Officers and Directors
of the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia
(2019-2020)
William P. Binzel, Director
Bill Binzel is a native of southwestern Ohio who has resided in the Washington, DC area for the past forty years. A retired attorney, he spent twelve years on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, eleven years in corporate affairs in the financial services sector, and ten years with a nonprofit foundation. His undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin is in U.S. History. A life-long student of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and the Lincoln assassination, Mr. Binzel is also vice president of the Surratt Society (an organization dedicated to the study of Lincoln’s assassination), a docent at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, MD, and a narrator of the Surratt Society’s twelve-hour bus tours of the twelve-day escape route of John Wilkes Booth from Ford’s Theatre to the Garrett’s farm in Caroline County, VA.
Susan Claffey, Director
Susan Claffey is a three-time past President and Vice President of the Round Table and has held various other positions on the Board other years. Susan also serves on the Board of Directors of the Monocacy National Battlefield Foundation. She is also a past President, Vice President, and board member of the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington (http://dccivilwarforts.org/) and currently sits on the Alliance’s Advisory Board.
A healthcare non-profit executive, Susan is passionate about all things medical and all things Civil War. She blames her Civil War obsession with growing up in Springfield, Illinois, although her obsession truly blossomed when she moved to the Washington DC metro area. Susan holds B.S. degrees in biological sciences and medical technology and an MBA degree.
Kurt DeSoto, Vice-President & Director
Kurt DeSoto has previously served as both President and Vice President of the Round Table and has held various other positions on the Board other years. Kurt explains that his love of history was germinated by his high school teachers at Douglas MacArthur High School in San Antonio, Texas, and at Thomas Edison High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and then was incubated by the legendary Professor Michael Foley, arguably one of the best and engaging professors at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. His interest in Civil War history was nurtured when he was invited on a tour of Gettysburg led by member Henry Rivera and then was encouraged to get involved with the Round Table by Susan Claffey.
Kurt is an attorney at the law firm of Wiley Rein LLP, where he represents clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other government agencies. He received his law degree at Columbia University in New York City.
Andrew Evatt, Service Agent (and former President and Director)
Andrew Evatt served as a Director of the Round Table for almost 10 years and served as President during the 2013-2014 program year. He also serves as the organization's service agent. Mr. Evatt lives in Annandale, Virginia.
Robert Hemingway, Director
Rob Hemingway is a native of Raleigh, NC and now resides in Woodbridge VA. He is a graduate of North Carolina Central University. After 15 years as the CEO of an Geospatial engineering and Consulting company, he retired from the private sector. He is currently serving as an Active Duty Officer, in the DC Army National Guard and plans to retire again after serving his Country.
Aside from being an avid Civil War buff, Rob enjoys SCUBA Diving and Cycling. In his spare time, he teaches SCUBA Diving and spoils his two nieces.
Rob has been a member of our Round Table for many years, and is a first-time Director.
Paul Mazzuca, Director
Paul Anthony Mazzuca is a licensed professional tour guide and tour director in the Washington, D.C. area. Paul is also a member of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society; the Historical Society of Washington; the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, DC; and the Smithsonian Associates.
Paul has been a member of our Round Table for many years, and became a first-time Director this year.
David Rosen, Director
David Rosen, Director
David Rosen traces his interest in the Civil War to a
drizzly Adirondack afternoon some 60 years ago, when the mother of a close
friend chose to attack the threatening prospect of children’s boredom by taking
some of the kids to a downtown Glens Falls bookstore. There David was enchanted by
the poetry of the title A Stillness at Appomattox, and, after shelling out 35
cents for the paperback, took a deep breath and resurfaced for air only after
finishing Bruce Catton’s Army of the Potomac trilogy—in time to be aware of some of
the Centennial events and their confused relationship to the Civil Rights
movement that was, in effect, the climax of the Centennial.
At Yale, David's interest in the Civil War evolved primarily
through being a student and employee—and later a friend—of Robert Penn Warren.
After a career in labor law, ending with 25 years as General
Counsel of the Transport Workers Union, AFL-CIO, David, now in retirement, enjoys reading about the Civil War (among other topics), principally the relationship between
the War and literature and drama. He maintains a particular interest in opera
performance during the War, beginning with Lincoln’s decision to attend Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera en route from Springfield to Washington.
Douglas B. Stuart, Treasurer & Director
Douglas Stuart, Col. (Ret.) is serving as the Treasurer of the Round Table for the third consecutive program year. He has been a member for over 10 years.
Col. Stuart has written about his experience in
Vietnam in his 1981 work The Fall of Vietnam: A Soldier's Retrospection, in
which he reflects upon the war, the military principles demonstrated there, and
the reasons for the South Vietnamese failure. He is a Certified Public Accountant with a practice based in Fort Washington, Maryland. Douglas Stuart, Col. (Ret.) is serving as the Treasurer of the Round Table for the third consecutive program year. He has been a member for over 10 years.
Martha Vázquez, Secretary & Director
Martha is serving her first one-year term as
Secretary of the Round Table. She has
had a life-long personal and academic interest in history. Martha earned her undergraduate degree from the
University of Pittsburgh in Latin American History. She continued to pursue her passion at the
University of London, which awarded her a master’s degree in Modern Military
History. Martha’s thesis at the
University of London was on military death and remembrance, which focused on
the creation of the military cemeteries in France following World War I and the
evolution of the military monument.
Martha is an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP where her practice
focuses primarily on employment litigation.
She received her law degree from Washington and Lee School of Law.
Martha has a personal connection to the Civil War both from
her time living in Lexington, Virginia, and through her great, great
grandfather, George Waddell, who served honorably with the 105th (“Wildcat”)
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Jon F. Willen, President & Director (Chair)
Jon Willen, M.D. is a retired infectious disease specialist who many know as the guy in the bloody apron at Civil War reenactments. Dr. Willen has put his medical expertise into researching the medical treatment Abraham Lincoln received during his time as President, most notably the actions of Dr. Charles Leale and other doctors who rushed to Lincoln’s aid at the assassination.
Dr. Willen served last year as Vice-President of the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia and currently serves as the Vice President of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (http://www.lincolngroup.org/). He is also a docent at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in DC and at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.