Washington : a history of our national city

561 Pages·2015·37.046 MB·English

by  Lewis, Tom

WA S H I N G TO N
F
A History of Our National City
TOM LEWIS
WASHINGTON

WA SH I NGTON
A History of Our National City
TOM LEWIS
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
NEW YORK
Copyright © 2015 by Tom Lewis
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group

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Designed by Jack Lenzo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lewis, Tom, 1942-
Washington : a history of our national city / Tom Lewis.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-03921-0 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-0-465-06158-7 (e-book) 1. Washing-
ton (D.C.)--History. 2. Washington (D.C.)--Politics and government. 3. Washington
(D.C.)--Social conditions. 4. Social change--Washington (D.C.)--History. 5. City plan-
ning--Washington (D.C.)--History. 6. Political culture--Washington (D.C.)--History. I.
Title.
F194.L488 2015
975.3--dc23
2015022843

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For
Jill,
the best
and
to the memory of
Thomas J. Condon,
mentor and friend

CONTENTS
Introduction: The Concerns of the Nation xv
Prologue: The “Mutinous Insult” xxv
 The General’s River and the Federal City 1
 Planners, Speculators, and Slaves 33
 “The Most Agreeable Town” 63
 Rebuilding and Growing 93
 The Bifurcated Southern National City 117
 Union National City 147
 The Making of an Undemocratic City 183
 Gilded Neighbors, Progressive City 209
 L’Enfant Redivivus 243
 Washington Apartheid and the End of Innocence 271
 Normalcy and Neglect 297
 New Deal City 325
 War City 347
 World Capital, Congressional Town 377
 Free Fall and After 405
Acknowledgments 433
Notes 437
Index 495
(cid:2) vii (cid:3)

peter charles l’enfant’s 1791 plan, titled in the cartouche, “Plan of
the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t[he] United
States: projected agreeable to the direction of the President of the United
States, in pursuance of an act of Congress passed the sixteenth day of July,
MDCCXC, establishing the permanent seat on the bank of the Potowmac.”
Facsimile created by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1887.