Lost Capitol Hill: "Nuts!"

Capitol Hill has a couple favorite sons that are well-known: J. Edgar Hoover and John Philip Sousa come to mind. But there’s also some whose connection to the Hill are not nearly as well known. One of these is the General whose reply to a German request to surrender has become world famous as a model of succinctness: Anthony McAuliffe’s single word “Nuts.”

Today we will look at his history on the Hill.

Anthony McAuliffe was born on July 2, 1898 in the District. He was the first child of John and Alice McAuliffe, both born in DC of Irish parents. His father was a longtime clerk in the Interstate Commerce Commission, and they lived at 152 D Street SE.

Some time in the next few years, they moved – but just to the other side of Square 733. Their new home was 137 C Street SE, and it was here that McAuliffe lived until he went away to college. The reason for the move was simple, as over the next 10 years, another five children were added to the family: John, Kenneth, Eleanor, Alice, and Richard.

Square 733 in 1903. The two houses that McAuliffe lived in are marked with stars: 152 D in the lower right, 137 C on top. Just to the left of the latter is the infamous C Street house. (LOC)

Anthony McAuliffe’s school career at Eastern High School was not filled with drama, he was the sort of kid to enter Washington Post-sponsored contests, debating society debates, and take part in school musical performances rather than sporting events or theatrical performances. His performance in the debate was described in the Washington Post of March 15, 1914, thus:

The last of the preliminary debates of the season at Eastern High School was held Wednesday afternoon, when the question, “Resolved. That immigration into the United States should be further restricted by the literacy test” was discussed. Cameron Burton, Francis Deafendorf, and Albert Weber took the affirmative, and they were awarded the decision, while Anthony McAuliffe, Miss Ghodesia Ashraf, and Miss Emma Reh upheld the negative side of the question.

Nonetheless, on June 19, 1916, McAuliffe and 80 other members of his class were given their diploma at a ceremony in Poli’s Theater, next to the District building in downtown DC.

McAuliffe went off to West Virginia University, though he was there for only one year before transferring to West Point. Though nominally a member of the class of 1921, his schooling was expedited and so he graduated on November 1, 1918 — ten days before the end of the war.

In contrast to most members of the Army at the end of the war in Europe, McAuliffe stuck with the military, and so when the next war flared up, he had risen to the rank of general, and was a member of the 101stAirborne.

By December 1944, he was second in command of the regiment, and thus in charge when the Germans attacked as part of the Battle of the Bulge — his CO was back in the US attending a staff conference. On December 22, the German General whose troops were attacking, sent a formal message asking for McAuliffe to surrender. His debating tactics clearly honed since the ignominious defeat 30 years earlier, McAuliffe replied with one immortal word: “Nuts!”

The Germans did not, as threatened, annihilate the US troops in Bastogne, and the troops under McAuliffe’s command were thus able to hold out until reinforcements arrived. McAuliffe, and his single-word answer thereafter made their way into US history.

McAuliffe eventually retired from the army, and after 7 years working for American Cyanamid, retired to Silver Spring, MD in 1963. He died in 1977, and was buried not far from his birthplace at Arlington Cemetery.