Julia Taft thanks State for Task Force help

Julia Vadala Taft, Director of the Interagency Task Force for Indochina Refugees, in a letter on January 12 warmly praised the Department, Secretary Kissinger, Deputy Under Secretary for Management Lawrence S. Eagleburger, and the Foreign Service officers who were detailed to the Task Force, for their outstanding assistance in the resettlement of 130,000 Indochinese refugees. Her letter:

DEAR MR. SECRETARY:

As you are probably aware, the Interagency Task Force for Indochina Refugees terminated its operation on December 31, 1975.

I wish to thank you personally for the support and assistance the Task Force has received from the State Department throughout its existence. This support came to us in many forms, not the least of which was the substantial number of Foreign Service Officers who were detailed to the Task Force to staff many of our key positions.

From my observation, and the opportunity to compare personnel sent to the Task Force by the many Departments and Agencies which participated in the program, your Department enjoys the distinct advantage of being staffed by a group of career pub

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lic servants who are without parallel in the Federal service. I refer to the career Foreign Service Officers whom I have come to know from our service together on the Task Force. As a group, they stand out as superior to any other category of Federal employees with whom I have ever worked. Particularly impressive was the way in which so many of them designed and implemented complex organizational mechanisms and policies for the evacuation, reception and resettlement with virtually no guidance or direction. Especially noteworthy is the initiative and versatility of younger officers who had had little previous opportunity to assume responsible management or policy making positions.

I am sure they have grown personally and professionally from this challenging program and should, as a result, have even greater contributions to make in the future to our nation and its foreign policy.

In closing, I would like you to know my sincere appreciation of and admiration for Larry Eagleburger, who was a continual source of guidance and administrative support throughout the arduous mission.

On behalf of all of us who have served the Task Force under the State Department aegis, please accept our warm appreciation for your personal support in making the resettlement of 130,000 Indochinese refugees such a

success.

Sincerely,

/s/ JULIA VADALA TAFT

The Town Meeting concept is designed to provide a forum in which the Department's senior policy makers can meet with the public face-to-face, listen to their opinions on foreign affairs and report back to the Secretary. As Mr. Eagleburger explained the idea, "We have come to learn, not to advocate.

For the most part, the Department officers were not called on to respond to criticisms of policy, but instead they listened to discussions on four issues selected by S/P and PA: (1) U.S.-Soviet Relations, (2) the U.S. and the Third World, (3) Values in U.S. Foreign Policy, and (4) U.S Foreign Policy Objectives. The discussants worked from sheets of questions such as: "Should the United States forego some of its growth potential or even cut back its own standard of living in order to help other countries whose situation is desperate? How would you describe the results of detente . . . for the Soviet Union? . . . the United States? Has one country benefited more than the other? Since most of the countries of the world have authoritarian regimes, what standards should we set ourselves in dealing with such countries?''

The Pittsburgh Town Meeting concluded on the evening of February 18 with a 90-minute television viewer call-in session during which station WQED received more than 2,000 calls.

Similar Town Town Meetings are scheduled to be held during the spring in Portland, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee.

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This is the sixth of a series of articles on the buildings occupied by the Department of State and its predecessors from the time of the American Revolution to the present. The NEWSLETTER is printing the series as a contribution to our Nation's bicentennial.

Treasury Department
Building, Washington
June-August 1800

The same act of Congress of July 16, 1790, which made Philadelphia the interim seat of government from 1790 to 1800 also provided that, beginning on the first Monday in December 1800, the District of Columbia would be the permanent seat of government and that suitable buildings should be erected for the accomodation of Congress, the President, and the public offices of the government. The date for moving was changed by an act approved by the Congress on April 24, 1800,2 which authorized the President to direct the removal of the executive departments to the city of Washington at any time he might judge proper after the adjournment of the current session of Congress and prior to the convening of the next session.3

On May 15, 1800, just one day after Congress had adjourned in Philadelphia, President John Adams directed the department heads to move their offices and staffs to Washington as soon as it was convenient so that

the public offices would be opened for business by June 15. All the executive departments made this move be

*The chapters in this issue are based on a previous manuscript by Richard S. Patterson, formerly of the Department's Historical Office. 11 Stat. 130.

22 Stat. 55.

3An act approved May 13, 1800, advanced the date of convening of the next session of Congress from the first Monday in December 1800 to the third Monday in November (2 Stat. 85).

'George Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams, Edited from Papers of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury (New York, 1846), II, 362.

On May 27 Charles Lee, Secretary of State ad interim, wrote from Philadelphia that the books and papers of the Department were packed for removal to Washington and that he would proceed there the following day. Certain Philadelphia newspapers of May 28, 1800,8 carried the following notice:

"The Office of the Department of State, will be removed this day from Philadelphia. All letters and applications are therefore to be addressed to that Department at the City of Washington, from this date.

"28th May, 1800.”

Lee left Philadelphia on the morning of May 289 and arrived in Washington by May 31.10 By June 7 the Department of State was beginning to function in Washington.'

11

The first home of the Department of State in Washington was in the Treasury Department Building''

'MS. Department of State, 5 Instructions, U.S. Ministers, p. 341.

"For example, Philadelphia Gazette & Universal Daily Advertiser, p. 3, and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser, p. 3.

"Ibid., May 29, 1800, p. 3.

10 Diary of Mrs. William Thornton, 18001863", in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. (Washington, 1895-), X, 149.

"MS. Department of State, 5 Instructions, U.S. Ministers, p. 342.

12 Diary of Mrs. William Thornton, Capture of Washington by the British", in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, XIX, 176, footnote 6. Contemporary maps of Washington and various other sources verify this statement.

13MS. Department of State, Accounts Records, Contingent Expenses, Day Book, 17981820, pp. 81, 82, 83.

14Wilhelmus B. Bryan and Samuel C. Busey, The Removal of the Seat of Government to the District of Columbia (Washington, 1900; Senate Document No. 62, 56th Congress, 1st session), p. 14. Christian Hines, Early Recollections of Washington City (Washington, 1866), p. 23. American State Papers, Miscellaneous (Washington, 1834), 1, 256 (square 9). For a biographical sketch of Tobias Lear, see Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 76-77.

15 American State Papers, Miscellaneous, II, 481, 482, 483, 484. John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (Washington, 1931-1944), XXXV, 248-250, 389, 400, 413.

16MS. National Archives, Record Group 42, Letters Received by Commissioners of Public Buildings and Grounds, Washington, D.C., XIII, Nos. 1361, 1364, Hadfield to the Commissioners, May 14 and 16, 1798. Wilhelmus

On May 7, 1798, the Commissioners for the District of Columbia had an advertisement inserted in the newspapers of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Georgetown, and Alexandria which read in part as follows:

"The Commissioners will receive proposals until the 20th of June next, for building in the City of Washington, one of the Executive Offices for the United States, of the following external dimensions-148 feet in length, and fifty seven feet six inches in breadth-cellar walls, 30 Inches-first story 23 Inches, and second story 18 Inches-partition walls averaging 15 Inches; to contain on the ground floor, 14 Rooms; same number on the second story, and in the Roof 8 Rooms, with a passage.-The whole external of the building to be of stock brick;-the inside walls of hard burnt brick-cellars of, best foundation stone, to the height of the girders. The outside walls as far as they shew above ground, to the plinth, to be of plain ashlar free stone-soles of windows, sills of doors, and string

B. Bryan, A History of the National Capital (New York, 1914-1916), I, 314. For a biographical sketch of George Hadfield, see Dictionary of American Biography, VIII, 76-77.

course of free-stone. The house to be covered with cypress shingles-the rooms in general to be 16 feet by 20-finished in a plain neat manner, of the best materials-six small rooms to be groined." 17

Of the various proposals submitted to the Commissioners in response to this advertisement, that of Leonard

Harbaugh of Washington was accepted. On June 23, 1798, a contract was signed with Harbaugh for the erection of the building east of the White House at a cost of $39,511 and for its completion by July 1, 1800.18

During the course of the construction, a number of agreed changes were made from the original plans and specifications.19 For example, through an error on the part of the surfoundation, the length of the building veyor laying off the ground for the

was increased 7% or 8 feet over that shown on the original plans. 20

The building, completed a few

17MS. National Archives, Record Group 42, Proceedings of the Commissioners of Public Buildings and Grounds of the City of Washington and District of Columbia, IV, 126-127.

18Ibid., pp. 158, 162-164.

19Ibid., Letters Received by Commissioners, XVI, No. 1676, Harbaugh to the Commissioners, July 8, 1799.

weeks ahead of schedule, was a plain two-story structure of brick on a freestone foundation, with a basement and a dormer-windowed attic. It appears that it was about 149 feet in length, east and west, and 57%1⁄2 feet wide. There were fourteen rooms on the first floor, fourteen on the second floor, and eight in the attic. Twenty-four of the rooms were 17 by 20 feet, eight were of nearly the same dimensions, and four were fireproof rooms of 10 by 12 feet. 21

John Marshall was the first Secretary of State to have his office in Washington. He entered upon his duties on June 6, 1800. At the time, his staff consisted of the Chief Clerk, seven clerks, and one messenger. 22

201bid., XX, No. 2066, Harbaugh to the Commissioners, March 19, 1802. Ibid., Public Buildings and Grounds, Proposals and Estimates, 1795-1816, James Hoban to the Commissioners, December 15, 1800.

21Ibid., Letters of the Commissioners of Public Buildings and Grounds of the City of Washington and District of Columbia, V, 422, the Commissioners to Charles Lee, May 20, 1800. Ibid., Public Buildings and Grounds, Proposals and Estimates, 1795-1816, James Hoban to the Commissioners, December 15, 1800.

22MS. Department of State, 3 Report Book,

p. 114.

One of the "Six
Buildings,"
Washington

September 1800-May 1801

After approximately three months in the overcrowded Treasury Department Building, the Department of State moved into one of a block of houses known as the "Six Buildings," located on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Twenty-first and Twenty-second Streets Northwest. The exact building is not a matter of record. At the same time the Navy Department occupied another one of the Six Buildings; according to a biographer of the then Secretary of the Navy, this was building numbered 2107.3 The War Department occupied a threestory house on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue nearly opposite

'Hines, Recollections of Washington, p. 26. Bryan, National Capital, p. 233, note.

2Ibid., I, 351. Federal Writers' Project, Washington, City and Capital, p. 642.

3Harriot Stoddert Turner, "Memoirs of Benjamin Stoddert, First Secretary of the United States Navy", in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, XX, 163.

the Six Buildings until November 8, 1800, when the building, together with all the books and papers of the office of the Secretary of War, was destroyed by fire. 4

It has frequently been asserted that the Department of State moved in 1800 into one of the so-called "Seven Buildings" rather than one of the Six Buildings. The Seven Buildings were a block of brick houses on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue commencing at the corner of Nineteenth Street Northwest and extending westward.5 This assertion is erroneous since contemporary records of the Department of State refer specificially and repeatedly to its occupancy of one house among the Six Buildings. 6

The Six Buildings were erected sometime prior to May 15, 1800.7

'Bryan and Busey, Removal of the Seat of Government, pp. 13, 14. Bryan National Capital, I, 351. Gibbs, Memoirs, II, 446, 478. American State Papers, Miscellaneous, 1, 232. 5 Caemmerer, Washington, the National Capital, pp. 371, 372. Federal Writers' Project, Washington, City and Capital, p. 641.

6MS. Department of State, Accounts Records, Contingent Expenses, Day Book, 17981820, pp. 82, 84, 85, 93, 108, 111.

'American State Papers, Miscellaneous, I, 256 (square 74).

Construction was begun by James Greenleaf, a speculator in Washington real estate, and was completed by Isaac Polock, to whom the property had been sold.8

Old photographs of the Six Buildings show a solid row of seven brick houses, each with three stories, a basement, and an attic, and all of similar though not identical architectural style. In front, each of the six houses had two windows to the left and a doorway to the right on the first floor, three windows on the second floor, and three smaller windows on the third floor. Each had a gable roof which sloped to the front and back, and each had a single dormer window in the front roof, except the house on the extreme right, which had two dormer windows. This house was not one of the original Six Buildings, but was erected later.

The numbers of the seven houses, when street numbers were assigned to

"Bryan, National Capital, I, 233, note. "Reproduced, e.g., in Hans P. Caemmerer, Washington, the National Capital (Washington, 1932; Senate Document No. 332, 71st Congress, 3d session), p. 40; in Chalmers M. Roberts, Washington, Past and Present (Washington, 1949-1950), p. 140; and herein.

them, were 2105, 2107, 2109, 2111, 2113, 2115 and 2117. The Six Buildings were 2107 to 2117.10 The building numbered 2109 is still standing and is readily recognizable as the house shown in the old photographs of the Six Buildings. This building is now occupied by a "publick house" called Tammany Hall. The site of the houses numbered 2111, 2113, and 2115 is now occupied by the Marquette Apartments building, which perpetuates the number 2115. The site of the houses numbered 2105 and 2107 is now occupied by the Circle Theater Building, and the site of the house numbered 2117 is now occupied by a portion of the building which houses the Group Health Association.

The Department of State moved to one of the Six Buildings sometime between August 27 and September 5, 1800. Forty-six cartloads of furniture, books, and other effects of the Department of State, including the models of inventions submitted to the Patent Office, which was then a part of the Department, were removed from the Treasury Department Building and

10 Federal Writers' Project, Washington, City and Capital, p. 642.

from Lear's Store and taken to one of the Six Buildings. Included also was furniture belonging to the Department's messenger, which was moved from a house in Georgetown that the Department had rented for his use from June 6 to September 6, 1800. The Department purchased a set of bookshelves "for a library in the Secretary's room" and another set for the third story of the house, and had four large iron grates installed, evidently so coal could be burned in the fireplaces. On November 6, 1800, the Department paid the firm Thompson & Veetch, of Alexandria, Va., $450 for nine month's rent for this house which included a kitchen and a coach house on the premises used by the Department as a stable and for coal stor

In this house, John Marshall completed his service as Secretary of State on March 4, 1801, when the Jefferson administration took charge. Marshall had already been appointed Chief Justice of the United States by President Adams, and for a short time he carried on the duties of both positions.

11MS. Department of State, Accounts Records, Contingent Expenses, Day Book, 17981820, pp. 81, 82, 83, 84, 88, 90, 93, 96, 118.

Attorney General Levi Lincoln then filled in as Secretary ad interim until James Madison entered upon his duties as Secretary on May 2, 1801. Madison had been commissioned on March 5, 1801, but his father had died in February and he was needed at home to attend to personal matters.

The Department was still quite small at this time. When Marshall resigned, there were only ten people on the staff, and the salaries totalled only $11,50012 The office of Chief Clerk had become quite important because he acted for the Secretary in his absence. The other employees recorded and copied the correspondence, collated the laws, recorded land patents, made out exequaturs for consuls, issued passports, issued patents, granted copyrights, and performed any other function given to the Department. The diplomatic service was also very small at this time, there being only five envoys who had the rank of minister. 13

12Gaillard Hunt, The Department of State of the United States - Its History and Functions (New Haven, 1914), p. 191.

13 Graham H. Stuart, The Department of State - A History of Its Organization, Procedure, and Personnel (New York, 1949), p. 36.