Washington D.C.

There are many great historic and imperial capitals that capture our fascination: Beijing, Moscow, London, Rome, Paris, Cairo. But despite being the world’s pre-eminent superpower, I think very few would place Washington D.C. in that category. If anything, it’s seen as more of an administrative centre. This in my mind owes to a couple of factors. Firstly, America’s relative infancy as a nation has always meant that people unfairly assume it lacks history and culture. America’s own posturing, however, is probably more significant. Washington D.C. is a federal district that is neither part of a state nor one itself. After a foray with rotating the capital between those states that existed at the time, it was eventually determined that the permanent seat of government should sit outside this system to ensure that the political centre would not have an outsized influence – in effect deliberately choosing a place which, by dint of its nascency, would be insignificant. Its population has grown considerably over time and, concomitantly, its culture. However, D.C. is clearly not the nation’s great cultural centre in the way that many other capitals are; I’ll probably get flak for this, but it would more closely approximate New York.

And yet this fairly modern inception belies D.C.’s grandeur, which rivals the very best: beautiful buildings, wide boulevards and copious amounts of marble. It was all arresting, but the World War II Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery were my two personal highlights. Suffice to say the Americans honour their war dead with the elegance and reverence that I am proud to see is modelled off the British. Seeing the scale of loss but also the number of wars America has fought over the past hundred years really brought into relief the sacrifice – and ultimately why this military machine is without peer, having been relentlessly honed over successive conflicts. Perhaps that is the price to pay for military primacy. The changing of the guard at Arlington was something else entirely. I’ve seen this in quite a few places now but never executed with such finesse that I found myself wondering whether the guards were even human. Witnessing the entire crowd, which hitherto had done little to suggest they were at a memorial, go deadly silent – not through coercion, but sheer respect and awe – was extraordinary.

There were parts that felt incomplete – I unfortunately didn’t get to go inside the Supreme Court building or the White House – but I saw plenty to get a good sense of what D.C. stands for. The National Mall provides an easy route that takes in the Capitol, Library of Congress, National Archives, plus all the monuments and memorials. I’d recommend just walking the whole thing. The only site I probably wouldn’t bother doing again is Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate, which I didn’t find particularly illuminating. As with most people, it’s what he did outside his home that he’s remembered for.

Although I think it’s unfair when people say America doesn’t have history, it does seem that this is something those who built D.C. were acutely aware of. There was a hint of insecurity that permeated many of the places I visited. The city centre feels like it could have been airlifted out of Paris: neoclassical buildings modelled on Greek temples, Latin phrases carved into every available surface and an Egyptian obelisk dominating the skyline. Like many intellectuals of their day, America’s Founding Fathers were steeped in the classics and strove to build a republic rooted in the traditions of Athens and Rome. All good stuff, but in places it felt a little like one of those films that can’t resist cramming in cultural references for the audience to clock – consciously fashioning themselves into a nation that was part of a tradition which culturally and civilisationally they clearly were, but geographically clearly were not. Ultimately, however, I can only celebrate a shared civilisational inheritance and the desire to imbibe those values – and only lament that more of the nations which gained independence in the following centuries didn’t feel similarly inspired to do so, though I can understand why.

A final highlight was catching the Memorial Day parade. This was pomp and ceremony at its finest, packed with Americana and some totally random floats. A wonderful display of a proud and engaged – if a little zany – democratic nation.