Thoughts on the Restoring Honor Rally

It is safe to say that the "Restoring Honor" rally, organized by Glenn Beck, was an overwhelming success! The rally avoided overt political messages and honored the sacrifice of our brave soldiers, as noted by Sarah Palin's speech, and professed a return to religion.

There are disputes about the size of the crowd gathered on the Mall. All were well below how many appeared. Let's examine this a little more.

Below is a picture of the view down the Mall, from the Lincoln Memorial, taken on the day of the Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963.

It is estimated and agreed upon by many that the crowd who marched on Washington on that day in 1963 was 250,000.

Below is a picture taken on the day of the Restoring Honor Rally.


Some items to know: The paths/grassy area between the tree lines on either side of the Reflecting Pool fits 200,000; the attendance on 8/28/1963. Restoring Honor's stage was below the stage where Dr. King gave his "I Have a Dream" Speech on that day 47 years ago. The grassy area due south of the Reflecting Pool on the opposite side of the tree can fit about 150-200,000 people. On the north side of the Reflecting Pool between the trees and Constitution Gardens, more people are seen, but there is not an open grassy area to make a full determination of the crowd. Furthermore, the crowd for Restoring Honor stretched behind the National World War II Memorial, across 17th Street and almost all the way to the Washington Monument, as seen in the pic below.



Adding all those figures together, my knowledge of that area and what the area can hold, I estimate the crowd to be between 600,000 and 700,000...well above the predicted figures. From what those have told me that attended, the crowd was positive and there were no arrests, very similar to the types of crowds who attend the Freedom Concerts, which I attended this year, as I do every year (and will blog about down the road).

For attracting this large a crowd to our Nation's Capitol for a rally tells me a few things. First, Glenn Beck is a leader and a force in American politics. He has been around for a while, but his viewership strongly increased after his Fox News show premiered in January of 2009. Second, many Americans agree with the message of Glenn Beck's return to American values and I believe this message will resonate as we move into the Election Season in this very important Midterm Election. I think it was safe to say, Restoring Honor was a success...so much so that the Smithsonian wants items and artifacts to preserve from that day. Tip of the cap to Glenn on this one.

And on a side note, kind of as a follow up to my belief of the overt politics behind Race to the Top on which I recently blogged, US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, encouraged Education Department employees to attend Sharpton's rally, which to me, sounds like a violation of the Hatch Act. I bet Congress would be looking at this if it were a Republican who made Duncan's statement.