Gil Klein’s book, “Trouble in Lafayette Square: Assassination, Protest and Murder at the White House” follows the course of American history through true stories of incidents that happened in the park and surrounding homes across the street from the White House.
From assassination attempts on President Truman and Secretary of State William Seward, to a congressman killing the son of Francis Scott Key in broad daylight — and getting away with it — to the women’s suffrage movement that invented the White House protest, to the scandal that nearly brought down the Jackson administration, to enslaved people struggling for their freedom to a president who arranged a drug bust, Lafayette Square has been the backdrop of events small and large that have shaped the country.
All of this with a humorous forward by Washington Post Metro columnist John Kelly.
Klein is launching the Washington program for the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is chairman of the National Press Club’s History and Heritage Committee.