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19 14 years at the Capitol, survived "five presidents, five secretaries of the interior, five secretaries of war, two supervising army engineers, and countless committee chairmen, senators, and representatives." He resigned in 1865 when Secretary of the Interior James Harlan stripped him of all of his authority. This concluded one of the most productive and thankless chapters in the life of a great Ameri- can architect. During his 14 years in Washington, Walter transformed an idiosyncratic building into an inspiring monument, one ranking high on the world's roster of architectural achievements…. For all his works of magnificence … Walter left the city without so much as a handshake or a word of farewell at the train station. 6 It is Thomas Ustick Walter's Dome that graces the Capitol today, having stood for over 150 years as our greatest national icon. In 1997, my first year as Archi- tect of the Capitol, I climbed into the interstitial space between the inner and outer domes, guided by AOC Capitol maintenance staff (fig. 8). Thus began my stew- ardship efforts of Walter's creation, which was in great need of attention. AT THE WITnESS TABlE In my 10 years as Architect of the Capitol, I testified at more than 50 hearings before a variety of House and Senate Committees as a member of the Capitol Police Board and the Capitol Guide Board, as well as on issues directly impacting the mission of the Architect of the Capitol agency. AOC budget hearings were certainly more involved and difficult to prepare for than the oth- ers, and I always invested long hours in detailed prepa- ration. Appearing as a witness at my first appropriations hearing presented a very steep learning curve. It was virtually impossible for me to feel comfortable sitting at the witness table facing photographers squatting on the floor at the base of the dais, while being cross-examined by committee members looking down at me from their elevated positions, with TV cameras grinding away from the sides of the hearing room. As a visually-oriented person, I have always been more comfortable with some form of graphics to help make points in my presentations more understandable. I prefer enhancing my testimony with charts, prioritized lists of important projects, and presentation renderings. At my first AOC budget hearing, on Wednesday, 12 February 1997—just 7 days after having been sworn in as Architect of the Capitol—I introduced the basic min- imalist budget prepared by William Ensign, the Acting Architect of the Capitol, on a series of hastily-prepared presentation boards. I vowed that I would be thoroughly prepared at the budget presentations the following year. "lEAkS APlEnTy" In a New York Times article of 24 June 1997, entitled "Leaks Aplenty in Capitol Dome," Eric Schmitt played Fig. 8. Walter's 1859 drawing of a section through the Dome (detail), showing crawl spaces THE CAPITOL DOME