After being told that there would be no “freebie” tickets to President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inaugural parade, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was reported to have said: “If I have to pay $25, then I’ll charge Carter $50 to swear him in.”
IT’S AUGUST IN Washington, and the livin’ ain’t easy. Under the swelter of the noonday sun, the nation’s capital is moving in shimmering slow-mo. If you walk, you’ll wilt. The subway tunnels are steam baths. Most of the city’s taxicabs — those without air-conditioning — are hell on wheels. The smart folks have gotten out of town. Had it not been for Harry Zitelman, however, things might be even worse.
IT MAY NO LONGER be “Washington’s Finest Hotel,” but that hardly matters. Its ground floor is still home to Cartier, and after dark the glow of its cream-colored façade still lends a quiet elegance to the block of Connecticut Avenue above L Street. The Mayflower is, without question, the grande dame of the city’s grand hotels. Had it not
Some sobering thoughts, wry toasts, and dry humor inspired by the golden anniversary of Repeal
WITHIN CERTAIN QUARTERS, Terry Merrifield’s name is enough to provoke a barrage of expletives. Many people have roughly the same opinion of him that Jackie Onassis has of photographer Ron Galella. He has been threatened with everything from lawsuits to premature retirement; “I’m going to put a hole in your head,” a man he’d never met told him. It’s