K Street, Think Tanks & die Welt der Washingtoner DC-Macht
Washington DC ist nicht nur die Hauptstadt der Vereinigten Staaten — es ist das Nervenzentrum der globalen Macht, die Stadt, in der die Entscheidungen, die die Welt formen, getroffen und beeinflusst werden: der K Street Lobbying-Korridor, die Think Tanks, die Anwaltskanzleien, die Handelsverbände und die Medieneinrichtungen.
- 1
K Street — The Lobbying Corridor
K Street NW (the 2km corridor from Washington Circle to Thomas Circle, the address associated with the US lobbying industry — the top lobbying firms include Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Akin Gump, and Squire Patton Boggs, all with K Street offices or addresses nearby) employs 12,000 registered federal lobbyists (the actual number working in advocacy roles is estimated at 100,000+ if all advocacy professionals are included) — the disclosure: the US Lobbying Disclosure Act (1995) requires lobbyists to register and report their clients and spending; the Senate Office Building cafeterias (accessible to the public with identification, the Hart Senate Office Building on Constitution Avenue, the best place to observe Hill staffers at work at lunch) are more honest power centers than K Street's glass lobbies.
- 2
Congressional Visitor Center — The Capitol Underground
The United States Capitol Visitor Center (underground below the East Plaza of the Capitol, free entry, open Monday–Saturday 8:30am–4:30pm, tours of the Capitol by appointment through Congressional offices or via timed-entry tickets — free — from the visitor center website) is the correct starting point for the Capitol building — the exhibition hall (the 16,500 square feet of permanent exhibitions on Congress's history, the scale replica of the Statue of Freedom from the Capitol dome, the two-story film theater) and the Capitol building tour (1 hour, the Rotunda, the National Statuary Hall, and the Senate and House Chambers when not in session, led by Capitol Visitor Center guides or Congressional staff escorts) are the accessible visitor experiences.
- 3
The Supreme Court — The Marble Temple and Public Access
The United States Supreme Court (1 First Street NE, across from the Capitol, free, open Monday–Friday 9am–4:30pm, the Great Hall, the Museum, and the courtroom when not in session are self-guided, oral arguments are public when the Court is in session — October through April, Monday–Wednesday for 2-week argument sessions, first-come first-served seating from the public queue, free) is the most civically engaging of Washington's major institutions — the oral argument sessions (the public seating is 50–200 per session depending on the case, the queue begins at 5am for the most significant cases, the experience — watching the 9 justices question attorneys from 35 feet away — is irreplaceable) and the building itself (Cass Gilbert, 1935, the Vermont marble facade, 'Equal Justice Under Law' carved above the entrance) are the essential elements.
- 4
Embassy Row — The Massachusetts Avenue International Mile
Embassy Row (Massachusetts Avenue NW from Dupont Circle to Observatory Circle, the concentration of 40+ embassy buildings in restored Beaux-Arts mansions and modern purpose-built chanceries) is Washington's most architecturally varied streetscape — the most significant buildings: the British Embassy (the 1931 Lutyens building, the last large commission of Edwin Lutyens before his death, the only American building by the designer of the Viceroy's House in New Delhi), the Indonesian Embassy (the former Patterson House, 1903, by McKim Mead & White, the most important Beaux-Arts mansion in DC still in use), and the Anderson House (2118 Massachusetts Avenue, the Society of the Cincinnati museum and library, the 1902 mansion that is the finest Gilded Age interior in Washington DC, free, Tuesday–Saturday 1–4pm).
- 5
Watergate Complex — The Break-In That Changed Everything
The Watergate Complex (2650 Virginia Avenue NW, Foggy Bottom, the residential, commercial, and hotel complex in 6 connected buildings above the Potomac River, the site of the June 17, 1972 Democratic National Committee headquarters break-in that triggered the Nixon Watergate scandal and the only presidential resignation in US history — August 9, 1974) consists of the Watergate Hotel (recently reopened after renovation, the rooftop bar is the appropriate setting to observe this DC landmark), the Watergate East, West, and South residential apartments, and the former Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge (since demolished) where the 'plumbers' surveillance team watched the DNC office from Room 723; the DNC office (6th floor of the Watergate Office Building, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW) is not publicly accessible but the lobby is.
- 6
White House Visitor Center — The Exterior and the Context
The White House (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, the residence and principal office of the President of the United States since 1800, accessible by exterior view from Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Square, restricted public tours arranged only through Congressional offices 4–6 weeks in advance for US citizens, foreigners via their embassy to the State Department) is most accessible from Lafayette Square (the 7-acre park directly north of the White House, the site of the most sustained protest activity in American history — the park has had uninterrupted protest presence for some causes since the 1980s) — the White House Visitor Center (1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, the basement of the Department of Commerce, free, daily 7:30am–4pm, extensive White House history exhibition) is the non-appointment alternative.