In U.S. history, four Presidents had been assassinated. After my visit to Ford’s Theater, I had stood on the site where three of the events had occurred: Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas was the first; the location of the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York was my second site; and of course Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. was the third. For my fourth and final assassination site, it was only a five-block walk to the spot where the old Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station was located in 1881.
But first, I had one stop to make at the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street. In 1841, on the site across 6th Street from where the Newseum was located, stood the Brown’s Indian Queen Hotel. After the death of William Henry Harrison on April 4, 1841, Vice President John Tyler took the Oath of Office as the 10th President of the United States at the Brown’s Hotel. It was going on 11:30am as I stood for a quick photo at the site of the Brown’s Hotel, which met its demise in 1935. When I looked at old photographs of the Brown’s Hotel, the current structure had a striking resemblance to the actual historic building. There was no doubt in my mind, however, that even thought there was a resemblance the old hotel looked better than the current building.
One block away from the Brown’s Hotel site was my next stop; the James Garfield assassination site. Since the actual Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station train was razed in 1908 by the order of Theodore Roosevelt; the exact location of the assassination has not been re-established with a plaque or historical marker. Shortly after the shooting, however, a gold star was embedded in the station’s floor that marked the exact spot where Garfield was shot; but the star disappeared when the station was demolished.
In 1937, District city engineers estimated the exact spot of the shooting to be near the center of Constitution Avenue; roughly 30 to 40 feet west of the west curb of 6th Street. That meant I had to stand in the center of Constitution Avenue, which was one of the main streets in Washington. Once again I was going to run the risk of being run over by a car; but it was important for me to stand on the exact spot where Garfield was shot. My photographer paced out the 30 to 40 feet and then waited for traffic to clear. It was shortly before noon, but since it was Sunday, traffic was lighter than it would be on a weekday morning. When there was a break in traffic, my photographer made a quick dash towards the middle of Constitution Avenue and placed me near a crack in the pavement where it was believed the shooting took place. With the National Gallery of Art building in the background, I posed for the photo; and every second that I stood there, I worried whether or not I would be crushed to death by an oncoming car.
As hard as I tried to think about the day that Garfield was standing on this spot when he was gunned down, I could only focus on the vehicles that were headed towards me. Unlike Elm Street at Dealey Plaza in Dallas where my back faced oncoming traffic, I could easily see the fast-approaching cars and trucks that seemed to have me in their sights. The fact that I could see my potential killers didn’t make me feel any less nervous. For me, death-defying chances were worth it. I was proud of the fact that I had stood on the exact locations, or close to the exact locations, where the only four Presidential assassinations in American history had taken place.
The clock struck noon and we were headed to the United States Capitol Building, which was only a few blocks away from the Garfield assassination site. The walk was uphill to Capitol Hill, but once again I had the luxury of riding in my camera case. Sometimes its great to be a helpless bobble head!
Since it was Sunday, we knew the building was closed and there would be no chance of seeing the interior of the Capitol. There were a handful of places that I wanted to see inside the Capitol; including the spot in the Rotunda where JFK and Lincoln had laid in state after their assassinations. I also wanted to see the place in the House of Representatives where John Quincy Adams had died. But those sites would have to wait; at least until we returned from Baltimore on Friday.
At the East front of the Capitol, I was held above the steps where most of the Presidential inaugural addresses had occurred since Andrew Jackson took the oath in 1829. As I looked at the amazing building, I could almost hear Abraham Lincoln’s famous words that he spoke from those iconic steps on March 4, 1865: “With malice toward none, with charity for all …”
Also, from those very steps came another famous inaugural quote; one of which was delivered almost 96 years later by John F. Kennedy: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” No one could have known or predicted that 1,038 days after those words echoed off the Capitol’s marble portico, JFK would be carried up those very steps to lie in state after his assassination.
Although there were no Presidential sites inside the National Air and Space Museum, my photographer left the cover of my case open so that I could see some of the historic aircraft. That Sunday was special for one craft in particular: The Apollo XI Command Module ‘Columbia’. After all, it was July 20, 2014 and was the 45th anniversary of Apollo XI’s crew landing and walking on the surface of the Moon.
Our plan was to see the famous air and space vehicles as quickly as possible; then get to our land vehicle and make it to George Washington’s Mount Vernon before it closed at 5:00pm. I was impressed by the way Tom and Bob travelled together – they waste little time and get the most out of their sightseeing day; and at the end of that day, they simply collapse from exhaustion. I stand by the television set and laugh at them!
We had made good use of our time inside the National Air and Space Museum; we saw a lot of historic artifacts in a short period of time. I had felt fortunate to have been up close to the full gamut of flight “firsts” – from the first airplane all the way to the capsule that took astronauts to the Moon for the first lunar stroll.
As we headed out of the front door to the Air and Space Museum and walked to the Optima, I was extremely excited. It was time for another “first” – a visit to the home and tomb of our first president, George Washington.
