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White House History Profile picture
@WhiteHouseHstry
Jan 15, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
On April 4, 1970, President Richard Nixon and First Lady Patricia Nixon hosted a white-tie dinner in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, former King of England Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. 1/9

Image Credit: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum / NARA Image
The Duke had visited the White House many times before—in fact, during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, he visited five times alone. He also visited President Woodrow Wilson and President Harry S. Truman at the White House. 2/9
A number of famous guests attended the dinner, including the eldest daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, dancer and singer Fred Astaire, and pilot Charles Lindbergh. 3/9
During the dinner, President Nixon delivered a toast honoring the Duke while the Duke of Windsor delivered a toast in honor of his wife, Baltimore-born Wallis Simpson: 4/9
“I have had the good fortune to have a wonderful American girl consent to marry me. I have had 30 years of loving care, devotion and companionship-- something I have cherished above all else.” 5/9
Several decades earlier the Duke’s marriage to American divorcée Wallis Simpson sparked a constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom. On December 11, 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne after proposing to Simpson. 6/9
After losing political support for the marriage, the king chose to abdicate, becoming the only monarch in British history to do so after reigning for only 326 days. As a result, he was styled as the Duke of Windsor and his younger brother, George VI became the new king. 7/9
In the years after WWII, declassification efforts revealed that the Duke and Duchess were sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Historians continue to debate over the extent of their support, and television shows such as The Crown have explored their relationship with Adolf Hitler. 8/9
To learn more about Entertaining at the White House, listen to this episode of our podcast, The #1600Sessions: 9/9 whitehousehistory.org/1600-sessions/…

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More from @WhiteHouseHstry

White House History Profile picture
Dec 19, 2024
Meet Abby Gunn Baker – the woman responsible for the creation of the White House China Collection. In 1901, Baker was tasked with turning public opinion toward preservation by Colonel Theodore A. Bingham after he discovered previous presidential State Services had been discarded.

📷: White House Historical AssociationImage
To combat the poor preservation of the State Services, Colonel Bingham asked Baker to write a scholarly article on the subject, which led her to spend four months studying the remaining presidential china in the White House.
By 1903, Abby Baker’s first article on the preservation of the services was published in Munsey’s Magazine. First Lady Edith Roosevelt (pictured) took great interest in Baker’s article and formed the White House china collection.

🖼️: White House Historical Association/White House CollectionImage
Read 6 tweets
White House History Profile picture
Dec 18, 2024
First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s iconic hairdo was the work of renowned salon owner Elizabeth Arden. Though Mrs. Eisenhower sported the hairstyle since the 1920s, it was perfected at Arden’s Paris salon while she and General Dwight Eisenhower lived abroad during the 1940s. Image
Image
When Eisenhower won the 1952 presidential election, Arden offered to dispatch a hairdresser to Washington to help the new first lady style her “precious, much discussed bangs.” Mrs. Eisenhower graciously accepted the offer. Image
Image
In order to preserve the first lady’s signature look, Arden suggested that one of her stylists make a structural diagram to give any hairdresser a guide to recreating Mrs. Eisenhower’s look. It worked: the first lady wore bangs for the rest of her life. Image
Read 4 tweets
White House History Profile picture
Oct 18, 2024
Since 1817, President James Monroe's gilded bronze and mirrored plateau has impressed White House visitors.

Image: White House Historical Association Image
After the British burned the White House in 1814, President Monroe purchased Parisian furniture to refurbish the scorched Executive Mansion. Among the newly acquired furniture was the gilded centerpiece, made by the Parisian firm Denière et Matelin.

Image: White House Collection/WHHAImage
Described as "mat gilt with garlands of fruit and vines," Monroe's plateau featured 16 figures presenting wreaths and pedestals. It is accompanied by three baskets, a pair of urns, and stands, which remain today.

Image: White House Historical Association Image
Read 10 tweets
White House History Profile picture
Jun 10, 2024
One of First Lady Edith Roosevelt’s White House legacies was the introduction of garden parties (pictured). Before becoming first lady, she held extravagant garden parties at the Roosevelt’s family home in Oyster Bay, New York.

📷: @SagamoreHillNHS Image
@SagamoreHillNHS Mrs. Roosevelt’s White House garden parties gained such traction that local papers announced that her inaugural party as “the first time in the history of the White House that the mistress of the mansion has given this kind of function.”

🖼️: White House Collection/WHHA Image
@SagamoreHillNHS With hundreds of guests attending her inaugural party, she wore an elegant white taffeta and organdy dress, trimmed with ruffles and lace. Pictured is Mrs. Roosevelt’s 1905 garden party on the South Lawn of the White House. 

📷: @librarycongress Image
Read 8 tweets
White House History Profile picture
Mar 12, 2021
It’s #FirstLadyFriday, and today we’re highlighting the life of First Lady Jane Pierce, born in New Hampshire on this day in 1806.

Image: Library of Congress

1/7
Jane Appleton married Franklin Pierce in 1834, though she was uninterested in politics and the spotlight that came with it.

Image: White House Collection/White House Historical Association

2/7
Their marriage was marked by tragedy, as they had lost two young children before Pierce’s election to the presidency in 1852. Unfortunately, death followed them to the White House.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
White House History Profile picture
Feb 27, 2021
Salvadore Catalano, a Sicilian-born sailor, became an American naval hero as a critical player in a secret mission during the First Barbary War.

A native of Sicily, his composure and knowledge of Tripoli Harbor were essential to the mission.

Image: Library of Congress

1/7
In one of the most courageous actions in American naval history, Catalano piloted the Intrepid for Lieutenant Stephen Decatur’s destruction of the captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor in 1804.

Image: U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection/U.S. Navy Photograph

2/7
The mission to destroy the USS Philadelphia was perilous. Pirates (also called Corsairs) on board the Philadelphia hailed Decatur, but it was Catalano who answered, buying time for the Intrepid crew to attach ropes to the Philadelphia to pull the vessels together.

3/7
Read 7 tweets

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