The Willard Read Free Page B

the advice of security chief Alan Pinkerton, who feared for his safety with threats of continued secession and war abounding. Pinkerton sneaked Lincoln into the hotel in the early morning hours, frustrating thousands of people who had gathered at the train station to catch a glimpse of the man from the frontier. After a nine-day stay, newly inaugurated President Lincoln paid his $773.75 bill with his first chief executive paycheck. It’s no wonder the hotel came to be known as the “Residence of the Presidents.”
    This period of history is rife with Willard importance. Shortly before the inauguration, delegates from both North and South gathered in Willard’s Hall to form the Peace Commission. There they undertook the task, unsuccessfully, of trying to find a way to keep the Union from fracturing.
    From her room at the Willard, Julia Ward Howe wrote the stirring lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and Martin Luther King, Jr. finished his “I Have A Dream” speech here before the March on Washington.
    Mark Twain wrote not one, but two of his famous stories while staying at the Willard. It is said that he liked to enter Peacock Alley from the back stairs and saunter down the lane drawing as much attention to himself as possible. Other famous guests included P.T. Barnum, Buffalo Bill Cody, and a long list of presidents and politicians. In fact, some regarded the Willard as both the social and political center of the city. It was such a popular place that, despite space limits, the proprietors packed in more than 1,500 guests on occasion during its pre-Civil War heyday. This meant strangers weren’t just sharing rooms, butalso the beds themselves. But not every patron could be paired with just anyone.
    Before the outbreak of the Civil War, the Willard went to great lengths to accommodate those of both Northern and Southern loyalties. Northerners entered through the F Street entrance on the north side of the hotel; Southerners made their entry on the Pennsylvania Avenue side, the south entrance. They were assigned to different floors in an effort to keep the peace.
    From the marble, crystal, and mahogany of the ornate lobby, to the intimate alcoves of Peacock Alley, the Willard Hotel is a Washington character all by itself. It seems to breathe stories and at the same time attract the kind of modern traveler who enjoys a grand, almost European experience.
    Since the first night a hotel bed was sold on this corner of real estate, things of importance have happened in connection with the Willard. There’s something almost mythical about the place. Edward Chase knows the feeling well; he was here before Henry Willard acquired the property and turned it into the place to see and to be seen. Sometimes he misses the days of the presidents leisurely strolling over to enjoy a glass of brandy, but the Secret Service would never allow that now. He doesn’t miss the days of packing in the people three-to-a-bed, though. His sensibilities are much too refined for that. No, the modern Willard is a place he is proud of. If only he wasn’t so busy taking care of details. Perhaps one day he won’t have to spend his days looking back.

C HAPTER 3
    TOM KELLY
    “Honestly, if this traffic jam is caused by another motorcade I’m going to start thinking there’s a conspiracy with the oil companies to ensure more fuel consumption. I don’t know how you tolerate this traffic,” remarked the frustrated passenger in Baahir Anand’s taxi.
    Tom Kelly wasn’t usually so impatient but he had landed at Dulles after a whirlwind eight-day business trip that had taken him from Los Angeles to London, to Geneva, to Abu Dhabi and now here to Washington. He wasn’t even sure what time zone he was in or what day it was. On top of that, his production coordinator, Lily, had booked him into Dulles instead of Reagan so he had just endured an hour and a half of stop and go traffic on top of the delay he had in Boston for his layover on the