The Confederate Flag

This will be a defense of the Confederate flag in the modern (post Civil War) age.   If you’re not a snowflake, read on.

First, some disclaimers.

Battle Flag.  The Interweb is a cesspool of sticklers and nitpickers.   Yes, I know this flag was never the actual flag of the CSA, simply the Battle Flag of the Army of Tennessee.  However, as a practical matter it’s best to describe it as “the Confederate Flag”.   I don’t see anyone flying the actual CSA flags at any point past 1865.

Mr. Union.  I’m originally from Maryland, and now live in Northern Virginia.  My loyalties are now, and always have been, with the Union.  You won’t catch me flying the flag myself.   Note: Virginia these days is very blue.  Both US senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, are Democrats, and though the vote was closer than expected, Hillary Clinton still won Virginia in 2016.  Though last I heard, all those Confederate monuments were still in Richmond – which is still Virginia’s capital.  I’ve been there several times, most notably for swearing into the Virginia Bar in June 1994.

Anyhow, on with the discussion.

Supreme Court.  The US Supreme Court [Matal v. Tan, 582 U.S. ___ (2017)] recently ruled that offensive speech is still protected by the First Amendment.  This is as it should be.  If you want to call people “n**ger”, that’s your business, and your tombstone.  The state can’t prevent you from doing so.   So you have a legal right to fly the flag which cannot be abridged by the Feds, state, or local authorities, including the police.

Reaction.  Don’t be shocked if some people don’t like seeing the CSA flag waved in their faces.  While the police and local authorities may be barred from taking it down, private parties may decide to take matters into their own hands.

What does it stand for?   Part of the issue with this flag is that it was originally associated with the Civil War, in particular the Confederate States of America.   I don’t buy for a New York minute the nonsense that South Carolina and the others seceded over “state’s rights”.  Nonsense.  Bulls**t.  It was slavery, pure and simple, and the ones responsible at the time said so over and over again. 

Of course, as of 2017, slavery is NOT back on the table.  No way, no how.  I haven’t heard anyone even suggesting that, even from the KKK.  It’s not going to happen.   As for secession, I hear that bandied about, depending on what unpopular policy is emerging from the White House or Congress, or whatever federal agency.  Since we have Donald Trump as President, I’d hardly think the former CSA states would be inclined to secede, and they didn’t do so – or even seriously discuss the matter – during 8 years of Bubba or Obama, nor did they do so after Brown vs. Board of Education, or during LBJ’s administration.   Even at the times at which the flag’s use returned to haunt everyone, its original political agenda did not.   So as a practical matter, neither of the major issues associated with the flag’s original use in 1861-65 apply today.  

The worst possible statement the flag could make, brandished by a Klan member, is “damn it, we’re sorry we lost the war, we’re sorry slavery isn’t around anymore, we don’t like having to allow blacks the same rights as us, but the most we can do is simply wave a flag around and bitch about it.”  The more mundane, benevolent, and acceptable use is to simply say, “I’m from the South and I’m proud of it.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd.   Recently Gary Rossington, the sole surviving original member, decided to retire the CSA flag from the band’s array of imagery, both on stage and on other items such as t-shirts.  Mind you, this is very recent.  Even their reunion t-shirts (1991-present) frequently featured the CSA flag.  And of course during the 1970s the flag was prominent in concert, even in places like the UK (though we recall the UK flirted with the idea of supporting the CSA, however briefly and casually, an implausible scenario from a country which had abolished slavery 30 years before and was active in shutting down the slave trade).

But examine this: Over five original albums, Ronnie Van Zant made no mention of (A) the Civil War, (B) seceding from the Union, (C) slavery, (D) Brown vs. Board of Education (try fitting that into lyrics), or (E) any vague noises about supporting white supremacy.  So why were they flying the flag?  Simple Southern Pride, as misplaced as it might be.

Appropriation.   Some may object, “all well and fine to try to switch it from slavery to simple southern pride, but you can’t change what a symbol means that easily.”  Can you?  Let’s look at the swastika.  The Nazis did NOT invent the swastika.  It had been around for centuries.  But in 1920 they decided to use it themselves.  Can it be reclaimed or repurposed?  Probably not a second time.  Part of the problem is that its prior use was so diffuse and vague – what did it stand for, before the Nazis stole it?  Whereas its use by the NSDAP correlates to a specific political agenda – 25 Points – and a discernable movement.  Plus the Nazis were the epitome of evil. 

The premise of appropriating the CSA flag to “southern pride”, I argue, is much stronger.   As noted earlier, its original political agenda is a non-starter today.   Whereas nationalist movements still exist and the spectre of what the Nazis did is still around – and anti-semitism still alive and well – “southern pride” is not nearly as dangerous.  As Skynyrd showed, many display the flag with no racist intent whatsoever. 

It is possible to brandish the CSA flag, ostensibly as a symbol of “southern pride”, when your actual intent is to assert white supremacy.  “Heritage, not hate”, is often said.  The proper reaction is to take it at face value.  Because if no one ever champions secession, slavery, or white supremacy while flying the flag, those concepts will lose their attachment thereto.  As Tim Allen pointed out:  what flag is flying over the post office?  Appomattox, baby. 

Blacks in the South.  Believe it or not, many blacks still live in the South.  Not all of them moved to DC, NY, Chicago or L.A. and became rappers.  And from what I can tell, the blacks who live in the former CSA are very proud of where they’re from.  Do they want to be slaves?  No.  Do they like the Klan?  No.  Do they want burning crosses in their yards?  No.  Do they want to be lynched?  No.  Do they want the same rights as whites?  Damn right they do, and they deserve them, of course.   I don’t fault them for resenting the CSA flag, regardless of whether it’s meant as racist defiance or simply southern pride.   Occasionally I’ll see a black person flying it, but that’s very rare and not the norm.  But insofar as the flag can simply represent southern pride, it can be – and I know it’s tough to think this way – as a symbol for blacks and white in the south together. In fact, if more blacks would fly it themselves, whites would start looking silly if they tried to surreptitiously assert its original agenda; consider this blacks calling their bluff and including themselves in “southern heritage…not hate”.   So it SHOULD be “taken back” from racists and used to bind the South together, in peace, without slavery, without burning crosses or nooses.  “Heritage, not hate”?  Maybe not as stupid as it sounds.

Or maybe I’m just a Union idiot.  

Shadow Warrior

I can’t believe I haven’t done a blog on this, but apparently I haven’t.  So here you go.

Shadow Warrior is the now out-of-print memoirs of Felix Rodriguez, the Cuban-born CIA operative responsible for hunting down and capturing Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1967.   It was fascinating, and not just for the Che Guevara angle.

He was born in Cuba, of all places – whereas Guevara is Argentinian.  The CIA sent him back for the Bay of Pigs operation.   Rodriguez was in Havana at the time, and if the invasion managed to get off the beach and reach that far, he would have coordinated with the invasion forces in the city itself.  Obviously things didn’t reach that level.

Rodriguez later went to Bolivia to help the Bolivian Army track down Che Guevara.   Oddly, Castro had given the Bolivian Communist Party explicit instructions NOT to give Guevara any help whatsoever.  Almost none of Che’s team in the forests of Bolivia were native Bolivians.  He had an East German woman with cancer, and a Bolivian named Paco, who would rather have studied Marxism in Moscow than have a gun shoved in his hands and told to traipse through the forest with no clue what he was doing.

Guevara separated his group into a vanguard, a rearguard, and a main group in the middle, which contained Guevara himself.   Rodriguez’ counter-insurgency team of Bolivian Army soldiers captured the vanguard team, who happily spilled the beans about the whole thing.  That included Paco.  Now Rodriguez knew Guevara would be arriving – but Guevara had no clue he’d be walking into an ambush.  Sure enough, he was captured.

The two of them talked at length, very friendly.  Che gave him his Rolex, which is now on display at CIA headquarters.  If it were up to Rodriguez, he’d have had Che sent to Panama to be interrogated by the CIA and who knows what else.  But it was the Bolivians who decided what to do, and they decided to shoot him.   Too bad.

Vietnam.  After Cuba, Rodriguez went to Vietnam.  There he turned a female NVA officer.  She was in love with the son of her NVA commander (Colonel Tu Ton), but he thought his son was too good for her, and forbid the relationship.  The colonel reassigned his son to a combat unit, and the boy was killed in a B52 raid.  She blamed Tu Ton for not only breaking up the relationship but also getting the boy killed.   So she helped the CIA arrange highly effective operations against him.  And there was much rejoicing.

Nicaragua.  By the 1980s, Rodriguez went to Nicaragua to help out with the Contras, who were trying to overthrow the communist Sandinista regime then in power.  Despite the notoriety back in Washington of some guy named Oliver North, Rodriguez said the Contras had no idea who North was.   Rodriguez considered North to be an arrogant idiot who had no idea what he was doing, nor that Secord and the rest of the Iran-Contra operation were making money behind his back, overall a pompous, incompetent assclown with a grossly inflated image of his importance.

If you’re interested in CIA covert ops, or in Che Guevara, by all means check this out.  His background is extensive and his stories are compelling.  

Live Sports

I’ve gone on at length about my concert experience – mainly because it’s extensive enough to discuss at length.  Here it’s the opposite:  I can address this issue because of my relative lack of experience.  I don’t consider myself a sports fan, although I do watch the NFL and the Super Bowl. 

Football.   I grew up in Maryland in the 1970s, though never became a Redskins or Colts fan.   This was when the Vikings were doing fairly well, going to three Super Bowls with Fran Tarkenton – I’m too young to remember their first Super Bowl against the Chiefs, but in any case that was with Joe Kapp, as Tarkenton was playing with the NY Giants at the time.

I’ve seen several concerts at RFK Stadium, but no Redskins games.   My only visit to M&T Bank Stadium was a recent Metallica show, which I enjoyed. 

College.  I went to University of Maryland, College Park, from 1986 to 1990.  Byrd Stadium is large and conveniently located, and us students were given good deals on tickets to ensure a stadium packed with a loyal home audience.   Moreover, the QB at the time was Neil O’Donnell, who later went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, continuing UM’s  tradition of providing the NFL with halfway decent quarterbacks like Boomer Esiason.

University of Maryland vs. ?, Byrd Stadium.  Probably freshman year.   I can’t remember the ACC rival or the outcome.  I did enjoy the atmosphere.  I was up in the stands, behind the endzone.  I was probably NOT drinking.

NFL.     Washington Redskins vs ?, FedEx Field.   I went with my brother.   We were up high on the sides, perhaps accompanied by his son, my nephew, Ian.  I can’t remember the outcome.  Even though the Vikings are in a different division than the Redskins, occasionally they come here to play during the regular season, e.g. week 10 of last year – I can’t recall why I didn’t bother to go to that game. 

Baseball.   I’m not a big fan of baseball, hardly ever watch it – even the World Series – and virtually never attend in person.  I could scarcely drum up enthusiasm for the Orioles or the Nationals.  I’ve been past Camden Yards dozens of times without ever going inside it.  But I have seen two games, both of which I enjoyed.

Nationals vs. Phillies, Nationals Stadium.   Philadelphia is close enough so that the audience was 50% visiting team fans.  The Phillies won.  Matt took me with Ian.  A good time overall.

Yankees vs. Orioles, Yankee Stadium.   I went with Dave, who is a Yankees fan and we enjoyed it, notwithstanding the loud PA system.  The Yankees crushed the Orioles 16-3.  

Basketball.   Not a basketball fan at all, and I’ve never seen an NBA game.  Nor do I plan on it.

Georgetown, UM.   In the 70s, we went to a Georgetown game with our friends, the O’Connells.  I don’t know why (maybe a birthday party event).  What I recall was spending the game making fun of the players.

Later on, I went to one Terps game at Cole Field House.  Not bad, but not compelling either.   The Terps won the NCAA Final Four in 2002, which I paid attention to at the time, but I generally do not follow them.  Generally I went to Cole Field House to jog around the concourse for exercise.

Hockey.   Guess what, not a hockey fan, of the Caps or otherwise.   However, I have been to a few games.

Capitals vs. Rockies, Cap Center.   Late 70s, a group of us kids went and enjoyed it. 

Ottawa ‘67s vs. Sudbury Wolves.  In 1991 I visited my buddy Sean, ASP class of ’86 like me, who lives in Ottawa.   He felt (correctly) the visit wouldn’t be complete without a hockey game.  At that time the Ottawa Senators did not yet exist (coming online the following season), so we went to a minor league game.  I enjoyed it.

Soccer.  Despite growing up in Paris, and visiting London several times back then, I resisted the call until a Brazilian (former) girlfriend, a proud carioca, infected me with this damn virus, in 2000.  Since then I’ve seen a few soccer games.

DC United vs. LA Galaxy; DC United vs. Bayer Leverkusen (exhibition); Barcelona vs. AC Milan (exhibition).  All were at RFK, the only times I caught sporting events at what used to be the Redskins’ home stadium.   All were enjoyable, if only marginally memorable.  We have yet to develop sufficient enthusiasm and passion for the game to produce any hooligans – as The Simpsons have noted (Groundskeeper Willie: "You call this a soccer riot???") - so our soccer experience is fairly tame by international standards.

Flamengo vs. Fluminense, Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  While this wasn’t a final, it was a regular season game between Rio de Janeiro’s archrivals, at the famous stadium in Rio.  We were in the lower tier (tourists) while the die hard fans were up in the second tier.  One half was red and black, chanting MEN-GO!  (Flamengo), the opposite side, in dark green and maroon, responding NEN-SE (Fluminense).  This traditional rivalry is called “FLA-FLU”.   Now-retired soccer star Romario, previously linked to Flamengo, was actually playing for Fluminense.  Flamengo scored an early goal, responded by 3 from Flumimense, so apparently it was game over for the Mengão.  NOPE.  They wound up scoring three more goals, ending up in 4-3.   Those of us familiar with 0-0 being an acceptable result for a non-final game will remark at this, as did the headlines of the local papers afterwards. 

Funny enough, this was on the same day as the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl – yes, the Janet Jackson Bowl.  We had the bus drop us off close to Ipanema, because the Super Bowl was NOT – shock horror, I know – being televised on local TV, so we had to watch at the Lord Jim Pub.  I wound up getting drunk on hard cider, spending all my cab money on that (cider being three times as expensive as draft beer, but much less filling) so I walked from this pub, on the border of Ipanema and Leblon, all the way to Leme, which is at the other end of Copacabana.  [Much like the time I walked home from the New 9:30 Club after a Monster Magnet show, the Metro had closed, so I went down 14^th Street, across M Street to Key Bridge, and home to Rosslyn, though nowhere near as drunk as I had been in Rio].  

Concerts Again

Recently I had four concerts very crammed in together:  Metallica on 5/10 at M&T Bank Stadium, The Obsessed at the Ottobar in Baltimore (5/20), TOOL at the EagleBank Arena (5/24), and Iron Maiden (with Ghost BC opening) at Jiffy Lube Live on June 3.  My brother Matt went with me to Metallica and Iron Maiden, and paid for my ticket too – thank you!   I commented on Metallica earlier, I’ll comment on concerts in general now.

By now I’ve seen over 200 shows since the first in 1984.  Here are my general thoughts and impressions.

Alone?  My ideal companion is my brother.  We see as many shows together as we can.  Occasionally he’ll see Marillion, Transiberian Orchestra, or Jethro Tull by himself (or with his family), but generally we go together.  Now his kids are getting older, they can appreciate shows, so sometimes they come along.  Our parents did not like our type of music and didn’t go to concerts at all.  They were in San Francisco for their honeymoon in 1967 and did not visit Haight Ashbury.  So Matt is conscientious about including his kids – IF they are interested. 

On the other hand, if I’m the only one I know who wants to see a show, I’ll go alone.  All three Tool shows I went to by myself.   If I depended on everyone else, I’d miss a lot of fantastic shows.  It just requires more logistics in getting to and from the show.  But I don’t mind. 

Ages ago, December 2000, I was on the fence about seeing Wishbone Ash.   Andy Powell was the only remaining original member of the band, whose peak years were the early 1970s, including at least one headlining show at Merriweather Post Pavilion on the Wishbone IV tour.   A Namorada Brasileira did not want to go, so it was just me.  Finally I decided, “f**k it, I’ll go.”  Brilliant decision, because not only was Powell on top form, his #2 guitarist, Mark Birch, was also excellent, and the set featured many of their best songs.  To this date I’ve seen the band several times and they’re always fun to watch.    

The Asshole.   Every concert audience has at least one – hopefully the crowd is so large you don’t notice him.  At ‘Maiden it was a guy pushing his way up to the front.  At the UFO show it was a clown yelling for “Rock Bottom” between literally every song, yet “Rock Bottom” is a song the band is guaranteed to play, probably in the encore.  Basically it’s someone who isn’t truly enjoying himself unless he’s ruining it for everyone else.  Alcohol is almost always a factor. 

Generally weed makes the audience more docile and mellow, so the Asshole is almost never present at a Dead show.  In 1992 we had to fight the entire audience on the field for Metallica & Guns N’Roses, yet the audience on the field for Grateful Dead, the same venue, RFK, was cool and mellow.  The sad thing is that musically, I much prefer Metallica and GNR over the Dead; but the Dead audience is far more enjoyable to watch the show with. 

[As an aside:  the nastiest thing about mean drunks is that they KNOW they are mean drunks and they STILL drink anyway.  I say let out all the nonviolent drug offenders – which they should do anyway – and lock up the serial DUIs and drunk abusers.  Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol itself is waste of time, but we should do something about the worst abusers.]

Moshers.  A subset of this.  I don’t think all moshers are drunk assholes, however, too many of them are.  Occasionally the crowd is packed too tight to allow this to happen; also, you can’t do this up in the seated areas.  Other times, the mosh pit is thankfully further back from the stage, allowing those of us who paid to see the BAND PLAY can do so instead of fending off moshers crashing into them. 

At the Black Sabbath concert at Richie Coliseum in 1994, the moshers were out in force for Morbid Angel, somewhat subdued for Motorhead, but when Black Sabbath came on, they were downright obedient, everyone intent and focused on worshipping Tony Iommi.  As it should be.

It was only at a Danzig show in 1994 that I “accepted” the moshing – but still moved away from it. 

“Spinners” are the Dead show equivalent of moshers.  They’re generally SUPER HIGH or dosing and spin away, but generally on the arena concourse, and they don’t bang into each other.  Or it’s the guy on LSD who thinks he’s an amoeba.   Dude at the ELP show in ’86!   WOOHOO!

SHAQ.   If there’s an NBA player in the audience, chances are he’ll make his way to the very front of the audience, right up to the stage, and block everyone else’s view.  To be fair, Shaq is not expressly intent on doing so.  He wants to see the band like everyone else.   He can see over everyone else, but no one else can see over him.  “You make a better door than a window.”

T-shirts Revisited.  The ideal concert t-shirt has the tour dates on the back, and some variant of the latest album cover, NOT a slavish replication thereof, on the front.  I’m conflicted – as I was at the TOOL show – when the optimal front design did NOT have tour dates on the back, whereas the tour-dates-on-back shirt had a dull and boring front design, in this case identical to a shirt I already had.  Ultimately I have to decide:  which shirt looks the best?  And feel free to abstain altogether if none of the shirts are worthwhile. 

Personally, I don’t like highly complex designs.  At the AC/DC show (Rock or Bust), I chose a Back in Black variant.  The others were a confusing mess.  Many of Maiden’s recent designs were a bit too busy.  The same was true of last year’s Black Sabbath shirts.

The other issue is lines.  I missed several songs of the Sabbath set just waiting in line for shirts, although I was fortunately able to hear them.   Then when you get to the front of the line, the shirt you want is out of stock.  And yes, this still happens at a show that’s the first on a tour. 

Kids.    Some people bring their kids to the show.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Very small children are unlikely to enjoy themselves.  Probably 8 or 9 is the youngest.  Moreover, you can’t expect the audience to behave itself simply because you brought your kids, so rampant foul language and possible drug use (usually just marijuana, and LSD and shrooms are orally consumed anyway) may compromise the experience.  I saw a couple bring their 8 year old boy, who did NOT appear to be really enjoying himself.  We’ll see if he changes his tune when he talks to his peers: (“you saw Iron Maiden on their last tour?? Cool!” “Yeah, whatever”). 

What’s That Smell?  You know what I mean:  either sativa or indica.   Sometimes you smell it and can’t identify who is responsible.  Though at Dead and Phish shows, the smell is almost ubiquitous.  

What’s He Doing Here?   I saw one guy at the Maiden show who appeared to be alone and none too excited about the show.  Maybe he was extremely stoned.   For the most part, the audience appears to be very much excited.  Hopefully not expressing that excitement by moshing.

Basic Format & Variations.   Generally the show is at night, with an opening act playing for 30-45 minutes, a brief break, and the headliner playing one 90 minute set, including the encore.  Checking Setlist Wiki, I see that Metallica has played many shows with multiple encores.  The encore is usually 1-3 songs, often the most popular, but sometimes a wildcard.  The Dead play two sets, both 90 minutes, with or without an opening act.  Clash of the Titans, 1991, had three headliners, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, each playing 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes.

Setlist.  I’ve noted this before:  most bands play the same set (list of songs) every night of the tour.  TOOL and Blue Oyster Cult vary this with one wildcard slot per set.  The Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic and other jam bands play a different set each night.  In the Rush documentary some fan bragged at seeing Rush 40 times.  That means multiple shows on the same tour:  when each night’s set is exactly the same.  Moreover, Rush make it a point to play their songs verbatim as they are on the albums.  Clutch and Pearl Jam are the only non-jam bands I’m aware of which play different sets each night.   Neil Fallon said, “sometimes even I don’t know what we’ll be playing…but it would be too boring playing the same songs each night.” 

“The Whole Album”.  That’s been a recent thing.  Judas Priest played all of British Steel; Rush played all of Moving Pictures; Jethro Tull played all of Aqualung.  Iron Maiden played a set of material from the first four albums (Iron Maiden, Killers, Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind) exclusively.  With the exception of Tull, which played the songs out of sequence and alternating with non-album tracks, these bands played the entire album from start to finish in the same sequence as the original album, which really takes the drama out of the equation.  (Yes, I’m the guy who doesn’t consult Setlist Wiki before the show.  I want to be surprised.) 

With regard to Maiden’s 4 album deal, the problem with that is that when it comes to those songs, it’s always the same songs, e.g. the only song from Killers is “Wrathchild”.  As a practical matter that meant they put “Phantom of the Opera” back in the set – though they’ve played it before with Bruce Dickinson.   In Rush’ case, since side A of MP gets heavy play anyway, it was adding side B (“Camera Eye”, “Witch Hunt”, and “Vital Signs”) to the set. 

Ideally the band should add in songs which have never been played live: “The Necromancer” (Rush), “Thrill of it All” (Black Sabbath), “Strange World” (Iron Maiden), etc.  Rob Halford joked about playing “Run of the Mill” again, but they did add “Never Satisfied” back in recently.  Priest’s early albums have a much different feel which I – and many Priest fans – love. 

Having said all that, the bands I’m referring to are mostly older, and Facebook shows us older rock stars seemingly dropping like flies.  Sabbath had to tour with Tommy Clufetos on drums because Bill Ward was unfit to tour (and has been for decades).  I appreciate that they tour at all, so I can’t give them too much grief for unimaginative setlists.   Keep up the good work, as long as you can, and we’ll keep seeing you, as long as we can.    

The White House

Yet another instance where a local attraction – the White House – has remained unvisited despite its close proximity until relatives from out of town – my sister and her two daughters – requested a tour.  My Mom and my brother Matt also went along.   Matt had gone earlier with his family.  My parents actually used to work there:  my mom was the nurse for President Johnson (Lyndon, not Andrew or Gary), and my dad worked for BOB.  That’s probably how they met.

Just the Basic Facts (Can You Show Me Where It Hurts).   It’s in DC, on Pennsylvania Ave.  To the west is the Old Executive Office Building.  To the east, the Treasury Dept. Building.  To the north, Pennsylvania Ave and Lafayette Square.  To the South, the Ellipse and Constitution Ave.  If you see a square edifice with four columns, that’s the NORTH Portico, which looks out onto Lafayette Square.  If you see a semi-circular edifice (e.g. the photo above), that’s the SOUTH Portico, which looks out onto the vast expanse of south lawn and the Ellipse.  It was built during Washington and Adams’ administration, and Adams (John, Chief Executive #2) moved in at the end of his term, thus Jefferson was the first President to live there for a full term.   During the War of 1812, the British torched the place when they captured Washington, DC, but it was rebuilt soon thereafter.   The West Wing dates from the early 1900s, and during Truman’s administration the whole building was completely rebuilt. 

NOTE:  The Oval Office, the press room, and all the offices, are in the West Wing – so the “business” of the country, insofar as it occurs on the President’s watch – as opposed to Congress’ or the Supreme Court – occurs in the West Wing.  What occurs in the White House proper are social gatherings and functions, e.g. Grover Cleveland’s wedding, formal dinners, and dead Presidents (Lincoln & Kennedy) lying in state. 

A few warnings are in order.

Warning #1.  Approval & Access.  You cannot simply walk up to 1600 Pennsylvania, ring the doorbell, and ask to be let in.  You have to apply in advance and then, a few weeks and a background check later, you will be approved for a date and time, for the specific individuals identified in your party (i.e. bring ID).   Keep this in mind if you have a DC trip coming up.   Also, the form letter articulating the guidelines (helpful advice like “don’t bring weapons or pot” alongside the less obvious but still significant stuff mentioned below) is your entry pass.  Don’t chuck it after reading it, you’ll need it to gain access. 

Warning #2.  Waiting in line.  First you wait in line on Fifteenth Street, on the street with no cover – better hope it doesn’t rain.  Then you wait in line for your first ID check.  Then you’re let in to wait in line for a second ID check.  All of this is with no shelter from the elements.  Then you wait in line to be x-rayed or whatever by something you simply stand next to.  Presumably it weeds out Mystique, Odo, and other shapeshifters.  Finally you wait in line for a regular “empty your pockets” metal detector thing.

THEN you can enter the East Wing.  From there you enter the bottom floor of the main house, go up the stairs, tour the middle floor (top floor off-limits) and eventually emerge from the North Portico which faces out to Lafayette Park.  The stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue running in front of the White House is now closed to vehicle traffic.

Warning #3.  No access to bathrooms.   Make sure you take care of business first.  The Visitor Center located in the north part of what we’d consider the Department of Commerce building has bathrooms and a gift shop (though the dry-your-hands blowers are a sad joke). 

Warning #4.  There is no visitor parking for the White House itself.  It’s downtown, so street parking is nonexistent.  The nearest Metro station is several blocks away.   However, there is a large parking garage in the Ronald Reagan Building across from the Dept. of Commerce, and there are a few other parking garages scattered around the area, a few blocks away; it helps if you know where they are and plan ahead of time.  I took Uber both ways and that worked out fine.

Warning #5.   West Wing.  The Oval Office and all that stuff is off-limits – as is, most obviously, the Lincoln Bedroom (is there a Clinton Bedroom?).   When you think about it, the fact that the Presidential Mansion is open for tours at all is actually somewhat remarkable.   Theoretically the First Family is upstairs (second floor off-limits) and the Big Guy is in his office over in the West Wing – or on a golf course somewhere else – but all us snoopy tourists are ooh-ing and ah-ing around, mostly taking 10000 cell phone pics in front of literally every room that is available.

Warning #6.  That’s it?   Since the areas you can visit are the East Wing, and two floors of the main house, it doesn’t take much to complete the tour – especially if you’re not conscientiously taking pictures of literally everything and everyone in your group in front of something.   Objectively, I found the White House to be somewhat small.  We’ve visited Vanderbilt mansions in Newport, Rhode Island which seem larger – though no one actually lives there anymore. 

We did not meet the President, Vice President, First Lady, or anyone else famous, though there is no shortage of Presidential portraits, even some of the VPs and First Ladies.  Despite his ego, Trump is but one of many Chief Executives depicted in his Palace.  I actually overdressed – perhaps for the remote possibility of being made Great by a meeting with the Donald himself – in shirt and tie, as most of my fellow tourists were dressed accordingly, i.e. fairly casual.  Go in a t-shirt and jeans, as no one cares what you’re wearing. 

Did I enjoy it?  Yes.  Would I do it again?  Probably not.  Would I recommend it to others?   Sure, IF you keep those warnings in mind, and thus your expectations in check.   Thank you, Sarah for arranging this.