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CIT YLIFE BRIGHT LIGHTS
BIG CITIES WASHINGTON D.C.
WILLARD INTERCONTINENTAL
WILLARD INTERCONTINENTAL There is no better time than during an election year to walk in the footsteps of our nation's leaders. Washington, D.C., our capital, is full of sights and monuments dedicated to this country's illustrious history. It's accommodations, like it's history, is second to none. Among the city's magnificent hotels is one which can claim to have hosted every U.S. President since Polk. As early as 1890, the landmark Willard Hotel had been dubbed “The Residence of the Presidents.” That year, The Times remarked “that from this building, every president from Polk (18451849) to Cleveland went forth to be inaugurated…” The Willard InterContinental, located in the heart of downtown one block from the White House, is a first-rate luxury hotel steeped in history, tradition and style and is rivaled by no other hotel in D.C. The history of “The Residence of the Presidents” is lengthy enough to fill a book, but a few notable incidents illuminate this national landmark. On Feb. 23rd, 1861, due to assassination rumors, President-elect Abraham Lincoln was secreted into the Willard at dawn by Allen Pinkerton, then a relatively unknown detective. Lincoln, his family and personal servants lived at the Willard for ten days before his inauguration on March 4. He held staff meetings in the lobby of the hotel, and his first presidential paycheck went to pay his Willard bill of $773.75 (including food!). It was also in 1861 that poet Julia Ward Howe stayed at the Willard. Awakened by soldiers marching under her window singing the popular song “John Brown's Body,” (an anthem for the troops) she felt that the cause deserved more dignified words; she arose and penned the words to the immortal “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” * After a long day in the Oval Office, President Ulysses S. Grant (our 18th President, 1869-1877), was known to enjoy a brandy and a cigar in the main lobby of the hotel. Many would-be power brokers would approach him there on their various causes; Grant called these people “Lobbyists” and coined the phrase. Charles Dickens described the hotel as The “Washington Monument of Hospitality,” and the Rev. Martin Luther King finished his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the famed Willard.
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In the 1950's the hotel was vacant and fell into disrepair. After an attempt by the owner to demolish the building in 1969, preservationists were spurred into action and in 1974 the hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, after sixteen years of planning and three years of extensive restoration and renovation, the Willard InterContinental has been magnificently restored with a commitment to historical elegance and modern amenities. Taking the lead from Theodore Roosevelt, the nation's 26th president and a leader in this country's conservation efforts, the “Willard
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