Newseum



9/11 Headline

We had planned to walk the monuments this morning. But by 9:30 AM it was 88 degrees out with a real feel of 96 and no clouds in sight. We decided that it would make more sense to spend the day in air conditioning. We had originally planned to go to the Spy Museum, but since Greg is a journalist and only Mary had been to the Newseum, we changed our destination. The Museum was really good. It started out with a section on the Berlin Wall (including a large chunk of the wall) and how journalism was part of the reason it was raised (too many people were leaving East Germany after hearing of the life in the West). One of the temporary exhibits was on how JFK and Jackie used the media to appeal to voters through photographs (especially as a family), news conferences, and the Kennedy-Nixon debate. The main exhibits were quite varied: many front pages of historical events, how radio, then TV, then internet media changed how we receive our news. We viewed an interesting movie on the first amendment, and how difficult the early years were, especially since much of journalism almost became mud-rucking on your opponents. The Sedition Act was passed to control criticism of the government only 7 years after the first amendment was approved (but it was allowed to expire a few years later). There were lots of places you could interact – taking quizzes, playing games, even getting to play TV reporter. We happily spent about 5 hours at the museum.

Photographer's last picture on 9/11

After dinner, we decided to try the monuments again. Since it was already 8 PM, we stopped at the Jefferson Memorial just before sunset. This is one of my favorite monuments with the tidal basin in front with views of the Washington Monument and White House. We tried to see the Martin Luther King Memorial, but couldn’t find a parking place anywhere close to it. So we ended up driving near some of the monuments: FDR’s, Lincoln, World War II and the Washington Monument.



Mary, Laura, Greg, and John at the Tidal Pool