Letter from Washington (IX): A rather dramatic nonevent

Sniper atop the White House

Washington, D.C. is a rather dramatic place, even if--or maybe especially when--nothing of much significance is happening. Last Saturday I was back in town for a professional meeting, after which I wandered over to Lafayette Park by the White House.

The Marquis de Lafayette

Thanks to my having a guidebook along [cite] I knew that this house...

...is where President William McKinley and Senator Marc Hanna met to decide policy. Blair House...

...is where a police officer was killed protecting President Harry S. Truman from an assassination attempt, and this courtyard...

...is at the location where Secretary of State William Seward survived an assassination attempt the night Abraham Lincoln was shot.

Pennsylvania Avenue did feature any special protests related to the confirmation of Judge Bret Kavanagh to the U.S. Supreme Court. There'd been some updates, since I'd been here in the spring, to this long-standing all-purpose protest...

...which was joined by a pro-life display...

...a flat-toned but well-amplified preacher...

...and a goofball with a Trump mask who would occasionally pop out from under this umbrella.

Crowds of people moved up and down the street, which is closed to non-government motor vehicles.

Suddenly the Secret Service herded everyone off the street. Most people moved onto the sidewalk on the park side of the street, and kept going, but I was curious and stuck around. Very soon the street was clear...

...and remained clear for what turned out to be nearly an hour.

A woman asked an officer if he knew why the street was cleared. He said yes, but he couldn't tell her. Any newcomers who happened to walk or bike into the street were quickly shooed off by the Secret Service.





About then a little girl walking with her mom excitedly pointed out a fire hydrant. This clearly was not the most interesting thing in the area, but I felt equally silly as I seemed to be finding portents everywhere. (Look! A van!! People in a doorway! Is that the sound of a helicopter?) I noticed snipers on the White House roof.

Are they always there, or just for this?

In time a helicopter lifted off and headed south, away from where I was keeping watch. I didn't even get a good view. Another chopper appeared, to escort it. Presumably someone, possibly President Trump, was headed somewhere, possibly his Florida resort. Directly the caution tape was removed, the streets were opened, and we gawkers got on with our lives.

SOURCE: Frommer's 24 Great Walks in Washington, D.C. (Wiley, 2009)