DK Travel : Washington, D.C. : History & Culture

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Whiskey Ring

In 1875 it was revealed that liquor taxes were being evaded by distillers and the officials they bribed. There were 110 convictions. President Grant secured the acquittal of his private secretary.
Wilbur Mills and Fanne Fox

Mills, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, was caught frolicking with his friend, the stripper Fanne Fox. He was forced to resign in 1974.
Willard Hotel

A glorious center of historic and political Washington. Every US president, beginning with Franklin Pierce in 1853, has stayed as a guest or attended functions here. When Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861, there were already assassination threats. Detective Alan Pinkerton smuggled him into the Willard, and presidential business was conducted before the fireplace in the lobby.
William Boyd Allison

Allison (1829–1908) was a major force in shaping US laws passed in the 19th century.
Winston Churchill

A 1966 sculpture by William M McVey symbolizes the friendship between Britain and the US (see Dumbarton Oaks).
Woodrow Wilson

Wilson (1913–21) was a quiet academic who faced the greatest foreign task the nation had seen – participation in World War I. Wilson successfully promoted a legislative program that controlled unfair business practices, reduced tariffs, forbade child labor, and improved the banking system.
Woodrow Wilson House

The 28th president was exhausted and demoralized when he left office in 1921, but this Georgian Revival house must have done much to restore his spirits. It now gives a delightful insight into 1920s American life.
World War II

More than 10 percent of the US population of approximately 115 million was in uniform at the peak of the war, and the central management of these troops remained in Washington.
World War II Memorial

This 7.5-acre memorial, built to honor US veteran soldiers and civilians of World War II, includes commemorative columns, a Freedom Wall, landscaping, and fountains.
“Boss” Shepherd

Alexander Shepherd pushed the Board of Public Works to great accomplishments in the 1870s, but he was later run out of town for bankrupting city government.