Dinner in Honor of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

In this photograph, taken by Joseph J. Scherschel of National Geographic on April 4, 1970, members of the press, including Helen Thomas at right, gather around a Steinway piano in the Entrance Hall during a dinner hosted by President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The grand piano was gifted to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a ceremony on December 10, 1938 on behalf of the Steinway family. The 300,000th Steinway piano, it was built to replace another Steinway which had been given to the White House in 1903. Visible on the wall behind the guests is the official portrait of President Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms as president from from 1885-1889, then from 1893-1897. The oil on canvas portrait was painted by Eastman Johnson in 1891.