Do you know when and where the establishment of the federal city of Washington, D.C., took place? It was on March 29, 1791, at the famous dinner hosted by General Uriah Forrest at his home with George Washington and other influential local landowners.
Everyone knows George Washington as the first U.S. pPresident and father of his country. At the same time, very little is known about his friend General Forrest. He is the third mayor of Georgetown and a Revolutionary War hero who lost a leg as a result of injury in the battle of Germantown.
Together, they made it possible for Washington, D.C., to be established. They secured an agreement from the 19 original landowners to acquire their land for a capital city. This agreement was reached at Forrest’s home. And it’s very symbolic that since 1992 the Forrest-Marbury House belongs to the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States in a very scenic Georgetown area.
Even I, a Ukrainian journalist covering foreign policy for 13 years, didn’t know about the unique history of the Forrest-Marbury House. It’s actually the site of one of the most significant U.S. historical events. And I learned about it for the first time, as did my WPI colleagues, from Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S. Oksana Markarova.
It was an optional meeting for my WPI colleagues with her on Thursday, Oct. 3. Everybody from my WPI group was so tired and had a lot of work to be done. And I really appreciated that they found time and energy to meet with Markarova. Because it’s one thing when I tell them something about the Russian war against Ukraine, and quite another when they hear answers to their questions from the first person of Ukraine in the United States.
Markarova made quite an impression on my colleagues. No one was even looking at their phones and the hour flew by. Sitting in the “Washington Room” in the Ukrainian Embassy, we were discussing both the Forrest-Marbury House history and Russian war against Ukraine, which is an anti-colonial one, because Ukraine has been fighting for independence from Russia for 400 years. This resonates a lot with some of my WPI colleagues because of the history of their own countries.
And of course, a lot depends on the results of the U.S. elections on Nov. 5. Because of that, Ukraine still hasn’t received permission to strike deep in Russian territory with Western long-range missiles. And Russian propaganda is trying to prevent it by spreading lies that the Ukrainian army apparently cannot strike with Western long-range weapons, if they are directly not run by NATO instructors on the ground. Kremlin propagandists spread the same lies about the U.S. Patriot air defense systems and ATACMS tactical missile systems. Ukraine received them in 2022. As you can see, the Ukrainian Army learns very quickly. But Russians spread disinformation that Ukraine wouldn’t be able to operate these systems without the help of the American or NATO instructors.
In the end, Markarova even joked about the letter from the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson. Last week he demanded her resignation from President Zelensky. After this meeting, my WPI colleagues, who were super impressed by Oksana Markarova, also joked that Ukraine does influence the U.S. elections, despite the fact we were told the No. 1 issue here is Israel and Gaza now.
