M.E. - Almost Arrested in DC

I went to Washington DC the first time with my 9th grade class in the spring of 1970. Mood rings, pet rocks, bell bottoms and leisure suits were all the rage. It was a time when I could the wear pants to school when it was above zero, back then girls were required to wear skirts or dresses. The Vietnam War was in full swing along with all of the war protest, including on May 1st when the shootings happened at Kent State. So when we got to DC things were a little intense. The Washington Monument was closed to visitor because of protesters so we couldn’t race up the stairs. At night even our motel had motorcycle cops driving around the walkway outside our doors all night long.

Most of our touring of the city occurred during the day but this one night we went to see all the memorials with all the lights on. On the way to the Lincoln Memorial our bus driver told us to be sure to look at the back of Lincoln’s chair. Well what none of us realized was that because of protesters you weren’t allowed to go behind the chair. As we walked back there a couple of National Park Policeman came and made us “put our hands against the wall”. At that instant I think every ounce of my blood drained out of my body and I almost passed out. The five of us punks had never been in a situation like this and it took everything in me to not die on the spot. We had no idea what was going to happen next, I’m thinking we are going to go to jail and boy wait until my folks hear about this. Thank God that the cops looked at this group that was scared silly and realized that we really weren’t trying to do any harm to the monument and let us get out of there. This was one of the last nights there and I really don’t remember much of the trip after that.


From that experience I know that I learned that I could live though the fright of my life and that a healthy respect for authority was good. Even adults that truly mean the best for you can sometimes lead you astray and that it is best to ask when you are unsure.

By the way, there is an American Flag craved in the marble of the back of Lincoln’s Chair.

Next M.E. - The night the Edmond Fitzgerald Sunk