09 December 2003

There are bombs in Mosul this morning, dozens of Americans wounded, and some Chechen woman blew herself a a few dozen Russians in Red Square. Al Gore formally endorsed Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination for President. It is way early and I do not know what it means. I cannot begin to write about it. The holidays are coming on and it is time to think of more positive thoughts.

It is festive down on The Mall. The National Christmas Tree is lit, for Santa, presumably, since we can't talk about religion here anymore. The tree towers like a small green version of the Washington Monument. The phrase LAUS DEO are on the top of the big white tower.

"Praise the Lord" is what the words mean, but praise the lord is the sentiment that the citizens of the capital must have sighed when they finally finished the damn thing. Now the school kids could learn the first part of the saying by which the two great monuments on the west end of the ceremonial capital grounds are remembered: "The Washington Pencil and the Jefferson eraser."

It had been a tremendous national embarrassment, the truncated spire on the middle of America's front yard, the National Mall. The Dome of the Capitol was unfinished, too, but that was where Congress lived and there was every certainty that the men who appropriated the money to run the nation would see to the speedy completion of the most recognizable free-standing dome in the world.

Not so the monument to the First President. It had been authorized by Congress in 1833 in one of those queer deals that provided sponsorship but no money. A similar scheme encouraged private citizens to organize Congressional Cemetery, the slightly down-at-the-heels graveyard east of Capitol Hill on the banks of the placid Anacostia River. Partnership is what it was about, an exercise in civic pride with minimal public seed money. The annex to the Air and Space Museum will open this week out at Dulles International Airport, and they are still $95 million short on the funds to complete it. Private funds, anyway. The Government is tapped out.

Construction on the great spire was actually begun in 1848, as the U.S. Army occupied Mexico City and put the great national debate over slavery in the background. Slaves participated in the building of the monument, as they did on the dome of the Capitol. Architect Robert Mills was hired by the privately funded Washington National Monument Society to provide the audacious design of the tallest free-standing masonry construction ever attempted. There are bigger ones, now, but they are dams across mighty rivers and hold back vast artificial lakes. But the spire stands as an exclamation point of national pride. Mills also intended a colonnade be placed at the base, to soften the stern lines mandated by the astonishing height of the obelisk.

The colonnade would have featured slightly fussy heroic statues of Washington and other revolutionary heroes and assorted old dead white guys. There would be squabbling today over the lack of representation and what statues needed to be removed or updated. Thankfully, they ran out of money and that part of the design was abandoned.

Seven years before the beginning of the Civil War, members of the Know-Nothing Party gained control of the Washington National Monument Society. The Know-Nothings were the embodiment of a strong dark strain of the American culture, the one that alternates with our intrinsic national compassion and compulsion to do good works. These guys were the pick-up and bumper-sticker-buyAmerican-Union-Shop of their day. They hated immigrants and they hated Catholics and they were pretty much set on the notion that if their fathers hadn't thought of an idea there was no point in thinking it. No Irish need apply.

Private contributions ended with the coup, and construction ceased for twenty-two years, during which the marble stump anchored the west end of the Mall as a public statement that the nation was incomplete. In 1876, frustrated that the nation's tribute to George Washington was still incomplete during the Centennial year, the Grant Administration, renowned for its popularity despite its corruption, got the Society to donate the project to the United States, allowing Congress to appropriate public funding.

Construction was resumed in 1878 under the gentle care of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There is still a discernible line between courses of differing stonework indicating the resumption of Monument construction. The Army Corps of Engineers abandoned the expensive marble with which the structure had been started, spurred on by the anniversary of the centennial celebration. The Army completed the exterior of the obelisk in 1884. It was dedicated in 1885 by President Chester A. Arthur and opened to the public in 1888. Stewardship of the Monument was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933.

It is impressive now, and was a near miracle then. There was no steel involved in its building. It was, briefly, the tallest structure in the world, until Monsieur Gustave Eiffel threw up his "temporary" Tower of steel for the Paris Exposition in 1889.

The Washington Monument stands 555 feet tall. It has 897 steps which you are not permitted to use and an elevator to take visitors on a 70 second trip landing at the five hundred foot level for magnificent views of the city. A bronze replica of the Jean Antoine Houdon statue of George Washington adorns the waiting room. The stairwell walls contain 192 memorial stones honoring The Father of Our Country, all donated as gifts of the 50 states, and foreign governments, organizations, cities, and individuals. Prominent among them are stones are from the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men, and other fraternal bodies.

I can see it from the roof of my building in Arlington, which used to be part of the Old District. Two red lights gleam near the observation ports to warn away aircraft. They were placed there when the Park Service took over in the 1930's. Looked at the right way, it is almost as if there is a baleful gaze from beneath a triangular white hood. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I haven't seen them since they refurbished the spire a couple years ago, the whole great structure wrapped in scaffolding as they fixed cracks and water intrusions. It was as impressive, in its way, as the great spire naked. A sort of functional manifestation of performance artist Christo wrapping up Marin County in blue plastic.

Washington's spire is clearly the model for the great Tower of the Chuche Ideal ("Self Reliance!") in Pyongyang, North Korea, which features similar stones donated by good self-reliant organizations around the world. I was proudly shown them as a product of the original thought of the Great Leader, Kim Il Song, the Father of his Country.

When the Army was getting close to completing the exterior, thought was given to what material would top the 3300 pound capstone. They decided on aluminum, then considered a rare and exotic material, a symbol for the future. The apex of the monument is a small aluminum pyramid, 5.6 inches on each base side and 8.9 inches high. It was set in place on December 6, 1884, almost 116 years ago this week. The lightweight metal was engraved with the names of the engineers and notables who completed the monument, and on one side were etched the words: LAUS DEO, "praise be to God."

The formal dedication was held in cold winter on February 21, 1885. The Grand Lodge of Masons of the District of Columbia participated in the ceremony, adapting the ceremony they had used when the cornerstone was laid in 1848. Grand Master Myron M. Parker gave an oration, and Washington's gavel and Masonic apron were displayed, the one he wore when The Father of Our Country laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. I am proud to note that Naval Lodge #4 was present, as it had been at the laying of the cornerstone of the tallest free-standing masonry structure in the world thirty seven years before.

When they surveyed the damage the elements had done to the Monument they discovered that lightning strikes over the years had melted the aluminum cap, and it was either recast or replaced. Times being as correct as they are, I cannot swear that the Park Service duplicated the original inscription praising God. But I like to think that they did.

We may need the help.

Copyright 2003 Vic Socotra