WASHINGTON — Anyone who was anyone hung in Georgetown.
In his new book, “A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set,” WTOP Digital Editor Rick Massimo details the history of 36 homes and businesses in one of Washington, D.C.’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
Massimo focuses on those who lived, played, schmoozed and died in Georgetown from the end of World War II through the 1960s.
“At the time there wasn’t as much to do in Washington, so dinner parties were where things happened,” said Massimo.
Massimo said the powerful in politics, business, journalism and the intelligence community lived side by side.
Residents included John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, during the years before he was elected to the White House.
“In the Georgetown set, your neighbor could be a future president or a master spy,” said Massimo, as he stood in front of the home of Desmond FitzGerald, who became chief of the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine operations.
While some of the homes were opulent, many of the homes featured in Massimo’s book weren’t fancy.
“They didn’t need to scream power,” said Massimo. “They didn’t have to announce it.”
“To walk the sidewalks of this neighborhood where a Supreme Court justice and secretary of state would walk to work together, where CIA operatives and powerful publishers would stumble home after a few drinks together, is to walk in their footsteps, if only for a few hours,” wrote Massimo.
“A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set,” is published by Lyons Press, and is on sale through Amazon, and in bookstores.
