Walt Goes to Washington: Finding Disney in DC

Whether informal or devoted, fans of Disney understand that the world Walt created emanates from Burbank, Glendale and Anaheim, California, Orlando, Florida, Paris, France, Tokyo, Japan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, China.

But the Disney empire isn't limited to its corporate and Imagineering headquarters, or its global collection of theme parks. Washington DC, our nation's capital, hosts a vast array of Disney-related artifacts and ties to Disney history. Notable examples include:

• Nearly every President going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt has a connection to Walt Disney, his theme parks, or both

• Walt’s multiple visits to Washington DC and his favorite hotel, the Mayflower

• Housed in the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution is a plethora of Disney historical information

• Several critical cases involving Walt Disney Productions and Walt’s estate were argued before the Supreme Court

• Walt Disney’s testimony in 1947 before the House Committee on Un-American Affairs

• Disney’s symbiotic relationship with NASA, boosting the concept of space travel in the American mindset and gaining NASA technology for space-themed attractions

• J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI file on Walt Disney and its peculiar entries

• A lawyer and Ex-CIA agent who was involved with secret land purchases and dummy corporations when Disney was purchasing property in Florida

• The tiny government agency that sent Walt and a select team to South America to foster goodwill between the Americas, resulting in Saludos Amigos and the Three Caballeros

• Disney’s extensive involvement in working for the present-day Department of Defense, creating morale-boosting films, propaganda films and a trove of insignia for the Army, Navy and the Marine Corps during World War II

• Disney’s extensive collection of patents, trademarks and copyrights, all issued from their respective offices on Washington DC

• Disney’s ambitious theme park in northern Virginia, Disney’s America, which ultimately never came to be

Written for Disney fans, casual or captivated, this book brings many unknown facts to the general public. It's also for Washington DC locals and visitors, present and future.