Housewarming Party at the U.S. Naval Observatory

This photograph was taken by Ricardo Thomas on September 7, 1975, during the housewarming party for the vice president's residence at the United States Naval Observatory. Here, Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller invites President Gerald R. Ford, First Lady Betty Ford, and their daughter Susan Ford to tour the master bedroom of the vice president's residence. The bed features a distinctive wood and brass headboard and footboard designed by German surrealist artist Max Ernst. Though Rockefeller did not live at the house and only used it for entertaining, he donated the elaborate $35,000 bedframe to the master bedroom to support artistic innovation. The first vice president to live in the Naval Observatory was Walter F. Mondale, who moved into the house with his family in 1977.