Blog: The Mall

I've been in DC quite a few times in recent years, but haven't been to the great monuments on the National Mall since I was very young. Back then there was the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was relatively new. Today, there are many more. And most inspiring of all was the FDR Memorial. Filled with quotations from President Roosevelt's speeches, almost every one of his words seems to speak from the grave, bearing directly upon today nearly as saliently as they did over fifty years ago.

"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." - FDR, Chautauqua NY, August 14, 1936

"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." - White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, on the timing of the Iraq war, September 2002