In Washington, DC, Helen Taft, wife of President William Taft, and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry trees on the north bank of the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial. The event was organized to celebrate a donation by the Japanese government of 3,020 cherry trees to the United States government.
Planting Japanese cherry trees along the Potomac was first proposed by socialite Eliza Scidmore, who raised funds for the venture. Helen Taft had lived in Japan while her husband was chairman of the Philippine Commission, and knowing the beauty of cherry blossoms, she embraced Scidmore’s idea. After learning of the first lady’s interest, the Japanese consul in New York suggested donating the trees to the US government from the city of Tokyo.
In January 1910, 2,000 Japanese cherry trees arrived in Washington from Japan but fell prey to disease during the journey. In response, a Japanese citizen donated the funds to transport a new batch of trees, and 3,020 specimens were taken from the famous collection on the bank of the Arakawa River in Adachi Ward, a suburb of Tokyo. In March 1912, the trees arrived in Washington, and on March 27, the first two trees were planted along the Potomac River tidal basin in an official ceremony. The other trees were then planted along the basin, in East Potomac Park, and on the White House grounds.
The flowering trees immediately proved popular with visitors to the Washington Mall, and in 1934 city commissioners sponsored a three-day celebration of the blossoming trees at the end of March, which became the annual cherry blossom festival. After World War II, Washington cherry tree cuttings were returned to Japan to restore the Tokyo collection decimated by US bombing during the war.
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