Significant Events
Featured Collection
State Dinners
A State Dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs. It is part of an official State Visit and provides the president and first lady the opportunity to honor the visiting head of state and his or her spouse. In this collection, explore the history of
Canadian Visits to the White House
“Geography has made us neighbors,” President John F. Kennedy told the Canadian Parliament in May 1961, “History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies.”After Canada became a nation in 1867, ties between it and the United States grew closer. In 1927, the two countries received ambassadors. On December 6, Canadian Governor General Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess
Sicilian Salvador Catalano
Few people today know the story of a Sicilian-born sailor named Salvadore Catalano who became an early American naval hero. During the First Barbary War (1801-1805) against the North African states of Morocco, Tripoli, Algiers and Tunis, he was a critical player in a secret mission now fabled as one of the most courageous actions in American naval history. Catalano