I remember my first trip to Washington. In the Spring of 1959, with my high school junior class. I was 16.

Believe it or not, it was my first time on a plane. We had two chartered TWA jets – just for us. And it was a great trip. I remember it well.

One of the things we did was go to Mt. Vernon. It was a beautiful day – temperature in the high 70s or low 80s, everything was blooming as we bused down the GW Parkway.

All of a sudden, there arose such a clatter that we jumped from our seats to see what was the matter!

Sirens blaring, we saw a number of police escort motorcycles and cars rushing past us, surrounding a black Cadillac limousine with two flags fluttering, one a flag of the United States, one not. It turned out it was 23 year old King Hussein and his entourage. They came with us on our tour of Mt. Vernon.

Skip forward a few days. It was the last night of the trip and we had a formal-ish dinner/dance at the Shoreham (now Omni-Shoreham) Hotel on Calvert Street. I don’t remember the menu, but I remember the after dinner dance, when our party was crashed by a number of outsiders (all male). They were King Hussein’s party – I assume some were security, some were diplomatic. But no one told them to leave, I don’t think. And they didn’t leave.
I remember one who danced with one of my classmates for more than one dance. They seemed to get on quite well. He didn’t know, I guess, that her father was a leader of the national Israel Bond drive that year.

Or…..maybe he did?