End the Spectacle, a Reprise
After Joe Biden's State of the Union speech two years ago this month - almost as bad as this month's - I called for ending this spectacle. Sounds like House GOP leaders may finally be on board
Known as Congress's "home away from home," the prestigious Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, VA, has a significant place in American history. This weekend, less than half the House Republican Conference gathered here. The resort, acquired in 2009 by now-Governor and future US Senator Jim Justice (R-WV), was a secret continuity-of-government center until the Washington Post exposed it in 1992.
For just $47 per person ($24 for young-uns), you can explore the remnants of what was once known as “the bunker.” After acquiring the resort nearly 20 years ago, Governor Justice embarked on a significant transformation. A large portion of the bunker, masked as an exhibition hall and once a symbol of Cold War fears, is now a bustling casino.
During a food industry conference at the Greenbrier about 20 years ago, I took the tour. It was a journey through history. After asking my guide to show me where I would have stayed as the Secretary of the Senate, he quickly volunteered a comprehensive “cook’s tour.” The tour revealed the bunker's many facilities, including broadcast studios, a CIA post, full medical facilities, a cafeteria, and even a psych ward for those who might have suffered from the effects of living underground after a nuclear attack. It was clear they had thought of everything.
How it became our “continuity of government” center goes back to President Dwight Eisenhower during the height of the Cold War, just after the Cuban revolution in 1959, which his successors secretly honored. Much of it was built during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. Congress secretly voted to authorize it in 1962. It was an amazingly well-kept secret, referred to as “Project Casper” and later “Project Greek Island.”
For years, it struck me as odd that I-64 winded west from I-95 in Richmond, suddenly ending just past White Sulphur Springs (it has since been completed to connect with I-70 in St. Louis, Missouri). Or, that Amtrak served White Sulphur Springs - but no further - from Washington, DC’s Union Station. It now comprises a stop on Amtrak’s money-losing “Cardinal Route” to Chicago, IL. Or that its local Greenbrier Valley Airport featured a long 6,000-foot runway, equivalent to the length of the three main runways at DC’s Reagan National Airport, plenty long for Boeing 727 or McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft that served the airline industry and the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base during much of the bunker’s secret existence. Now I know why.
Both major political parties have used the Greenbrier for meetings and conferences, many unaware of their potential underground home. This year’s main takeaway wasn’t that they met there but that the third-ranking Republican, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), called for his colleagues to reconsider how presidents are invited to give the annual State of the Union Address.
That is no surprise given how destructive and divisive Joe Biden’s SOTU speeches have been - especially what I dub his amped, angry, and often wildly inaccurate “Captagon speech” last week. But I wasn’t first two years ago to call on Congress to scrap the annual gaudy spectacle, and I won’t be the last. Look for Democrats to happily follow suit if they’re in charge of the House and Donald Trump is elected President this Fall, if only to deny him a platform.
I’m okay with that. At least we won’t likely see a future Democratic Speaker potentially violate federal law by tearing up an official government document, the House’s official copy of the President’s State of the Union Address.
Here’s the post I wrote two years ago. I dedicate it to Rep. Emmer and his colleagues, hoping they follow through.
Thoms Jefferson had the good sense to end the in-person State of the Union address as being too similar to the King's annual address to Parliament. It wasn't until Woodrow Wilson figured out the PR advantages of combining live speech with the new invention of radio that they started up again.