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The American Friends of Lafayette
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The 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Friends of Lafayette
June 9-11, 2005, Alexandria, VA and Washington, D.C.
It was a balmy June afternoon in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Embassy Suites hotel lobby provided an air-cooled respite from the summery heat. A sizeable group of members and guest attendees had been arriving throughout the day from different corners of the United States, and Vice-President Al Oberst was there to greet them all. Indeed, the American Friends of Lafayette Annual Meeting Committee, led by Mr. Oberst, had organized a stellar schedule of events and programs for the 73rd Annual Meeting, and everyone was full of anticipation.
Following arrival and check-in, we gathered for camaraderie, libations, dinner and in-depth discussion at Duke’s restaurant in the hotel on Thursday evening. Following breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning, a warm summery breeze, as well as a luxurious bus, greeted us at the hotel entrance and carried us off to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where we were given a comprehensive tour, courtesy of Ohio Senator George Voinovich and his staff. A highlight of the tour was a view, in comfortable propinquity, of Trumbull’s celebrated “Surrender of Cornwallis,” a painting replete with the luminaries of Yorktown – Washington, Lafayette, and Alexander Hamilton, to name only three.
The next stop was fashionable Georgetown, where we were honored to be invited to Embassy of the Republic of France for a delicious luncheon hosted by Mr. Allex, Consul General of France. At the embassy, we were proudly introduced to their new acquisition, “The British Surrender at Yorktown,” where one of our members confirmed that the well-dressed ‘pointing’ officer was indeed Rochambeau and not Lafayette, as was erroneously indicated in two recent books.
A tour of the national headquarters and museum of the Society of the Cincinnati in Washington D.C. capped off a wonderful afternoon. We were positively awed by this impressive former home of the Andersons, a childless and moneyed young couple whose manse housed their ostensible predilection for Oriental decorative objects. Upon Larz Anderson’s death, his widow Isabel Weld Perkins, donated their abode and its contents to the Society of the Cincinnati as he had been a longtime member (it is interesting to note that Edgar Erskine Hume (b. 1889, Kentucky), was a longtime member of the Virginia branch of the Society of the Cincinnati and was President-General at the time of his death in 1952, as well as an early member of the American Friends of Lafayette). The witty and engaging museum docent pointed out a gorgeous mural with Washington and Lafayette represented, and took us to the kitchen, where we saw several pieces related to Lafayette’s 1824 tour. Many of us might agree that the final stop in the mansion was the best part – the library chock full of magnificent books!
The setting sun glistened on the Potomac River as we made our way to Mount Vernon for our annual dinner program. At the Mount Vernon Inn, following the welcome and introductions by President William Kirchner, it was announced by John Rudder of Mount Vernon, and Diane Windham Shaw, Lafayette College’s Special Collections Librarian, that a spectacular Washington-Lafayette exhibit was being planned for 2007 and will be displayed first at Mount Vernon before moving on to New York City and Lafayette College.
After an early-American themed dinner, then commenced the evening program: Four American Friends of Lafayette members, who are also authors and historians, presented remarks and participated in a panel discussion regarding Lafayette and various aspects of his life, from his extraordinary (and sometimes amusing) experiences, to his character traits, to his interpersonal relationships. The speakers were: Paul Spalding, who provided a lively presentation on Lafayette’s imprisonment at Olmütz (one wonders if Lafayette found the “get to Hoff/get off”) misunderstanding to be funny, in retrospect); Donald Miller, who discussed Lafayette’s rather interesting association with Dr. Mesmer and his plantation project to end slavery; David Clary, who spoke colorfully about his own forthcoming biography on Lafayette and his subject’s mentor/protégée relationship with General George Washington; and finally, Prof. Robert Crout, past-President of the AFL, who is currently working on a Lafayette project with the History Channel, and who talked about the American Friends of Lafayette and the meaning attached to it throughout its many years of existence. Thus concluded an amazing and educational evening and, as goodnights were exchanged, it was easy to imagine Washington and Lafayette on those very grounds, enjoying amiable discourse amid pastoral beauty on a sultry summer night in 1784.
The annual business meeting of the American Friends of Lafayette was conducted Saturday morning at the Bentley Library in Alexandria. Aside from the order of general business, topics of discussion included plans for the upcoming 225th anniversary Yorktown festivities in 2007, locations for future AFL annual meetings (potential locations are Troy/Albany, NY, in June 2006 and Easton, PA, in 2007) and the election of Enoch Woodhouse, Boston, MA, as Vice President. Look for further details in upcoming newsletters and correspondence.
The weekend was a resounding success! Special thanks are extended to Senator Voinovich, Hon. Consuls Jean-Pierre Collet and Caroline Lareuse, the French Embassy, the Society of the Cincinnati, and to our esteemed scholars, Messrs Miller, Spalding, Clary, and Crout. Finally, thanks to all the members of the American Friends of Lafayette, whose societal contributions and enthusiastic dedication to the Marquis de Lafayette will collectively keep his memory alive well into the 21st century, and beyond.
(contributed by AFL member Janice Wolk)
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