How did Daniel Burnham become involved with the McMillan Commission in Washington, D.C.?

In 1901, Daniel Burnham became the de facto chairman of the Senate Park Commission, which was commonly known as the McMillan Commission after U.S. Senator James McMillan, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia.

Following his successful work on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which had fostered his deep interest in urban planning, Burnham was selected to lead the effort to re-envision the historic core of Washington, D.C. As part of his leadership role, he invited his friend Charles McKim and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to join the commission to help enlarge and refine the original 1791 plan by Pierre-Charles L’Enfant.12