Washington, Part 5
However simple it might once have been to visit our nation’s capital and its hallowed halls of government, it is simple no more. Some things are practically off limits, like the White House, where one must first request permission from his congressman, who, in turn asks the White House, which, in turn, denies the request. No more can a citizen simply queue up in the morning to take a tour. The staff at the Honorable Cliff Stearns’ office did their best, I am sure, to get me in, but, in the end were only able to get me a tour of the Capitol itself, and, even then, only the House side, and not the Senate. I’m not complaining, mind you. As you shall hear, that was itself impressive. But it is a shame that a few bad apples have spoiled things for the bunch of us.
Few representatives and senators have offices in the actual Capitol building. There are large offices surrounding it, though, and the one I was told to go to was the Rayburn House Office Building. On the third floor is a long hallway of congressional offices, and each representative’s state is indicated by the flag outside their door. They are in no discernible order, so the representative of my district (“The Fightin’ Sixth!”) might be next to a district in California or Arizona or Ohio. Cliff Stearns is a Republican, so there were photos of him with President Bush on the walls of his office. When I was there Stearns had just been reelected, and was, therefore, not in Washington. But his intern, Blair, was there to give our group the tour. She was joined by another intern–and UF grad–from down the hall at Corrine Brown’s office. Brown represents the east side of Gainesville, and much of rural Alachua County. Her intern was tagging along to learn the tour better.
The tour began by heading down to one of several basements in the Capitol complex, where a long tunnel took us under Independence Avenue. Heading up some narrow stairs we came out in the Capitol itself near the Chestnut-Gibson Memorial Door, named in honor of the two Capitol Policemen who died in the line of duty in the summer of 1998 defending the building and its occupants from a maniac. Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson lay in honor in the Capitol rotunda before burial at Arlington National Cemetery, and the new Capitol Visitor Center will be named for them when it opens.
One floor below the rotunda is what is called the crypt, which was originally designed to be the final resting place of President Washington. But, since he was buried at Mount Vernon instead, the crypt now is used as a storage area for the Lincoln catafalque. And a gift shop. Plus, in the center of the room is a star marker on the floor that indicates the geographic center of Washington, DC. Nearby is the old Supreme Court chamber, used between 1810 and 1860.
Up one floor is the magnificent rotunda. It wouldn’t be possible to exaggerate the magnificence of that vast space. The inner dome appears to rise so high above the floor that you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the figures on the fresco were life size or larger. The guide explained to me that tours of the dome are available…for those accompanied by their senator or congressman. So, I won’t be having one of those tours any time soon.
The old House chamber is a great open room now called Statuary Hall, where each state has a statue of a favorite son (Florida’s is Edmund Kirby Smith). The floor is vast and shiny, and in several places bronze squares replace the stone. On these squares are printed the names of former members of congress who went on the be presidents.
To reach the present House of Representatives, you must pass through even more security. No cameras, cellphones, bags or anything else are allowed in. Visitors leave their belongings with an attendant before passing through a metal detector. The chamber is smaller that it appears on television. And though congress wasn’t in session while I was there, the gallery was nevertheless populated by at least a dozen police officers, just sitting and watching the otherwise empty room.
The United States Capitol is a magnificent building. Everything is the maximum level of fancy. It’s like a palace. When the tour was done, I got to ride on the miniature subway that whisks congressmen back and forth between the Capitol and their offices. That was neat.
Next time: the United States Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.
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