Podcast
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Featuring Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States
New Year's Day Receptions
Gallery
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President Andrew Johnson receives guests as they stream through the East Room in 1866.
Parley's Reminiscences -
A line of well-wishers waits at the North Entrance of the White House to greet President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905.
Library of Congress -
Military members, who were admitted ahead of the general public, wait outside of the White House gates for the reception in 1909.
Library of Congress -
Members of the police department contain the line of citizens waiting outside the White House gates for a chance to shake the president's hand in 1911.
Library of Congress -
The line for the New Year's reception reached down the White House sidewalk, wound out beyond the gates, and continued around the block bordering the old State, War, and Navy building (now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building) as anxious citizens attended the first New Year's reception to be held in eight years in 1922.
Library of Congress -
Immediately following the final handshake, President and Mrs. Coolidge are photographed in front of the White House with Military and Naval aides who assisted with the reception in 1927.
Library of Congress -
Men, women, and children stood in a line of 3,303 people for hours in the cold and wind for the chance to shake hands with the president in 1927.
Library of Congress
About this Gallery
On January 1, 1801, the first public reception was held in the President's House, and a democratic social custom began. From 1801 until its end in 1932, the New Year's Reception at the White House was a tradition met with anticipation by diplomats, government officials, military officers, and the public alike. Everyone from the common citizen to the highest-ranking diplomat was welcomed. By the early 20th century, crowds swelled to more than 6,000, and a line on the sidewalk outside the White House snaked out beyond the gates and around the block bordering the old State, War, and Navy building (now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building).
Year after year, details of the reception—floral decorations, dresses worn by the ladies, and musical selections—made front-page stories in the Washington newspapers. Spanning more than a century and a quarter and only cancelled a few times because of wars, illness or the president's travel schedule, the New Year's Reception became a major event in the social life of the nation's capital. The newspapers delighted in coloring their annual review of the reception with anecdotes. During the Great Depression, one man mistook the line of people waiting at the White House for a bread line.
President Herbert Hoover held the last New Year's Day reception in 1932. Yet, J.W. Hunefeld, a man who prided himself with being first in line for many years, waited forlornly at the White House gates in 1934, because "he wanted to make sure the president hadn't changed his mind."
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