1984 was an exciting season for Chicago Cub fans like myself. One day, I was having lunch in the warehouse cafeteria with one of warehouse supervisors and the Montgomery Ward auditor, Tim O’Brien. I remember his name, if not his spelling, since it was a nice simple Irish name. He had audited the Outlet Store each year that I was there. He was auditing the Montgomery Warehouse. We got to talking about the Chicago Cubs. Another warehouse supervisor was also a big Cubs fan, but he was upset that he could not see the Cubs play since he was working during the day. Back then, the Cubs played all their home games in the afternoon, since there were no lights in Wrigley Field. I said that I watched them on away night games. However, Tim O’Brien said that he was going home to watch the game that was being played that day. I asked him how he was going to do that. He replied that he taped all the Cub games on WGN TV. Then he would go home and watch them at night on his VCR. I told him that I had a VCR, and asked him how he did it. He explained that he set the VCR to tape the Cub game on WGN with the correct start time and then let it run for three hours. That seemed like a good idea. I had tried to tape a couple of shows and it had worked for me. The other thing that Tim O’Brien said was that the game took less time. With the taping, he could skip the commercials between innings. This really was a good idea. Then he told me one more thing that he did. He fast forwarded between pitches. Thus, all the dead time would be gone. This was such a great idea, that I have been doing it for forty years, when I want to watch a taped sporting events. You still have the problem of bad weather and games that go over three hours. Now I tape for four hours. Today, my Tivo box is more sophisticated so that I can fast forward at three different speeds. Thus, a three-hour game takes about an hour and a half and I can replay every single interesting game play. I always think of Tim O’Brien when I watch west coast games early in the morning. I go to bed at regular time, and get up early to watch a Cubs or Bulls game that was played on the west coast the night before. Now of course, the Cubs have lights and night games. Have you ever tried to tape a sporting event?
The Cubs win the pennant in 1984!
In 1984, the Chicago Cubs were a one hit wonder. The Cubs began their third season under the control of the Tribune Company and General Manager Dallas Green. After the 1983 season, Green hired Jim Frey, the former Kansas City Royals manager who was Green’s adversary during the 1980 World Series. The Cubs made a three-way deal with San Diego and Montreal, getting pitcher Scott Sanderson from the Expos. Green’s biggest move of the spring came when he traded for outfielders Gary Matthews and Bob Dernier, 2/3s of the outfield. On May 25, the Cubs traded Bill Buckner to the Boston Red Sox for righty Dennis Eckersley. Finally on June 13, Green acquired Rick Sutcliffe from the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs opened the season going 12–8 in April, and were tied for first place with the New York Mets and a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. They had a potent lineup with Jody Davis as C, Leon Durham at 1B, Ryne Sandberg at 2B, Ron Cey at 3B, Larry Bowa at SS, Gary Matthews in LF, Bob Dernier in CF, and Keith Moreland in RF. They had strong pitchers with Steve Trout, Dennis Eckersley, Rick Sutcliffe, Scott Sanderson, Rick Reuschel, and Lee Smith. The race stayed tight through the first half of the season, with the Cubs and Phillies tied at 42–34 on June 30, and the Mets trailing by just one and a half games. The second half of the season was different, with the Cubs posting a 54–31 record, with the Mets trailing, and the Phillies slumping back to a .500 record. A key game during the season occurred on June 23 at Wrigley Field, with the Cubs facing the rival St. Louis Cardinals on the nationally televised game of the week, that became known as the “The Sandberg Game.” Ryne Sandberg led off the ninth with a solo home run off the Cardinal’s closer, former Cub, Bruce Sutter, tying the game at nine each. The following inning, St. Louis regained the lead, and Bruce Sutter stayed in the game attempting to close out the win. After Bob Dernier walked, Sandberg promptly hit another game-tying home run into the left-field bleachers, sending the Wrigley fans into a frenzy, as the Cubs won in the eleventh inning. Ryne Sandberg had 7 RBI in this game. The Cubs ended their playoff drought on September 24, 1984 at Three Rivers Stadium in front of just over 5,000 fans, many of whom were Cubs fans. I remember watching this game on TV. Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hit complete game for his sixteenth straight victory, and the Cubs won the National League East, as they finished with a record of 96 wins and 65 losses. This Cubs’ postseason appearance was their first since 1945. The Cubs pitching staff included 1984 Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe, and 1984 MVP winner Ryne Sandberg. Frey was awarded the Manager of the Year. However, the Cubs were defeated in the 1984 National League Championship Series by the West Division leader San Diego Padres three games to two. A theory was that the Cubs were deprived of home-field advantage for the 1984 National League Championship Series, because they could not host night games since they had no lights. I remember Steve Garvey hitting a home run, after our Saturday night bowling. The 1984 Cubs were close, winning the NL East, but they did not make it into the World Series. Do you remember the 1984 Cubs?
The Olympics in LA in 1984
The 1984 Summer Olympics were held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, the second time that LA has hosted the Games, the first being in 1932. This was the first of two consecutive Olympic Games to be held in North America with Calgary, Alberta, Canada hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics. California was the home state of the incumbent U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch. The 1984 Games were boycotted by fourteen Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany, in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. Romania was the only Soviet-aligned state that opted to attend the Games. Albania, Iran, and Libya also chose to boycott the Games, but for unrelated reasons. However, 140 National Olympic Committees took part in the 1984 Games, a record number at the time. The USA won the most gold medals, 83, and overall medals, 174, followed by Romania and West Germany. The 1984 Summer Olympics are widely considered to be the most financially successful modern Olympics, serving as an example on how to run Olympic Games. As a result of low construction costs, due to the use of existing sport infrastructure, coupled with a reliance on private corporate funding, the 1984 Games generated a profit of over $250 million. LA will host the Summer Olympics for the third time in 2028. The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in LA, traversing 33 states and the District of Columbia, more than 9,320 miles with 3,636 runners, including many sports celebrities. The “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” was composed by John Williams for the 1984 Summer Olympics and performed by his Boston Pops Orchestra. The 1984 Summer Olympic program featured 221 events in 21 sports in over 30 different venues. There were some great individual performances including: Carl Lewis of the USA equaled the 1936 performance of Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals, in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and long jump; Edwin Moses of the USA won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles 8 years after winning in 1976. Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco became the first female Olympic champion of a Muslim nation, and the first of her country, in the 400 m hurdles. Carlos Lopes, from Portugal, won the Marathon at the age of 37, with a time of 2:09:21, an Olympic record that stood for 24 years, the first gold medal ever for Portugal. A marathon for women was held for the first time at the Olympics, won by Joan Benoit of the USA. Sebastian Coe of Great Britain became the first man to win consecutive gold medals in the 1500m. In the 3000 meters, Mary Decker, USA, fell after a controversial collision. Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics debuted in Los Angeles as Olympic events, as did wind surfing. Li Ning from the People’s Republic of China won 6 medals in gymnastics, 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze, earning him the nickname “Prince of Gymnasts” in China. Steve Redgrave of Great Britain won his first title in rowing as he would go on to win in five future Olympic competitions. Victor Davis of Canada set a new world record in winning the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in swimming. Mary Lou Retton of the USA became the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition. In men’s gymnastics, the American team won the gold medal. Have you ever been to an Olympics?
Michael Jordan (1963-)
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. He played 15 seasons in the NBA between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He was integral in popularizing basketball and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming a global cultural icon. Instead of people thinking of Chicago as the place of Al Capone, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, Jordan and his Bulls were the epitome of Chicago. Jordan played college basketball with the North Carolina Tar Heels that won the NCAA championship in 1982, as he scored the winning basket. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984, as he quickly emerged as a league star, a prolific scorer while gaining a reputation as one of the best defensive players. His leaping ability, earned him the nicknames “Air Jordan” and “His Airness.” Jordan won his first NBA title with the Bulls in 1991 and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a three-peat. Citing physical and mental exhaustion from basketball and superstardom, Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the 1993–94 NBA season to play Minor League Baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization, since Jerry Reinsdorf (1936-) owned both the Bulls and the White Sox. I saw Jordan play in a baseball exhibition game at Wrigley Field against the Cubs, where he got a double. Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three more championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for the second time in January 1999, returning for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards. Jordan won four gold Olympic medals for the American national team. Jordan’s individual accolades include six NBA Finals MVP awards, ten NBA scoring titles, five NBA MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game selections, among others. He still holds the NBA record for career regular season scoring average and career playoff scoring average. In 1999, Jordan was named the 20th century’s greatest North American athlete by ESPN. He was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press’ list of athletes of the 20th century. Jordan was twice inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, for his individual career, and again as part of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team “The Dream Team.” Jordan was named to the NBA 50th and 75th Anniversary Team in 1996 and 2021. The trophy for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award is named in his honor. He was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation. He fueled the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, that is still popular today. Jordan starred as himself in the live-action/animation hybrid film Space Jam (1996) and was the central focus of the Emmy-winning documentary series The Last Dance (2020). He became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the Charlotte Hornets, and bought a controlling interest in 2010, before he sold it in 2023. Jordan is also a co-owner of 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated at $3.5 billion by Forbes, making him one of the richest celebrities and an NBA billionaire. Have you ever seen Michael Jordan play basketball?
The NBA draft on June 19, 1984
While we traveling in New York City, the 1984 NBA annual draft was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 19, but we did not go to it. We just heard about it on TV. This draft is generally considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in NBA history, with four Hall of Famers being drafted in the first sixteen picks, Akeem Olajuwon first, Michael Jordan third, Charles Barkley fifth, and John Stockton sixteenth. In this draft, the Houston Rockets won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Portland Trail Blazers, who obtained the Indiana Pacers’ first-round pick in a trade, were awarded the second pick. The Cleveland Cavaliers were awarded an extra first-round draft pick as compensation for the draft picks traded away by their previous owner, Ted Stepien. Before the draft, five college underclassmen announced that they would leave college early and would be eligible for selection. The San Diego Clippers had relocated to Los Angeles and become the Los Angeles Clippers. This draft consisted of 10 rounds with the selection of 228 players, the last draft to be held before the creation of the draft lottery in 1985. It was the first NBA draft to be overseen by David Stern, who continued as the commissioner of the league for the following 30 years. Michael Jordan was selected third overall in the 1984 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, after Hakeem Olajuwon (first overall, Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (second overall, Portland Trail Blazers). This draft pick marked the beginning of Jordan’s legendary NBA career with the Chicago Bulls. He would become a six-time NBA champion, six-time NBA Finals MVP, and 14-time All-Star. At the time, I was on vacation in New York, I thought that he was a decent basketball player. However, up until then, all the great professional basketball players were very tall like George Mikan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. However, the new age of basketball of the 1980s, and the 1990s, brought the likes of Julius Irving, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and of course Michael Jackson. Both Olajuwon and Bowie were taller players than Jordan, so that they went ahead of him in the draft. This new breed of NBA players would be led by Michael Jordan in the 1990s. The coach of the Bulls, Kevin Loughery, thought that Rod Thorn, the General Manager of the Bulls, had selected a very good player, Michael Jordan. Neither thought that he would be as good as he was to become. Do you remember the 1984 NBA draft?
The presidential election of 1984
The Presidential elections were held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan and his running mate, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, were reelected to a second term in a landslide. They defeated the Democratic ticket of Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Reagan and Bush faced only token opposition in their bid for re-nomination. Mondale had faced a competitive field in his bid. Reagan’s approval rating fell to 35% by January 1983. Polling showed him losing to Democratic candidates, including Walter Mondale and John Glenn. However, by March 1984, Reagan’s approval rating was at 54%. Reagan touted a strong economic recovery from the 1970s stagflation and the 1981–1982 recession, and the widespread perception that his presidency had overseen a revival of national confidence and prestige. At 73, Reagan was the oldest person to be nominated by a major party for president, a record that stood until 2020 and 2024. The Reagan campaign produced effective television advertising with two of the more memorable Reagan campaign ads known as “Morning in America” and the “Bear in the woods.” He deftly neutralized concerns about his age. Reagan had a poor showing in the first 1984 presidential debates with Mondale on October 7, when he admitted to being confused about a question. However, in the next debate on October 21, Reagan joked, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth, and inexperience.” Everyone laughed, even Mondale. Mondale hoped to appeal to women. While Ferraro’s choice was popular among Democratic activists, polls immediately after the announcement showed that only 22% of women were pleased about her selection, versus 18% who agreed that it was a bad idea. 60% of all voters thought that pressure from women’s groups had led to Mondale’s decision. Also, the Italian-American Catholic Ferraro was pro-choice on abortion, while Republicans seized on this with anti-abortion rhetoric. Mondale criticized Reagan’s supply-side economics and budget deficits. He called for the reduction of USA public debt, a nuclear freeze, and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. However, Reagan won re-election easily, carrying 525 electoral votes (98%), 49 states, and 58.8% of the popular vote. Mondale won only 13 electoral votes. Reagan won the second-largest share of the Electoral College since 1820, second only to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. This was the last time any candidate won the popular vote by double digits and more than 500 electoral votes. Mondale had the fewest electoral votes of any Democrat since Stephen A. Douglas claimed 12 in the 1860 election. The percentage of Democrats who voted for Reagan ranged from 16% to 26%. They became known as “Reagan Democrats.” These Reagan Democrats perceived that the Democrats were supporting the poor and the minorities at the expense of the middle class. One-third of people who supported Hart during the Democratic primary voted for Reagan. Reagan also benefited from a near-total collapse in the third-party vote, which dropped to just 0.67% of the popular vote, its lowest level since 1964. No Republican or Democrat has done as well as Reagan in 1984. Do you remember the election of 1984?
The 1984 Democratic Convention
After seeing how Washington worked in June, 1984 was also a presidential election year. The Democrats had to choose someone to run against President Ronald Reagan. Walter Mondale, the Vice President under Jimmy Carter, was the leading candidate. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and Jesse Jackson of Illinois were leading the opposition to him. Gary Hart was badly hurt in a televised debate with Mondale during the primaries, when the former vice president used a popular television commercial slogan to ridicule Hart’s vague “New Ideas” platform. Turning to Hart on camera, Mondale told Hart that whenever he heard Hart talk about his “New Ideas,” he was reminded of the Wendy’s fast-food slogan “Where’s the beef?” The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, from July 16 to July 19, 1984, chaired by the female governor of Kentucky, Martha Layne Collins. This convention was the first to utilize the rule changes recommended by the Hunt Commission. Nancy Pelosi served as chair of the convention’s host committee. New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave a well-received keynote speech. Before the convention had convened, Mondale was widely regarded as having secured the prerequisite delegate support to clinch the nomination. However, he only attained this amount of delegate support with the inclusion of superdelegates that supported his candidacy. His number of pledged delegates heading into the convention was 40 shy of the 1,967 needed to win the nomination. Jesse Jackson had unsuccessfully called for the suspension of the party’s electoral rules to give him several delegates closer to the 20% average share of the vote he garnered during the primaries. In the convention vote, Walter Mondale got 56%, Gary Hart got 31%, and Jesse Jackson got 12%. Others got a smattering of votes, Thomas Eagleton, 18, George McGovern, 4, John Glenn, 2, Joe Biden, 1, and Martha Kirkland, 1. For Vice President of the United States, Mondale had a pick between Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco and Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York. He chose Congresswoman Ferraro to be his vice-presidential running mate, which established her as the first woman to be nominated for Vice President of the USA from a major American political party. Mondale had wanted to choose New York Governor Mario Cuomo as his running mate, but he declined and recommended Ferraro, his protégée. Until 2024, this was the most recent time that neither a sitting nor former United States Senator was nominated for vice president by the Democratic Party. Thus, the Democrats were ready to take on President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Do you remember the Democrats in 1984?
Maryland
Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region that borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, and the District of Colombia to its southwest. With a total area of 12,407 square miles, Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, but with a population of 6,177,224, the fifth-most densely populated state. Maryland’s capital city is Annapolis, and the state’s most populous city is Baltimore. One of the original Thirteen Colonies, the Province of Maryland was founded in 1634 by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert, who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. In 1632, King Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria, or the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Mary land.” Religious strife was common in Maryland’s early years as Catholics remained a minority of 10%, but in greater numbers than in any other English colony. In 1650, Puritans prohibited both Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, until after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Demand for cheap labor led to the importation of numerous indentured servants and enslaved Africans. In 1760, Maryland’s current boundaries took final form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Although it was a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, since it had a significant strategic Union location. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe. As of 2015, Maryland had the highest median household income of any state ($72,483), owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, DC. Two of Maryland’s counties, Howard and Montgomery, are the second and eleventh wealthiest counties in the USA respectively. Maryland has the most millionaires per capita (8%). Maryland is also one of the most multicultural states in the country, one of seven states where non-Whites are most of the population, with the fifth-highest percentage of African Americans, but the highest percentage of residents born in Africa out of any state. The state’s central role in USA history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita, often called “America in Miniature,” since it was a border state. In the 1860 census, 49% of Maryland’s African Americans were free and some owned property. A new state constitution in 1864 abolished slavery. In 1867, the state extended suffrage to non-white males. Despite its historic relevance to the Catholic Church in the United States, the percentage of Catholics in the state of Maryland is below the national average of 20%. Demographically, both Protestants and those identifying with no religion are more numerous than Catholics. Judaism is the largest non-Christian religion in Maryland, with 4%. Maryland has one of the highest percentages of LGBT people in its populace out of any state, 6%. Maryland’s economy benefits from the state’s proximity to the federal government in Washington, DC. Education Week ranked Maryland #1 in its nationwide 2009–2013 Quality Counts reports. Maryland has several historic and renowned private colleges and universities. What do you know about Maryland?
Harbor Place, Baltimore, Maryland
On Wednesday, June 27, 1984, we were heading home, but we stopped in Baltimore, Maryland, about 35 miles away, less than an hour from DC. We went to visit Harbor Place on Chesapeake Bay, an urban retail and restaurant complex, opened on the waterfront in 1980, with one of the world’s largest aquariums in the USA. We had lunch at the Light Street Pavilion and walked around the Inner Harbor, as I have five postcards from there. We did not go into the Aquarium. This was in 1984, about four years after it first opened, so that everything was new. Baltimore Harbor’s restoration made it “a city of boats,” with several historic ships that were open to the public. The port of Baltimore was created in 1706 for Maryland’s tobacco trade. Today, Baltimore now serves over 50 ocean carriers. Thus, the impact of the partially collapsed Francis Scott Key bridge, after being hit by a boat in 2024, was enormous. Baltimore was the second-leading port of entry for immigrants to the USA. Lexington Market, the oldest continuously operating public market, has been there since 1782. In 1774, Baltimore established the first post office system. Baltimore is the biggest independent city in Maryland with a half million population in a 90-mile area. The Baltimore metropolitan area has about nearly 3 million people, while the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area has nearly 10 million people, the third-largest in the country. Baltimore reached a peak population of 949,708 at the 1950 USA census count. Every ten-year census since then, Baltimore has lost residents. After New York City, Baltimore was the second city in the USA to reach a population of 100,000. The Battle of Baltimore was pivotal during the War of 1812, culminating in the failed British bombardment of Fort McHenry, during which Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that became “The Star-Spangled Banner,” that was designated as the national anthem in 1931. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the nation’s oldest railroad company, was built in 1830, and cemented Baltimore’s status as a transportation hub. Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University are the top employers today. Baltimore has more public statues and monuments per capita than any other city in the USA. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, Lord Baron Baltimore, a member of the Irish House of Lords and founding proprietor of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore was the first Roman Catholic diocese (1774) and archdiocese (1808) in the USA. Three episcopal plenary councils were held in Baltimore in 1852, 1866, and 1884 that led to the American Catholic parish school system and the famous Baltimore Catechism. Driven by migration from the deep South and white suburbanization, the relative size of the city’s black population grew from 24% in 1950 to 46% in 1970. In the 2010 census, Baltimore’s population was 64% Black, 30% White, 4% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. Baltimore has a long and storied baseball history, including its distinction as the birthplace of Babe Ruth in 1895, and the historic 2,632 consecutive games played by Cal Ripken Jr. over 16 years. Today, the AL Baltimore Orioles play at charming Camden Yards. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Baltimore Colts were one of the NFL’s more successful franchises. The Preakness Stakes, the second race in the USA Triple Crown, has been held every May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore since 1873. Baltimore also has a rich literary, film, and TV history. Have you ever been to Baltimore?
Visiting Congress
On Tuesday, June 26, 1984, we also got three visitor’s passes for the USA House of Representatives from Congressman O’Brien’s office, plus three tickets for a USA Capitol Tour. I know that it was a long walk to the Capitol Building, since cars could not park around there. We also rode on the Capitol Subway system. I know that we met a couple of senators. One of them was Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), a Republican from Arizona, who had run against President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He seemed very nice and congenial. We also saw Democratic Sen Alan Dixon (1927-2004) from Illinois. Margaret had a great talk about South Dakota with Tom Daschle (1947-), who later became the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, but he was still a Congressman from South Dakota, when we met him in 1984. We also got three tickets to the Senate Chamber signed by Illinois Senator Chuck Percy (1919-2011). Thus, we got to sit in the Senate Gallery as they debated whether there should be a national drinking age. Then we went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that was part of the Treasury Department as we saw how money was made and printed in Washington DC. They really do print money in DC. It is easier than working for it. Then we walked past the Supreme Court and visited the Library of Congress, the Nation’s Library. The Library of Congress is a research library for the USA Congress and administers copyright law through the USA Copyright Office. Founded in 1800 by Thomas Jefferson, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the USA, with approximately 173 million items and employing over 3,000 people. We finished our day and time in DC, when we climbed to the top of the Washington Monument with a beautiful view of the area. The nightcap was a free concert by the USA Army Band playing on the Washington Monument Grounds in Sylvan Theater at 8:00 PM. Dedicated in 1917, it became the nation’s first federally supported indoor or outdoor theater, located at the northwest corner of the 15th Street and Independence Avenue intersection. A wooden stage was set in a graded depression surrounded by a grove of trees, like a natural amphitheater. It was designed to seat over 8,000 people. I have the playbook from that evening. The Army Band played “All the Way,” “Crown Imperial,” “Washington Grays,” Claire de Lune,” “Three Dance Episodes” from the movie Spartacus, “What I Did for Love,” from A Chorus Line, “Stouthearted Men” from The New Moon, “America the Beautiful,” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” It was time to say goodbye to Washington, DC. Have you ever wondered how Washington works?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 