President Harding Receives Sioux and Crow Chiefs

In this photograph, President Warren G. Harding meets with leaders from the Crow and Sioux nations on the South Grounds on the White House. The group stands in front of the West Garden, which was reimagined as a green theater for official ceremonies and rededicated as the Rose Garden during the John F. Kennedy administration. Here, President Harding and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles H. Burke meet with chiefs including Plenty Coups or Alaxchíia Ahú from the Crow nation, and chiefs Frost, Owl, and Red Horse. The chiefs met with Harding at the White House to present him with a tobacco pouch after representing their people at the burial of the Unknown Soldier, held at Arlington National Ceremony on November 11, 1921. Also in attendance at the burial were presidents Woodrow Wilson and William H. Taft and Vice President Calvin Coolidge. Since 1921, presidents have paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, often in observance of military commemorations including Veterans Day and Memorial Day.