always one for keeping up appearances.
There was no going around Washington, D.C., in those days, so on trips south, my grandfather drove through the city. I suppose the signage wasn't all that good back then. In any event, on one such trip, my grandfather got lost driving through Washington.
Eventually he spied a couple of policemen standing around in front of a porticoed mansion. My grandfather pulled alongside the front steps, stuck his head out the window & asked the officers just where they were.
"You're at the White House, sir," said one of the officers.
"Oh, dear," my grandmother gasped. "Drive on quickly, Asbury. I shouldn't want Mrs. Coolidge to see us like this."
If you or someone you know has breached the White House gates, do tell.
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Reader Comments (3)
Well, now that you mention it, I recall myself and a friend slipping under a roped off set of stairs in the White House in 1975 during a high school field trip. It was too long ago for me to remember why we did it, but I suppose we were curious about what was behind the door at the top of the steps. We were very disappointed to find a utility room of some sort. No one stopped us, but we did get lectured by a chaperone for not staying with our group.
Julie,
That room was where Rumsfeld and Cheney tried to hide Betty Ford whenever she started talking about women's rights and abortion and premarital sex.
I do not know anyone who tried to breach the W.H. I do recall, however, sitting on the running board of a cousin's old model T. waiting for him to get me a Black Cow (another name for a root beer float) at a A&W stand and needing desperately to pee and finally letting go––relieved and humiliated at the same time.
Love your Grandmother story, Marie––"drive on quickly, Ashbury" is delightful!