President-elect Abraham Lincoln stayed at the Willard prior to his inauguration. Thomas Nast sketched this scene in the lobby of Lincoln sitting before the fire.

Abraham Lincoln in Willard's Hotel in Washington, on the eve of his inauguration, sitting by the fireplace, friendless and solitary, holding newspaper; March 1861. Reproduction of drawing by Thomas Nast. Illustrated in: Agnes Rogers, Abraham Lincoln, 1939.