Among the Guardsmen
Blocks from the Capitol, residents and business owners must pass through military checkpoints to go about their day.
Photographs by Tavon Taylor
Beyond the dozen National Guardsmen stationed behind the Library of Congress, the seven-foot-tall fence lining the back side of the Capitol, and the men in balaclavas carrying assault rifles, 67-year-old Rick Genderson sells liquor and old wine in his store, Schneider’s of Capitol Hill. With its narrow aisles stocked with gin and brandy and rare wine labels—an 1887 Constantino Port, a 1953 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache—Schneider’s has been a go-to spot for lawmakers and their hangers-on for more than seven decades, since Harry Truman was promoting the Fair Deal and America only had 48 states. Its owners have
