Visitors From the East: President Buchanan Greets Visitors from Far Away, 1860

This 2011 oil on canvas painting by Peter Waddell depicts President James Buchanan with his niece, and White House hostess, Harriet Lane greeting three Japanese visitors to the White House. The Japanese diplomats arrived in the United States in the spring of 1860. The visit was a response to the 1852-1854 expedition to Japan by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry that resulted in an open trade treaty between the two nations. ***Interior use only for publications***