Sections
  • Design & Home
  • Editors’ Picks
  • Events Calendar
  • Food
  • Health
  • News
  • Longreads
  • Our Events
  • Parenting
  • Real Estate
  • Shopping
  • Things to Do
  • Travel
  • Weddings
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Best Restaurants (NEW)
  • Cheap Eats
  • Top Doctors
  • IQ&A w/ Brad Jenkins
  • Cutest Cat Contest
  • Latest Issue
Washington’s Best
  • Apartment Rentals
  • DC Travel Guide
  • Dentists
  • Doctors
  • Financial Advisers
  • Health Experts
  • Home Improvement Experts
  • Industry Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Pet Care
  • Private Schools
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Restaurants
  • Retirement Communities
  • Wedding Vendors
More
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • iPad App
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2019 Washingtonian Media Inc.
Privacy Policy
All Rights Reserved
 Rss
Skip to content
Washingtonian.com
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • Menu
  • News
  • Things to Do
  • Food
  • Health
  • Shopping
  • Design & Home
  • Real Estate
  • Weddings

  • 100 Best Restaurants (NEW)
  • Cheap Eats
  • Top Doctors
  • IQ&A w/ Brad Jenkins
  • Cutest Cat Contest
  • Latest Issue

Beautiful Blossoms

Written by Washingtonian Staff | Published on March 26, 2012
Tweet Share
After One War
After One War

The Japanese ambassador poses with his family in 1928 at the second official Cherry Blossom Festival. Japan presented the trees in gratitude for the United States’ help in ending the Russo-Japanese War. The first festival, in 1927, featured children dancing a “Cherry Petal Ballet.” Photograph Courtesy of Museum Resource Center, National Park Service.

Fairylike Effects
Fairylike Effects

EffectsHelen Taft, wife of President William Howard Taft, made beautifying the Potomac River her cause as First Lady. She loved the Japanese aesthetic, and when she was shown four postcards, including this one—showing, in the words of David Fairchild, a plant explorer of the time, the blossoms’ “fairylike effects”—she was captivated. The mayor of Toyko then arranged a gift of 3,000 trees to DC.
Photograph Courtesy of Museum Resource Center, National Park Service.

Rite of Spring
Rite of Spring

Visiting the cherry blossoms is now a popular activity in Washington. Here, a view with the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin. Photograph of Tidal Basin by Buddy Secor.

Royalty for a Day
Royalty for a Day

First Daughter Tricia Nixon welcomed the Cherry Blossom princesses to the White House in 1970. Beginning after World War II, each state and territory elected a princess to come here as part of the festival. The Cherry Blossom princess representing the Embassy of Japan lights a Japanese lantern at the start of the festivities. Photograph courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis.

Hats On
Hats On

The festival as we know it today was revived after World War II and gained popularity though the 1950s. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and Pat Nixon, wife of the Vice President, showed off their flower-themed hats at a cherry-blossom luncheon in 1958. Photograph courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis.

Beauty With Style
Beauty With Style

A woman relaxes by the cherry blossom trees in East Potomac Park in the 1930s. Before the festival became a big event, blossom-viewing was a more casual affair. Photograph by Volkmar Wentzel.

Care to Dance?
Care to Dance?

Traditional Japanese arts have become a big part of the festival. Here the 40-member taiko dance group from Tokyo’s Tamagawa University performs. Photograph of dancers by Nick Eckert.

Smiles and Waves
Smiles and Waves

WavesA convertible carries Miss America and Miss District of Columbia’s Outstanding Teen in the annual parade. Photograph by Ron Blunt.

Don’t miss a new restaurant again. Subscribe to our weekly newsletters.

Get Started

Newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our terms.
More: Photo GalleryPolitics & Personality
Join the conversation!
Share Tweet

Editors' Picks

The 100 Very Best Restaurants in Washington

Bad News for the NFL: John Riggins’ Wife Is a Lawyer

Lisa-Marie Riggins' fight against the NFL's shabby treatment of older retired players.

The High-Paid DC Millennials Who Are Using Side Hustles to “Ball Out”

"I made $400 off a dog that was next to my house."
Britt McHenry Fox News

Meet Britt McHenry, the Fox News Star for Millennials

She wants you to know she's about more than that nasty viral video.
More Editors' Picks

Most Popular

1

“The Handmaid’s Tale” Is Filming on the National Mall and the Photos are Kinda Intense

2

The 100 Very Best Restaurants in Washington

3

Is the Acela Really a High-Speed Train?

4

A Shocking Love Triangle Has Broken Up DC’s Favorite Bald Eagle Power Couple

5
Photograph by Darrow Montgomery.

The Definitive Oral History of the Bobbitt Case, 25 Years Later

February 2019: 100 Very Best Restaurants

February 2019: 100 Very Best Restaurants
See What's Inside
Subscribe

Related

Photos: Kids at the Children’s National Medical Center Celebrate Halloween With a Costume Contest and Dog Show

Photos: Kids at the Children’s National Medical Center Celebrate Halloween With Pumpkin Crafts and Mini Parades

Education Leaders Honored SEED Foundation Co-Founders at the U.S. Institute of Peace

Photos: Out of the Shadows Dinner Hosted by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s

© 2019 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Washingtonian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy Policy
 Rss
Get the best news, delivered weekly.
By signing up, you agree to our terms.
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • iPad App
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs