Eric & I Tour the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Eric in front of the National 

Portrait Gallery at the 

Smithsonian American Art

Museum.

I didn't think I would be able to get past the main gallery.  The portraits in this great hall represent America's vast diversity....  Artists, scientists, noted historical figures, admirals and generals... Standing in front of the portraits representing our country's talents, a real brain trust, I found myself at a loss as to how to share what I see before me.

As a native New Yorker, I found many prominent figures from my state's history here, starting with a prominent figure from Dutch Colonial days.

Stephen Van Rensselaer III,

the eighth & last patroon

of the vast estate between

Albany & Rensselaer

Counties.

From a distinguished family, Stephen used his monies to finance to start  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 1824.  This is a highly rated engineering college with strong science programs.  

DeWitt Clinton, New York

State Senator, Mayor of 

New York City & Governor 

of the state, is best known

for promoting the Erie Canal,

which opened up trade from 

the East Coast to the Great

Lakes in the early 1800s .

I got a mule, her name is Sal; Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal...  The Erie Canal passed through Schenectady, along modern day Erie Boulevard,  as it made its way west to its terminus in Buffalo.

Joseph Smith had vision that he

 based The Book of Mormon

on in Palmyra, New York.

Mormonism was born in New York's region of religious revival known as The Burned-Over District.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is

known for her advocacy

of women's rights in all

aspects of their lives.

At the first ever women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, Elizabeth and 200 other women's rights activists drew up the Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances and resolutions were calling for specific equal rights for women, including the right to vote..  

After decades of speeches, pamphletting, marching and lobbying in statehouses across the country, women in the United States were granted the right to vote by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified on August 18, 1920.

Frederick Douglass, escaped

slave, author, newspaper editor,

orator & Abolitionist made his

 home in Rochester, New York.

Through his writings and speeches, Frederick Douglass advanced the Abolitionist Movement and helped clarify the reasoning behind the North's efforts to abolish slavery leading up to and during the Civil War.

Thomas Edison, the Wizard of

Menlo Park, founded the General 

Electric Company in 1892 in 

New York State & headquartered 

the company in Schenectady.

Literature enriches our lives and make us think.  Here are a few of America's literary giants...

Edgar Allan Poe's stories &

poems cross the centuries

& speak of the depths of

emotions: love, fear, guilt,

hatred, revenge...

Nathaniel Hawtorne's
dark, cautionary tales
are, to me, examples
the punishing effects
of puritanical beliefs.

Walt Whitman broke from formal,

rule driven poetic styles to describe

America, it's natural bounties &

the dignity of the individual.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
extolled, America's natural
settings, Native Peoples,
history and traditions.

To me, Henry James is our

"American Author Abroad."

His life in Europe gave him

 insights into the tensions that

existed between Americans &

Europeans during the last

half of the 19th century.

Samuel Clemens, aka
Mark Twain used humor
as he shone a light on
inequities in 19th century
America.

 OMG... This is a long blog post.  Just a few pics of people who lives have greatly impacted our country.

Colonial Governor John Winthrop

led the Massachusetts Bay Colony

during its earliest, most vulnerable

days in the New World.

He worked hard to keep the colonists together and to build a home in their new lands where Puritans could worship and participate in their community without fear.

William Clark commanded the

Corps of Discovery to explore

& map the Louisiana Territory

& returned with vital information 

on the newly acquired lands.

Abraham Lincoln led our

country through its darkest

times, the Civil War.

Supreme Court Justices
Sonia Sotamayor
Elena Kagan
Sandra Day O'Connor 
Ruth Bader Ginsberg









After 205 years, Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court, in 1981. Currently, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Ginsberg are serving on the nine justice court.

The Supreme Court hears cases that affect all Americans and I am grateful that the highest court in the land is a diverse group that works for all of us.

Lunch at Grand Trunk in Washington, D.C.

Eric uses Yelp to find places to eat everywhere we go.  From the descriptons he's read to me, I am expecting an new dining experience at a nearby Asian American restaurant.





Grand Trunk is an Asian
American Restaurant with
several differences.











The menu features fusion recipes.  The Naan Burgers look very good.  Entre Bowls include Chicken Tikka Masala, Khyber Koftas, Lamb Masala...

Customers can order online with ChowNow website or mobile app using PayPal.  ChowNow does not take a fee from the restaurants that it works with, unlike most third party services.

It was VERY sunny, so Eric and I chose to eat indoors.
 

Customers can eat

"in the round."

I like the lighting & the
dining options...

Seating around low
slung tables or booths.

Eric chose a booth.

We ate Grand Trunk Naan
Burgers: Beef marinated with
Ginger, Black Cumin, Green
Chilies, Onions & Fresh
Cilantro topped with Mint
Chutney in freshly baked
Tandoori Naan, with Fries.




Our lunch was delicious....  My burger was melange of exotic flavors served on one of my favorite breads.  The hand cut fries were perfect!

Eric and I are fueled and rested... It's time to choose another museum to tour.

The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

I won't bury the lead...





Eric & I learned A LOT about
spying at the International
Museum of Spies in
Washington, D.C.






A spy must seamlessly fit into the environment he or she are placed in.  To do this, a spy must memorize biographical details and have documents to back up the assigned story, or legend. Still, there is much to learn....

We started at the School

for Spies.

"Looking the part"

A Spy will use make up
to help create a disguise
for a covert action.





Clothing is selected to "flesh out" the disguise.  The spy may change his or her walk, add a limp to complete the altered appearance.  Spying is a dangerous occupation and weapons are necessary.

Everyday items are altered

to hide weapons.

 The work gloves, a flashlight,

 cigarettes, an umbrella

 are all lethal.

Spying depends on the gathering of information.  Watching assigned people, businesses and recording observations; electronic eavesdropping and recruiting insiders to gather information are common practices.





Small devices are placed
in buildings, furniture, etc.

Conversations are recorded,
at a distance.





The displayed devices are decades old.  Eavesdropping and surveillance gathering devices must be a lot smaller today.

Transferring stolen information and documents up the line is a very dangerous part of spy's job. Being caught with stolen information will ensure jail time, or death.  The person picking up the stolen information is also at risk of discovery and punishment.





Getting information to the
spy's handler can include
everyday items that are
altered to hide illicit
information.





The hiding places are clever: Altered statue, hollow Shaving Cream can, altered shoe with round container, film hidden in a shaving kit, secret storage in the handle of an umbrella, an altered electrical outlet.  Let's not forget the fake rock....  These are just a few examples of hiding places spies can and do use.

Spies, and sometimes civilians need to be moved covertly.  East Germans used all means of escape to make their way into West Germany after the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. 

Refugees were stuffed into

the front of the car, into

fake luggage & in the

trunk of this car.

Eighteen trips were make with refugees before East German soldiers started more closely inspecting cars for escapees.





Let's take a look back at
the history of spying.

Ever since Moses sent spies into Canaan, around 1250 BC, to gather information on the lands that Jews would settle, there s been infiltration to gather information, secret codes, disinformation and sabotage.

Greek soldiers were smuggled

into the gated city of Troy to

sack the enemy city during

 the Trojan War.

Spies moved through European courts and gathered information used in numerous wars that broke out across the continent in the 16th century.  As the century changed, a new cast of spies arose to provide information to their handlers.





Spying during the
Revolutionary War:

George Washington
commanded troops
& was a spymaster.








American Espionage Fun Facts:

Benjamin Franklin used his extensive contacts throughout Europe to create a back channel relationship with France, which would formerly become America's ally after the Continental Army's victory at Saratoga in 1777.

Americans innovate:  Thomas Jefferson created a cylindrical cipher to encrypt messages in the 1790s.

Every war has spies.  Some are better known than others.

During World War I, Mata Hari

used her charms to extract

secrets from the Germans,

or was it the French?

The famous Dutch dancer did not provide details of contacts she had with Germans before offering assistance to the French.  She was tried as a German spy and executed by firing squad in 1917 in France.

During World War II,

Americans were 

warned that there

were spies in 

their communities.

German spies came to the United States before World War II, lived among us and sent information back to Nazi Germany.   The Duquesne Spy Ring was especially notorious.

Lilly Stein used her wiles

to extract secrets while

working tin the US

State Department.

While working aboard the SS America, Franz Stigler reported observations to war preparations at the Panama Canal to Germany, acted as a courier to bring US secrets to Germany and tried to recruit amateur radio operators to become channel into Germany.

America and the Allies had spy networks and developed tools to break enemy codes.

A reflection of Eric inspecting
the German Enigma Machine.












The Polish Cipher Bureau, with the help of accomplices, was able to gather enough information to construct a working Enigma machine by 1938.  They shared the information with England and an Allied team, code named Ultra, worked to break the complex coded Enigma messages at Bletchley Park.

Filmmaker John Ford

was active in America's

espionage program

during World War II.

He became the head of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, later the Central Intelligence Agency) Field Photographic Branch which performed aerial surveillance and mapping.  Risking his life and the lives of his crew, John Ford filmed the Battle of Midway.  The documentary film that unflinchingly showed the battle from close quarters.  Ford also produced military training films.

Stars of the era assisted the Allied war effort by:
Actress Marlene Dietrich, who recorded raised money for War Bonds, entertained the Allied troops on the front lines and recorded Lili Marlene to be broadcast as part of the OSS MUZAK Project into Germany.
Singer Josephine Baker stayed in France after the war broke out and worked with the French Resistance.  The sheet music she carried included messages written in invisible ink.  The Nazis didn't check the luggage she took with her when she toured.  Josephine often smuggled items for the Allies from one country to another while touring.
Actor Sterling Hayden served with the British Marines and went on OSS assignments.

World War II's biggest, & best

disinformation campaign was

General Patton's Ghost Army

based out of Dover, England.

Los Alamos National Laboratory,

the epicenter of development

of the nuclear bomb was

infiltrated by spies.

In 1949 the Soviets detonated

a nuclear bomb that was

strikingly similar to US

bombs.

The years roll on and spying continues.  The methods are technologically more sophisticated, yet spies continue to live among us to cultivate sources and advance foreign agendas.  BTW, the United States has agents around the world working covertly to gather information and recruit those willing to work against their country's interests.

With so much "cloak and dagger" throughout the centuries, spy stories became popular.  The technology changes, but the game of besting others in deception and information gathering continues.

Ian Fleming's James 

Bond novels have 

entertained millions

for generations.

Starting with Dr. No in 1962,

movie goers have followed

MI 6's best agent,equipped

with the best spy devices &

the coolest cars to the most

exotic places on the globe to

defeat the world's most

 notorious villains.

The bad guys are also well equipped in James Bond movies.

This Jaguar XKR was driven

by by arch-henchman Zao

in the 2002 movie, Die

Another Day.

I think Sean Connery

is the most beloved

James Bond of the

franchise.

Truth sparks the creative genius that brings spy novels, films and TV series to life.  Eric and I have been watching The Americans television series for several years.  This coming season, we will be watching the show more carefully for elements of spycraft: disguises, surveillance equipment, recruitment of sources and transmission of illegally obtained information.

The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The National Museum of 
American History is one of
nineteen museums, galleries 
& the zoo that comprise the
Smithsonian Institution.





America is 241 years old, and there's a lot of history to see in this building.  Here are some of the small portions of American history that mean a lot to me.

George Washington, plantation

owner, surveyor & soldier &
first American President.

Standing around six feet tall,
George Washington was
the image that fledgling
America wanted to project:
a strong & powerful
Commander of the 
Continental Army.







Following the Revolutionary War, George Washington served as President for two terms and helped the Republic navigate the difficult waters of thirteen states becoming a working Union.

This statue of George Washington,

unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda

in 1841, is America's first

monument.

Sculptor Horatio Greenough's statue of depicts our first president as the Greek God Zeus.  Some people criticized the work because it featured our revered President bare chested.

The US flag that flew above Fort McHenry & was the

inspiration for Francis Scott Key to write the

 Star Spangled Banner.

Visitors aren't allowed to take pictures of this flag.  This photo is from the museum's website.

The "long march" to the Civil War included Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself was published in 1845;  Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852; the Dred Scott Decision in1857; Abolitionists' speeches and articles against slavery, aiding runaway slaves; and violence.

John Brown's anti slavery crusade 
in Kansas was the prequel to the
Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

Dorothy's Red Slippers from

The Wizard of Oz.

Based on L. Frank Baum's book, The Wizard of Oz, there were numerous changes made for the movie.  Dorothy's silver shoes became red for the movie and are a treasured icon of America's film industry and culture.

Japanese bombers launched
from Aircraft Carriers
bombed Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941.










World War II was my parents' war.  My father enlisted in January, 1942.  He was trained as a Weather Observer in the Army Air Corps and was eventually sent to Iwo Jima.

Japanese-Americans living

along the West Coast were

ordered from their homes &

 spent the rest of the War in

Concentration Camps.

Many of the camps were remote, and the captives, who had not broken any laws, lived a bare-bones existence under the watchful eye of armed guards.  The rounding up of Japanese-Americans and imprisoning them in Concentration Camps is a dark stain on American history.

Eric and I visited the Poston Memorial Monument at the Poston Japanese Internment Camp at in Poston, Arizona.

 

***Upate: San Diego issued an apology to Japanese Americans impacted by its support for a 1942 Resolution supporting the forced imprisonment of Japanese Americans in World War II.  The resolution was also rescinded.  Acknowledging the racist intent behind putting Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps is part of San Diego's efforts to address the City's history and formally atone for wrongdoing.

The announcement that
Japan surrendered was
welcomed on
July 14, 1945.










The photo of this kiss, taken in Times Square, has been seen around the world.  Statues of it exist in numerous places, including Key West, Florida.

Vietnam is a major focal

point of my childhood

& teen years.

I remember watching the news at a neighbor's house at age eight in 1964 and seeing a report of a body count.  The casualty count became a regular part of the evening news.

I was one of millions of
Americans who watched
the Vietnam War unfold
on TV.






As the conflict deepened, American men were drafted.  Over nine million American men and women served in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1975.  The Draft was used to fill the ranks of the armed forces and the increasing numbers of men drafted to fight in Vietnam was the impetus of American protests of the war.  Increasing casualties, atrocities, including the My Lai Massacre, and news that the US involvement in the war had expanded to Cambodia Laos fueled protests and the increased the belief of many that our forces did not belong in this conflict.

On January 27, 1973, the Peace Treaty ending the Vietnam War was signed in Paris, France, which included a cease-fire.  US troop withdrawals began.    The South Vietnamese forces assumed more responsibility as the conflict wound down.  North and South Vietnam agreed to acknowledge the 17th parallel that divided their countries as they worked to peacefully resolve their differences. North Vietnam promised not to they would not use force to unify the country.

Promises were made, but not kept.  Communist North Vietnamese troops pushed southward across the 17th parallel into South Vietnam.  US promises of aid to South Vietnam if the North attacked were not kept.  The world watched as North Vietnamese soldiers spread south and overran Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

Meantime... Sesame Street

debuts on TV on

 November 10, 1969.

Bert & Ernie are beloved

characters on the show.

Generations of children, including mine, grew up learning and laughing along with the Sesame Street gang.

Those were the days....

The living room set of
All in the Family






Norman Lear's ground breaking, taboo breaking TV series first aired on January 12, 1971.  Archie Bunker struggles to make sense of his changing world throughout the 1970s.

Solar Power has been part of

America's electric power

generation system for

many years.

By the 1970s, solar panels started appearing on rooftops.  President Carter had 32 solar panels installed on top of the White House in 1979.  The Reagan administration curtailed funding research for the development of renewable energy and had the solar panels removed in 1986.

Computers & their development

dominated the 1980s.

This Apple III, released in the

early 1980s, represents this 

innovative era.

On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorists, flying American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 with thousands of gallons of jet fuel, intentionally crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City.  2,977 people were killed in the terrorist attack.  al Quaeda terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 184 people.  The passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93 fought their terrorist  hijackers and the plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 40. President George W. Bush declared war was declared on terrorism and it continues today.

Wreckage from the South

Tower of the World

Trade Center