Stateside, part 2

After the official leg of my US visit ended in Shepherdstown, Magdalena and I returned to Washington and enjoyed three days of hospitality from our hosts, Sue and Helen. We used the time to engage in intensive sightseeing.

We started with Arlington cemetery, where a visit to the graves of the Kennedy brothers was obligatory, even though I have mixed feelings about that family. The father (who, of course, is not buried there) was a nasty man whose suffering late in life seems like poetic justice. JFK always seems to me to be more form that substance but I could accept that overall his intentions were good and that his tragically short Presidency did reinvigorate American politics. Bobbie is the one I have the most regard for and his untimely murder was the biggest tragedy of all. In the end, none of them were saints but the three brothers deserve to be remembered more for good than bad reasons. Arlington was also, of course, the home of Robert E Lee, a man of decency and integrity who, if he backed the wrong side in the Civil War, did it for the best of motives.

Crossing back into Washington, the Mall features memorials to four of the giants of the US Presidential Pantheon: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Washington is the one I find hardest to like. His military leadership was mediocre; ultimately, the war was lost by the British rather than won by the Americans. However, he can be justifiably admired, in the wake of the end of the war, for resisting the urge to become a dictator (a role some of his peers would have been happy to see him fill); holding out instead for agreement on a constitution. We can thank Jefferson for much of the thinking that inspired the best elements of the Revolution and the Constitution, and that still remains something of a break on the worst tendencies in American politics. Lincoln is my favourite President. He certainly showed himself to be ruthless on occasion but one has to admire the formidable intellect and courage of this man who really did start out with so many disadvantages, and who was initially dismissed by many in the Washington elite as a provincial hack. And, finally, Roosevelt did so much for America and, once again, embodies the compassion and sense of decency that is the best side of the national character. The more one reads history the more problematic the idea of historical heroes appears; all of these men on occasion made mistakes and shabby compromises but they are all great men.

One great man for whom the term “hero” is less problematic, and who is also deservedly commemorated on the Mall, is Martin Luther King. He can be remembered for his courage, his moral integrity,his moving oratory (unlike Lincoln, we are fortunate enough to have his voice to listen to) and his unswerving adherence to non-violence.

(As an aside, I am old enough to remember the deaths of John and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King)

The Mall also features a memorial to the men of World War II, and memorials to the men and women of the Vietnam war.  We were privileged to meet a veteran of the latter war at the memorial, whose willingness to talk about his experience to children and passers by (having lost four of his closest friends) was especially moving.

In terms of the musems we visited, we did not have time to see the National Gallery in any detail but we did make a brief visit there, as well as longer visits to the Museum of American Art, the Air and Space Museum (take the guided tour – it’s excellent), the Natural History Museum, the Museum of American History (perhaps my favourite) and the Museum of the American Indian (go there for the food in the canteen, if nothing else!).