Take ‘A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set’ (Video)

(1/5)
Power in the newsroom and intelligence community

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.

JFK's last stop, after his inaugural parties

“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.

Who you knew could get you in trouble

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.

Before Camelot, there was Georgetown

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.”

Quietly powerful

“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.

Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up