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| · July 18, 2003 · |
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· Washington's Historic Willard Hotel Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of "I Have A Dream" With Commemorative Keepsake Legendary Speech Penned by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Suite at the Willard on August 28, 1963WASHINGTON DC (July 10, 2003) - On August 28, the Willard InterContinental Washington will commemorate Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s writing of his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech, with a memorial keepsake candle in each of the hotel's 341 rooms and suites. Dr. King wrote the famous speech in his suite at the Willard on the night of August 27, and through the wee hours of August 28, 1963, while a guest at the hotel. Later that day, King delivered the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, America's first large-scale integrated march. Afterward, he and other civil rights leaders met with President John F. Kennedy at the White House. An account of Dr. King's writing of the famous speech appeared in an Associated Press article, which is presently displayed in the hotel's history mall: ".... The night before, King, Young (Andrew) and other movement leaders gathered at Washington's Willard Hotel. They exchanged suggestions for the speech, with King writing it, his secretary typing it and King scribbling still more changed in the margin. "He stayed up all night' Young said, "You'd look in the margin and see as many as four or five different words in one place, where he'd crossed it out, selected another one. He was much more particular about the language than he'd ever been before." -- Associated Press Visitors to the nation's capital can stroll along the block-long plaza at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, adjacent to the Willard InterContinental, which honors Martin Luther King with the name, Freedom Plaza. A signpost on the Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail memorializes King's penning of the famous speech at the Willard. The Willard InterContinental welcomes visitors throughout August with Willard Family Summer FREEdom packages, available through September 7. Families who book a Standard room at $229, a Superior room at $259, or a Deluxe room at $299, will receive breakfast for the whole family (based on up to four guests per room) and parking, free. Prices are per room, excluding tax, based on availability. The historic Willard InterContinental Hotel is the "Grande Dame" of American hotels. It is a Washington institution that has hosted almost every U.S. president since Zachary Taylor in 1850. It was here that Julia Ward Howe wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", where Abraham Lincoln lived for a month, where, in the grand lobby, President Ulysses S. Grant coined the term "Lobbyist", and where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King finished his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. From its inception to this day, the Willard has been a major force in the social and political life of Washington, DC. For information and reservations call the Willard InterContinental Hotel, Tel. 202-628-9100. Visit our Web site at: www.washington.interconti.com. Media Contact: Barbara Bahny 202-637-7309 Barbara_bahny@interconti.com |
| Produced by Judi Janofsky, Rich Steck and the Golf Press Association |