 His humor caused him trouble during his time in Washington . He was known to greet citizens walking by his office on the White House tour by saying to them , " If you look on me as a wild animal , be kind enough to throw peanuts at me " . This prompted Wilson to move Marshall 's office to the Senate Office building , where he would not be disturbed by visitors . In response to a proposal to the board of the Smithsonian Institution to send a team to excavate for ruins in Guatemala , Marshall suggested that the team instead excavate around Washington . When asked why , he replied that , judging by the looks of the people walking on the street , they should be able to find buried cave @-@ men no more than six feet down . The joke was not well received , and he was shut out of board meetings for nearly a year . 
