How a DC hotel was the home of MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech
Over the weekend, thousands of people from all across the country will head to both the Lincoln Memorial and the MLK Memorial to celebrate the life and memory of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But there is another historic D.C. landmark that could be added to that list.
The Willard InterContinental started out as a boardinghouse in 1816 and had been the home to presidents including Abraham Lincoln and Calvin Coolidge. Legend has it that the term lobbyist was created by President Ulysses S. Grant, thanks to people trying to influence him in the lobby of the Willard.
In the summer of 1963, a speech that would help change the U.S. was written in the Willard’s iconic lobby.
“It was here in 1963 that Martin Luther King put the finishing touches on his famous ‘I Have a Dream Speech,'” said Matt Ziegler, concierge at the Willard hotel.
The Willard InterContinental Concierge gives tours of the lobby and points out that Dr. King wrote the speech in the lobby because the FBI would often bug his hotel room.
Ziegler said the staff of the Willard helped King by creating a secluded area with a barrier of plants in the lobby. King and his associates were then able to work on the speech without getting noticed by anyone in the lobby or listened to by the FBI.
“Apparently, money may have greased some palms,” said Ziegler. The bellhops and front desk employees would change Dr. King’s hidden location around the lobby during his stay at the Willard, as he worked on his speech for the March on Washington.
Dr. King’s family does make pilgrimages to the Willard InterContinental to mark anniversaries of the March on Washington.
Due to renovations, it’s not clear which room Dr. King’s was 61 years ago, but there is a MLK suite at the Willard with an amazing view of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Willard InterContinental has a history gallery that is open to the public.