White House's Unruly Neighborhood

A former presidential speechwriter and writer for The Tonight Show, Edward P. Moser is the author of 12 published books and is the operator of the Lafayette Square Tour of Scandal, Assassination & Intrigue. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface1. The Secretary of State Is Nearly Stabbed to Death2. The Unsung Slave Whose Family Sparked a Civil Rights Revolution3. The Perilous Life of America’s Greatest Foreign Friend4. The Craziest Inaugural Party of Them All5. The Biggest Slave Escape in American History6. The “Big Cheese” Receives a Mammoth Gift7. Mrs. Lincoln’s Sad Search for Her Deceased Son8. The Plantation Owner’s Startling Army of Diversity9. The Burning of the White House and the Rescue of Its Riches10. A White House Surgery That Echoed Bullets and Brawls11. The Populist Politics of Pennsylvania Avenue’s Park12. The Biggest Sex Scandal in Washington’s History13. The Tragic Wife of America’s Premier Thinker14. The Secret Life of the Intrepid Explorer15. The Cunning Craft of a Deadly Spy16. The Backstory of the American Revolution’s Martinet17. The Violent End of America’s Bravest Sailor18. A Duel Between the Oddest and Most Famous of Congress19. The King of the Camel Corps20. The Enslaved Woman Who Sued the Head of the State Department21. The ­War-Hero Womanizer Who Slayed the Son of Francis Scott Key22. The Accursed Life of the Man Who Tried to Save the President23. A Shocking Seedling from the Victory at Yorktown24. The Bloody Assassination Attempt on President Truman25. Lincoln Makes Lee an Offer He Could Refuse26. The Wretched Life Behind the Gaudiest Place27. How a Personal Vendetta and Patriotic Passion Led to America’s Most Honored Place28. The Spook Who Spied on the President and Inspired the Formation of the NSA29. The Most Criminally Inept Family in Military History30. A Peerless Singer Lays the Groundwork for “I Have a Dream”31. The Miracle Manse32. The Lost Barracks of the National Mall33. George Washington, the Flinty Scot, the Powerful Mayor, and the Children’s Angel34. The Near Drowning of the President in the Potomac35. The Forgotten Terror Attack36. A President’s Brush with Death After a Deadly Navy Accident37. The Poetess Behind America’s Most Inspiring Song38. Hamilton! The Tour!!: A White House Area Itinerary39. Murder Bay and Hooker’s Division40. A Wartime Tavern Keeper’s Unwanted Guests41. A Humble Cleaning Lady Gulls a Mighty Invader42. The Entrepreneur and the Ingénue: A Match Made in Heaven Gone to Hell43. The Black Businessman Whose Workplace Birthed Jim Crow44. The Financial Wizard Who Helped Stave Off a Civil War45. The Crooked Bank for the Former SlavesIndex

“Ed Moser leads a rollicking tour of Lafayette Square—the front door to the White House—and along the way enchants us with true stories of assassinations, duels, escaped slaves, heroes, scandals, spies, and a strong appreciation for one of America’s most historic spaces.”—Garrett Peck, author of The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath