A Brief History of White House State Dinners

U.S. Grant and the King of the Sandwich Islands Using the modern definition, the very first state dinner took place in 1874, when President Ulysses S.
The White House Historical Association (White House Collection)

U.S. Grant and the King of the Sandwich Islands
Using the modern definition, the very first state dinner took place in 1874, when President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife welcomed Kind David Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands, which included Hawaii, the future fiftieth state.

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