The trains run only under the Capitol and to the adjacent House and Senate office buildings, not to the White House and of course not the Supreme Court, both of which are some distance from the Capitol and are different branches of the government besides. Members of Congress (House and Senate) use them to go back and forth between the House and Senate chambers themselves and committee rooms, their offices, etc., but the trains do not go directly to the parking lots (which are under the building). There are different trains for each house. The trains are very much still there but have been replaced by newer models and upgraded track. Members of the public can ride on them too, but Senators and Representatives and their staff have separate seating. I rode them years ago when I lived in D.C. and was often on the Hill, and they are kind of fun.
Mr. Tomaino is correct, as are you, that joint sessions are held in the House chamber, because it can accommodate the numbers. There are 435 Representatives who normally sit on the chamber's long benches, without assigned places, and there is room to spare, while in the Senate each of the 100 members has his own separate desk with no extra room. The Senate is generally considered the more "prestigeous" house, whose members have more power, hold a six-year term (vs. two for House members), and gain more publicity, than Representatives. That's the main reason you see a lot of House members run for the Senate; few have ever gone the other way (though this has happened, usually after a Senator has lost his seat and later made a comeback in the House).
By the way, the Senate chamber shown in Advise & Consent was not the real one but a studio mock-up, since it was then illegal to film or even photograph the Senate. (The House permitted it on special occasions.) This went unchanged until 1981. Nor were even radio broadcasts from the Senate permitted, which is why the scenes near the end, where the President listens to the vote on Leffingwell over the radio, with the Senators heard voting behind the announcer, would never have actually been possible in real life.
Otto Preminger filmed the movie entirely on location in Washington, even the interiors of real houses and buildings, with two exceptions: the Senate and the President's office, both of which were studio sets in Hollywood. (Compared to the realism in the rest of the film, the President's office really sticks out as just a set.) That's why it's interesting to see Dolly Harrison (Gene Tierney) and the two ambassadors' wives walking in the real Capitol, being shown through the door into the Senate gallery, then cut to their entering the chamber, a studio replica filmed months after they had shot their entrance into the real thing!
One other historical tidbit: until the Supreme Court building was constructed in the 1930s, the Court did in fact sit in the Capitol, directly under the Dome. This was eventually deemed an unwieldy situation as the legislative and judicial branches are constitutionally separate from one another, so the Justices finally got their own building, where the Court meets and works today.
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Deusvolt
15 years ago
Your knowledge of the procedures, history and architecture of the 3 Branches is amazing. I visited DC only once to tour the mall in a day and I didn't see a lot - only the WWI, WWII and Vietnam War memorials and of course, Lincoln. Intend to go back. Especially interested in the sculpture, friezes and paintings that adorn the Capitol.
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hobnob53
15 years ago
D.C. is a really interesting place as you've already discovered. Take a few days when you next get a chance to visit and see the Capitol and other sites (White House, Supreme Court, National Archives, Smithsonian, etc., plus of course the monuments). The Capitol is really a great place, and you'll enjoy it a lot. One thing shown in A&C you won't be able to see, unfortuantely, are the D.C. trolley cars (like the one Charles Laughton got out of at the beginning of the picture). They were withdrawn from service three years later, in 1965. But otherwise the city today is much more cosmopolitan than it was even in 1962. And definitely go see the Senate and House chambers -- best if they're in session when you visit. Just don't be too impressed with many of the members of Congress!
There's an old and true story of a young, green Congressman who seemed overawed at being a member of the House of Representatives. A veteran member told him not to worry: "For the first six months," he said, "you'll wonder how you got here. After that, you'll wonder how the rest of us got here!"
Oh, and thank you very much for your compliment. I always say there are only three things I know anything about: politics, movies, and I can't remember the third thing. Unfortunately that's pretty true! I was lucky in that my great-uncle was a member of Congress for 32 years, and I went to college in Washington, so combined with my lifelong interest in politics and government I really got an inside look at everything for several years.
Have a great time whenever you get back there!
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outnaway
15 years ago
Just a minor correction and one more bit of info on the film...
...the US Supreme Court met in the Capitol from 1801 to 1935, but it was never in a room under the dome. Under the dome is the crypt which is a one story room that has the vaulting and pillars to support the dome above, and used to have an opening in center of the floor to view another level down to a room that was supposed to have the remains of George Washington. Washington's descendants did not wish to have his remains moved from Mount Vernon so that room has been empty to this day.
The Supreme Court first met in the Capitol in 1801 in a room that is now known as S-146 and S-146A. The Capitol was barely one-third done when the government did its mandatory move from Philadelphia to Washington in November, 1800. Only the original Senate wing was built. The chamber for the House of Representatives would not be started until 1801 and not finished till 1810, so they met in what's now the Senate wing in large room that is now a committee room. After 1810, the Supreme Court met in a specially made room designed by Benjamin Latrobe on the lower floor of the Senate wing. That space was the site of the original Senate chamber, a two level open chamber with the senators meeting on the lower level and a mezzanine gallery level for spectators on the upper level, similar but much, much smaller to where the Senate meets now. That space was shoddily built and began to fall apart almost as soon as the building opened. Also this interior design did not match the outside of the building, as it had the Senate meeting on the lower level, while the outside of the building implies that the grand interior spaces would be on the the second floor. At this point, Latrobe took over construction of the Capitol and decided to place the Supreme Court chamber in the same place, but make it a one floor chamber, and to place above it a new two floor space for the Senate. This is what you'll see today if you visit the Capitol, though because of the blasted new rules that came with new Capitol Visitors Center (CVC), they don't show tourists the old Supreme Court chamber anymore. But it's there.
Latrobe's Supreme Court chamber is a beautiful design that elegantly solves a few problems. It's graceful low arches support his Senate chamber above and they also imply a much higher space than is really there. Though currently a very dark room it originally would not have been quite as dark, as the room faced east and would have got the morning sun, though it would have been a bit dark by evening. Currently the room's windows have been covered over by a 1960's extension to the Capitol.
After the current Senate wing was added in the 1850's, the Supreme Court moved up to the old Senate chamber, where they met from 1860 to 1935 when their new building was finished.
The grand house in the movie is called Tregaron and it's still in DC and still looks exactly the same. I'll continue this on a separate thread.
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glump
15 years ago
Good points all, except:
I worked in the Senate years before the public radio and TV broadcasts were allowed. Senate and House proceedings, however, were broadcast long before the public could hear them. They were broadcast on a closed circuit so that Senators and Congressmen could monitor floor proceedings from their offices. The White House was able to monitor these broadcasts well before they became public.
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hobnob53
15 years ago
Yes, but did they have a commercial-sounding radio announcer as heard in the movie? That aspect is in error.
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