The Nixons Welcome Members of the 1972 U.S. Summer Olympic Team

In this photograph, taken by Andrew Grove on August 17, 1972, First Lady Pat Nixon and her daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower receive members of the United States Olympic Team in the State Dining Room prior to their departure for the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, West Germany. Among the attendees at the reception were members of the 1972 men's Olympic basketball team. Undefeated since the sport became part of the Olympic competition in 1936, the American team suffered a devastating defeat to the Soviet Union during the men's basketball final on September 9, 1972. The 1972 Summer Olympics also became infamous for a terrorist attack on September 5, 1972, which resulted in the deaths of two Israeli athletes and nine others held hostage by the Palestinian militant group the Black September Organization.