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The first half of the 20th century was an explosive time in the capital city—socially, economically, and culturally—and Washington began to gain worldwide attention. Grand homes for embassies were constructed on 16th Street, north of the White House, and later along Massachusetts Avenue, a strip that is now known as Embassy Row. Pres. Woodrow Wilson gave Washington a voice in world affairs through the country’s entry into World War I in 1917 and through his work to establish the League of Nations, an organization promoting international cooperation. After the war, civic pride and culture flooded the city. Art galleries, museums, concert halls, and the Lincoln Memorial were built. The Commission of Fine Arts was established to advise city planners on the appropriate design and placement of memorials and federal buildings. At the same time, however, run-down buildings were multiplying in Washington’s back alleys, and neglected neighbourhoods only became worse during the Great Depression years of the 1930s. The New Deal programs of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt provided employment to thousands of workers in Washington, not only in existing government offices but also in the construction of new federal buildings, including the Supreme Court and the Federal Triangle buildings. Washington’s population surged to about 950,000 during World War II (1939–45). In 1941 a new airport was built, and less than two years later the Pentagon was completed, establishing the capital city as the military command centre of the country.

During the second half of the 20th century, Washington experienced an exodus of the middle class, both European American and African American, as they fled to the developing suburbs of nearby Maryland and Virginia. Nonetheless, Washington continued to develop into a modern city, becoming unrecognizable to those who had known it prior to World War II. Many former Washington neighbourhoods were ravaged, and in their place huge, impersonal federal agency buildings were constructed. Public housing complexes were erected in poorer areas of the city for those who could not afford to move elsewhere. Modern highway plans for Washington were bitterly opposed by both Black and white communities across the city, but they were only partially successful in preventing highway expansion through the older neighbourhoods.

The neglected beauty of the city was finally recognized, and with the aid of Pres. John F. Kennedy (served 1961–63) and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, an interest in historical preservation ensued. But Vietnam War protests and race riots occurring in Washington throughout the 1960s deterred people from moving into the city. The construction of a subway system, designed by Harry M. Weese, beginning in the late 1970s, however, made the city more accessible and awakened a renewed interest in various parts of Washington. The real-estate boom of the 1980s began the revitalization of many of the city’s deteriorating areas.

Indeed, within two centuries, Washington had changed from a small Southern town into a major northeastern corridor metropolis that ranked with Boston and Philadelphia. With the advent of the 21st century, a renewed interest in city living brought revitalization and new housing to formerly neglected localities, including Downtown Washington, Chinatown, Anacostia, and the former “riot corridors,” thoroughfares in sections of Northwest and Northeast D.C. that were razed during the 1968 riots. Bicycle routes have been added to many major streets, a fleet of low-fare crosstown buses has been created, and “street ambassadors” have been hired to welcome and direct tourists. Washingtonians also began to take pride in the city’s many diverse neighbourhoods, and tourism beyond the traditional Mall area has increased. Indeed, Washington is still considered a city of possibilities, but, at the same time, it exudes the feeling of existing for a definite purpose (as the seat of government) and is continually developing according to a definite design. L’Enfant’s plan, with all its later interpretations, is a shared vision that continues to give guidance and positive direction to the city’s development.