Star-Spangled Opening for National Museum of American History

A two-year renovation has brought new life to the National Museum of American History. The museum will reopen next Friday as the $85 million project comes to a close.

Visitors will have a new look at the 200-year-old Star-Spangled Banner and a rare opportunity to see the White House copy of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

“For people of all ages, a visit to the National Museum of American History can be a defining event – providing a deep and fundamental understanding of what it has meant to be an American,” Museum Director Brent Glass said in a press release.

The extensive renovation project focused on architectural improvements, construction of a Star-Spangled Banner gallery and updates to the building’s infrastructure.

New additions to the museum include two new cafés, named the Constitution Café and the Stars and Stripes Café. In addition, restrooms, elevators and exhibit space have also received makeovers.

The Star-Spangled Banner will return to the center of the museum in a new dramatic display with a 45-foot-long floor-to-ceiling glass wall in front of the flag to protect the fragile flag material along with the state-of-the-art lighting and security. The support structures will be hidden from view giving the flag a floating effect.

The new Albert H. Small Documents Gallery will house one of five handwritten drafts of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The draft was formerly displayed in the Lincoln Bedroom and is on loan from the White House until January 2009.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, Nov. 21 at 8:30 a.m. The Grand Reopening Festival will continue throughout the weekend, and feature family-friendly activities, musical entertainment, living history and various giveaways. All visitors will take home a first-day souvenir.

“Millions of visitors will enjoy new opportunities to explore the American narrative and the core stories of our national experience in an inspiring and memorable setting,” Glass said.

-Sarah Crum

Aznar Addresses Politics of Economic Crisis

Both the government and the public must take an active role in solving the current financial crisis, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar said in a speech yesterday in Riggs Library.

“We should listen to economists, but we must be careful not to always follow them. All crises are political, because they require political decisions,” Aznar said.

Aznar, who served as prime minister from 1996 to 2004, specifically addressed the special G20 Summit, slated to take place in D.C. this Saturday, and what governments need to both accomplish and avoid at this meeting.

“I hope they can put together the right measures. In order to get good results, you need good decisions,” Aznar said. “Recreating capitalism is a horrible slogan and idea. Expanding intervention will be difficult to avoid, but we must oppose it. Recreating the international financial architecture is also not right.”

In their place, Aznar advocated a course centered on free trade. He also emphasized the need for more market transparency and market codes that inspire confidence.

“This [financial] crisis is about a lack of trust in the system. I am convinced that we will see two types of political practice,” he said. “The first is more regulation, rigidity and protectionism.

The second is to learn from our mistakes and practice pragmatism, not dogmatism.

“We must correct the errors of the state, which includes more freedom and transparency,” Aznar added.

He also discussed the need for change in the public sector.

“We won’t solve problems only through institutions. America lived beyond its means for many years, and Europe was not immune,” Aznar said. “We are used to a culture of instant gratification and not saving, and that led us to this. We must become, once again, a responsible people and live responsible lives.”

– Laura Engshuber

Heller Brings Fight For Gun Rights to Campus

Students must take up their calling and fight for their political ideals, Second Amendment-proponent Dick Heller said Tuesday in White-Gravenor Hall.

Heller, who has been fighting for gun rights in D.C. since 1976, first achieved public renown as the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller. This past summer, he won the case, which yielded a ruling that allows citizens in the D.C. area to own a firearm.

Speaking in a classroom with approximately 30 people in attendance, Heller explained how his move to the nation’s capital in 1976 marked the beginning of the legal battle.

“I had just moved to D.C. and the City Council passed a law saying no handgun ownership in D.C. That really bothered me and so I didn’t register my gun,” Heller said. “Back then, I wasn’t really political. I knew the Second Amendment and I thought those words meant things. It took us 30 years to figure out that I was right.”

In 1997, Heller’s interest in fighting for gun rights was further heightened when a young man, Adrian Plesha, moved from Pennsylvania to D.C. and brought a pistol with him. During breakfast one morning, Heller said a burglar came through his window and attacked Plesha. According to the Washingtonian Magazine, Plesha said he fired his gun three times in “self-defense.” After this incident, Plesha was arrested for carrying a handgun and received probation and community service.

Heller considered this event the point that compelled him to take action and fight for D.C. citizens’ rights to own a gun.

Citing his Supreme Court case as an example in his speech, which was sponsored by the Georgetown University College Republicans and On the Docket (the Georgetown Supreme Court Society), Heller encouraged students to become more keenly aware of the government’s actions and generate their own political interests. For Heller, he said his efforts stemmed directly from his belief that the government was set up to protect the people.

Dane von Breichenruchardt, president of the Bill of Rights Foundation and an adviser to Heller, also spoke at the event about the importance of being aware of government policy.

After having to battle a court case for more than 20 years, Heller’s journey was not short, he noted, but quite satisfying in the end. Heller attributed his success to a sense of political aggressiveness.

“The case didn’t succeed overnight. It takes time, but the end result is worth it,” he said.

– Ana Cenaj

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