of many of the nation's most prominent figures. The U.S. government rented Decatur House for its Secretaries of State, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren and Judah P. Benjamin. Beale bought the house for $60,000 and extensively renovated it. He held many glittering parties there and became Washington's most famous host. A reporter from the Washington Capital wrote in 1873 that "the old Decatur mansion will again rank first among the fashionable residences of our city." Decatur House also became the unofficial meeting place for the Republican Stalwarts, and Ulysses S. Grant frequently stayed there. Beale's daughter-in-law, Marie, bequeathed Decatur House to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1956. Ambassador to Austria-Hungary President Grant appointed Beale Ambassador to Austria-Hungary, in 1876. He served from 1876 to 1877, and displayed a talent for diplomacy. His lavish entertaining, tales of the American West, command of foreign languages, and warm personality made Beale and his wife popular figures in the Viennese court. His love of horses helped him win the trust of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. During his tenure, Beale sent frequent dispatches to the State Department on the war between Turkey and Serbia and the Eastern Question. Retirement In his retirement, Beale lived at Decatur House in Washington, D.C., with yearly visits to Tejon Ranch and more frequent visits to his horse farm at Ash Hill in Hyattsville, northeast of Washington, D.C. At Ash Hill he entertained friends such as Grant, who kept two Arabian horses stabled there, President Grover Cleveland and Buffalo Bill Cody. Ash Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Beale died at Decatur House in 1893 and is interred at Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester, Pennsylvania. His will was witnessed by Ulysses S. Grant and General William Tecumseh Sherman. Legacy His son Truxtun Beale was a diplomat to Persia, Greece, Romania and Serbia. Tejon Ranch, Bakersfield, California. Ash Hill, Hyattsville, Maryland Beale Air Force Base, a United States Air Force base in California. Beale Street (San Francisco) U.S. Route 66 Beale Street and monument in Kingman, Arizona, and Beale's Springs nearby. Beale Memorial Library, Bakersfield, California. Beale Mountains in California. USS Beale (DD-40), a Paulding-class destroyer ship of the U.S. Navy. USS Beale (DD-471), a Fletcher-class destroyer ship of the U.S. Navy. In popular culture The actor Stanley Lachman played Beale in two 1957 episodes, "The Camel Train" and "The California