Li'l Miss Frese goes to Washington, and gets in touch with the inspiration that city gives us all

By CHRISTIE VILSACK
August 11, 2003
DES MOINES, IOWA

The postcard, a color photo of the Marine War Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dated June 14, 2003. It read, “Dear Mrs.Vilsack, This is Rebekah. I am having a great time. Stephen won first place for his paper. I got a book about first ladies. From Rebekah Frese.”

Rebekah and I have corresponded several times over the last year. She is 8 years old this week and will be a third grader at Hoaglan School in Marshalltown later this month. A letter last May on pink-lined notebook paper told me she was taking her first trip to our nation’s capital. The card and letter reminded me of my own first trip to Washington when I was 6, so I wrote to tell her about it.

What I remember most was losing my first tooth in an ice cream bar and swallowing it. I was afraid I’d lost my first visit from the tooth fairy. I also remember traveling on a little underground train – not a subway but more like a large golf cart – between the capitol and congressional office buildings. I yearned to climb up on Lincoln’s lap at his memorial, marveled at the first ladies’ glamorous gowns displayed at the Smithsonian and at Lindbergh’s plane hanging from the ceiling. I wanted to go up in the Washington Monument but my dad refused to stand in line.

This past Fourth of July, I called to introduce myself to Rebekah’s mom, Millie, and asked if I could visit with Rebekah about her trip.

Rebekah, too, had seen Lindbergh’s airplane, but she was more interested in the Apollo 16 space capsule.

She said one of her favorite places was the newly-opened Spy Museum, which I also visited on a recent trip to Washington. We share an interest in women spies. I told her about a biography I loved in 4th grade – “Rose Greenhow, Spy for the Confederacy” – that made me decide that if I couldn’t be an archeologist or a writer, I wanted to be a spy.

Rebekah had visited the Capitol, the monuments on the National Mall and the U.S. Senate offices of Tom Harkin of Iowa and Paul Sarbanes of Maryland. Her cousin is Senator Sarbanes’ chief of staff.

Recently, I received a captioned photo essay about Rebekah’s trip, including a photo of Rebekah sitting on the lap of a statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his memorial.

Below another photo, the caption reads, “Yum! Raw oysters! We ate at the Fish Market in Old Town Alexandria.” The photo shows Rebekah slurping from an oyster shell. In another she’s wielding chopsticks in Chinatown.

The photo of Rebekah in pedal-pushers (which she would no doubt call Capris), with bangs cut an inch above her eyebrows, holding a book about first ladies (bought with her own money) could have been me 47 years ago. Rebekah says her favorite first lady is Laura Bush. When I first visited Washington, Iowan Mamie Eisenhower inhabited the White House.

Rebekah traveled to Washington to support her older brother and sister at the National History Day competition.

Sixteen year-old Sarah won sixth in the nation for her display on the “DePriest Tea Incident.” In that, Lou Henry Hoover, wife of U.S. President Herbert Hoover, was criticized for inviting the wife of Oscar DePriest, a black congressman from Chicago, to tea at the White House.

Brother Stephen won first place in the junior division for his paper, “Aldo Leopold: An American Prophet.”

Rebekah’s excitement over her first trip to Washington, besides helping me remember my own first trip there, makes me wish every American child had this chance.

What better way to help young citizens understand the rights and responsibilities associated with a democracy?

The thrill isn’t childlike or sentimental. I still get that feeling each time I descend into Washington past the Washington monument, above the Pentagon and the crosses at Arlington Cemetery.

Earlier this summer we flew to Washington with a new member of our security detail from the Iowa State Patrol, Trooper Rob Mordini, who had never visited Washington. He was sitting on the side of the plane with the good view. He too was thrilled. A former city council member in Webster City, Trooper Mordini describes himself as a “political junkie.” During the two hours he had to himself that day, he walked to the White House and the monuments on the Mall. He even spotted Ari Fleischer, the president’s press secretary, walking down the street. He was surprised that someone of his prominence wouldn’t have security with him. The trooper looks forward to a day when he can return with his family.

Does the luster of Washington fade when you’ve lived and worked there? Do you eventually forget the awe of the first trip?

I asked former Iowa Congressman Neal Smith and his wife Bea. Smith was elected to Congress in l959 and served until Greg Ganske defeated him in 1994. Neal and Bea indeed still remember their first trips to Washington, D.C.

Bea took the train from Iowa when she was about 10 years old. Her stepfather was a railroad roundhouse foreman, so they had free rail passes. In Washington they stayed with a cab driver and his wife. Bea remembers her trip to the Smithsonian and “being overwhelmed by it all.”

Congressman Smith first went to Washington in l952 as a recent law school graduate, who was elected national president of 500,000 Young Democrats. In Washington he visited Democratic Senator Guy Gillette, of Iowa, whom he admired. He also sought the senator’s help cutting red tape for a family who wanted to adopt an Italian child.

As a freshman congressman, Smith remembers thinking then that he’d have to work hard because he might only have two years to serve his state and make his mark. He also recalls going to the White House for the first time during the Eisenhower administration. Congress had just overridden an Eisenhower veto for the first time. The bill included the money for Red Rock Dam, which Smith had worked hard for.

Now when he returns to Washington, he visits the House and Senate at the Capitol, where he served for more than 30 years.

Whether you’re a child or an elected official, there is something about the Washington experience that is hard to explain. Maybe it’s the aura of power. Maybe it’s the magnitude of the buildings. Maybe it’s the collections of historic artifacts, or spotting newsmakers.

Before the attacks of September 11, 2001, patriotism was passé, not a subject of conversation among my generation, which was disenchanted by assassinations, Vietnam and Watergate.

But after we saw the Pentagon bombed and imagined what might have happened to the icons of our democracy had not some brave people taken a plane down in rural Pennsylvania, many of us have allowed ourselves to see the symbols anew and to re-commit to the ideals they represent.

Regular citizens on United flight 93 took action to thwart terrorism. The people honored by the memorials in our nation’s capital – the soldiers and civilian leaders, some still living, some deceased – also took action to preserve and renew our republic.

The question is, what action will each of us take to define what it means to be an American? Will we run for office? Protest against violence? Work for equality? Fight poverty? Educate children? Conserve energy? Cure disease?

Rebekah took her first trip to Washington in a special context – the National History Day Contest. This year-long program allows elementary through high school students to research people and ideas that have shaped our nation, to rediscover well-known figures and unearth facts about obscure visionaries.

Part of the process of becoming an activist is finding role models. For starters, Rebekah has her brother and sister. She encountered many others during her trip.

Rebekah’s pilgrimage to Washington D.C. inspired her to communicate what she learned. When school starts, I hope she’ll share with her classmates. My guess is that this won’t be her last trip to Washington.

By the way, Rebekah’s dad Jeffrey must not have minded standing in line, because she has a spectacular photo taken from the top of the Washington monument – an experience I didn’t have until a year ago, when I finally made it to the top.