Zip Codes and Postcodes

In Britain we have postcodes. The postcode for the House of Commons is SW1A 0AA. The SW is the postcode area. (other examples are NN - Northampton area; MK - Milton Keynes area; WS - Walsall area; LE - Leicester area). The 1A is the postcode district within the area. (I live in MK4, I grew up in WS9). Each district is subdivided into sectors (BBC Northampton is in NN1 2). The final two letters are the smallest unit  (known as the postcode unit )- and may represent a single street, part of a street or even an individual building. (The Palace of Westminster has AA for the Commons and PW for the Lords).

Zipcodes in the US are numeric - the basic unit has five numbers - which can cover an area as small as the Senate (20510) and the House of Representatives (20515)

The first three numbers are the Sectional Center Facility - which is the central mail processing facility for that area. The first number represents a number of states (Primary State Prefix), the second and third a region withinn the area designated by the first number (SCF). The final two digits (local zip) represent sorting areas, which may be a city or town, part of a city or town, or a smaller settlement. 

I spent the last week in 20015 and am now in 22308 (can you work out where?). In order to give a more precise location there is "ZIP+4", this may be as small as a city block. The zipcode for Politics and Prose is 20008-2024.

The Making of the President

One of the delights of visiting Washington DC is to visit the many bookstores (though sadly Trovers and the Borders near the National Press Club have now closed). I get lots of new ideas - and pick up books which are either unavailable in the UK or are cheaper.

I've already visited Politics and Prose; Borders at 18th & L Street; the George Washington University Bookstore; and the bookstore in the Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress. Unbelieveably, I can still lift my case!

Already I have original editions of  "The Making of the President 1960" and "...1972". They are great studies for anyone interested in political campaigning - as well as US political history. Theodore White (C-SPAN programme about the influence of Theodore White is available here.) was a political journalist, who wrote the first of the series (1960), and continued through 1972. He began a tradition of campaign books which has now mushroomed. He died in May 1986.

The view from the Library of Congress

I filmed this at about 1pm Washington time (6pm UK time)yesterday. The morning was spent catching up on the news [It is so good to be able to read the physical editions of The Hill, Politico & the Washington Post - I'm grateful for the ability to read them online from 3600 miles away - but it's nicer to read - and mark - the hard copies. I also rang & then emailed a number of Members' offices - to set up interviews in the coming days.

Having made my way to "the Hill" I popped into the Library of Congress Book/Gift shop - before making this video. Then I crossed to the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading room, which like the Congressional Research Service, is based in the Madison Building. I spent some wonderful hours reading the Washington Post from November 1974.

I made my way to Politics and Prose - where I picked up a signed copy of President Carter's Diaries. I have quite a bit of reading to do - and I'll be blogging about some of that soon.