After the end of America’s Civil War and the death of Abraham Lincoln, an envoy from Tunisia presented President Andrew Johnson with a huge portrait of the ‘Bey of Tunis’, His Highness the Mushir Mohammed Essadek.
When I started working in the US Senate in the mid-1990s, my then boss Senator Jeff Bingaman handed me, like he did to every incoming member of his staff, a copy of Eric Redman’s book, The Dance of Legislation: An Insider’s Account of the Workings of the United States Senate.
There are many who really detest the DC social scene — but others who love to know who is where and doing what to whom. It’s why West Wing was such a hit. People want to know what powerful Washingtonians are up.
Tonight at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon, Harvard historian Maya Jasanoff captivated a black tie audience with her research and writing on early loyalists to Britain living in the American colonies who abandoned their home after the Revolution.
Tonight much of Washington, DC’s glitterati will attend the Diamond Jubilee festivities saluting the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at the British Embassy. It will be packed — all under the able management of Ambassador Peter Westmacott and his wife — and his suffer-no-fools, knows-everyone social secretary Amanda Downes.
I don’t need or want any. Ok, I’m lying. I want them but can’t have them. Or can I? Still, I’m going to walk by the Dupont Circle Krispy Kreme and see if there is a line.
AP David Ignatius‘ gripping novels are quickly emerging as the spy industry’s narcotic for smart, complex intelligence yarns to read on long flights.
