Word: monumentality
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Mornings near sunrise, John Williams, a national park service ranger at the monument grounds, wheels his Toyota up out of the underpasses near the Kennedy Center. When he sees the spire, he feels better. The monument always says something a little different when it greets him. The Maryland marble of which it is constructed has a special quality that picks up the light of the hour and seems to subtly intensify it. "There it is," Williams says to himself, and then he studies the graceful shape to see what shades of gold or pink or gray are mixed...
Lady Bird Johnson understood that language too. She used to sit on the Truman Balcony of the White House and look at the monument as the sun went down and the swallows swooped around it. Almost every minute, she told friends, the light changed, shifting from pinks to the final deep purple, a splendid spectacle that would have held George Washington in its spell. Her husband, who was rarely humbled, used to fall silent when his helicopter came close in beside the monument on its approach to the White House South Lawn. From the window of the presidential helicopter...
Nearly 1.3 million people come to look at the monument every year. To reach its pinnacle, they must ride elevators, since the 897 steps that used to be an athletic challenge to young boys have been closed for fear of crime and vandalism...
This week we will give the Washington Monument another pat on the back. On Friday a clutch of history buffs will commemorate the 100th anniversary of its dedication. Perhaps its long struggle to maturity has given it special qualities of endurance. The monument has settled only about two inches in its century, though it was built perilously near a swamp. It is struck by lightning dozens of times each year. One crazed man scared everybody a few years ago when he threatened to bomb the structure...
...cornerstone was laid in 1848. The monument rose to 154 ft. before a lot of trouble, including the Civil War, brought construction to a halt. The U.S. Government took over in 1876, strengthened the foundation and resumed building the upper monument three years later. But the new marble was slightly different in wearing quality, and a 26-ft. band was fixed in place before engineers rematched the stone. That band is noticeable today. In December 1884, a 100-oz. aluminum cap was placed on the spike-shaped peak. Then on a wintry Saturday morning in February, the dapper President Chester...