Graves Of The Brave
Standing at Arlington House, the memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee high atop a hill overlooking Arlington National Cemetery, President John Kennedy once said he had the most beautiful view of Washington. Across the Potomac River, he saw the magnificent stretch of the nation's capital, punctuated by the Capitol dome and monuments to Presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.
A short time later, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara walked the cemetery in search of a place to bury the president, who had been assassinated the day before. By nightfall, Jacqueline Kennedy had given a literal nod to a spot on an "invisible axis between the [Lee] mansion and the Lincoln Memorial," William Manchester writes in The Death of a President --yards from the ground JFK had so admired.
After climbing the same hill on a humid June day, I couldn't help but think how inevitable history always seems (OK, in truth, I was thinking how bloody hot it was and how, on the cemetery's hallowed ground, bottled water isn't sold anywhere). But, of course, history is not preordained, and Arlington stands as a monument to the uncertainty on which our democracy is built. Cemetery historian Thomas Sherlock argues it should be the first stop for any visitor to Washington. "Downtown, [many] monuments are dedicated to individual people, but those men couldn't have done great things without the support of the American people," he says. "How greatly would we remember George Washington if we didn't have the common soldier at Valley Forge?"
Arlington includes dead from each of America's conflicts, back to the Revolutionary War. Looking at row upon row of headstones, like soldiers in formation, I was overwhelmed by the number of individual sacrifices--a vastness I could hardly take in.
Walking tour. One way to absorb the history is simply to wander part of the 624 acres on foot, an undertaking that, especially during summer, is best done when the gates open, at 8, before the temperature rises and the crowds descend. For $6, you can catch an open-air bus outside the Visitor Center that stops at JFK's gravesite, the Tomb of the Unknowns, and Arlington House.
As I walked with my husband and young son through Section 60, where some 160 soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan lie, I realized that while Arlington serves as a shrine to the past, the cemetery is far from static. Pristine new headstones mark lives that ended far too soon, giving concrete measure to daily reports from the war on terrorism. Nearby, a backhoe was digging a grave for one of some 27 funerals held each day, most for veterans of prior wars. A caisson bearing a flag-draped coffin rolled down York Drive in front of us. We listened for the three volleys of rifle fire and the playing of taps, honors accorded every soldier buried at Arlington. Says Sherlock, "When we're at war, there's a different tone around here." Earlier, I overheard a conversation in which one funeralgoer confessed, "I don't wear eyeliner anymore." I knew what she meant. Even a casual tourist will find it hard not to tear up.
LOCAL FAVE
"The cheesy hotels in Rosslyn [Va.] have penthouse bars. I like the Key Bridge Marriott. Ignore the fake wood paneling and enjoy the view of the monuments, Georgetown, and the Kennedy Center, which only looks good at dusk. And I like a good, old American bourbon."
ANA MARIE COX, who blogs about D.C. gossip and politics as "Wonkette"
This story appears in the July 4, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.