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The United States Marine Band: Music as Diplomacy

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  • The U.S. Marine Band: Music as Diplomacy - Photo 2

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    President Lyndon B. Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt review the troops at a state arrival ceremony, June 29, 1966.

    Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA
  • King Kalakaua Visiting Ulysses S. Grant in the White House

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    King Kalakaua of Hawaii dined with President Ulysses S. Grant on December 12, 1874. This was the first time the Marine Band played for a visited head of state.

    White House Collection/The White House Historical Association
  • The U.S. Marine Band: Music as Diplomacy - Photo 1

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    President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin greet Colonel John Bourgeois, Director of the U.S. Marine Band on June 16, 1992.

    George Bush Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

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Music has been an essential part of life in the White House from the earliest days of our nation, not only as a "companion" to divert, delight, and "sweeten many hours," as Thomas Jefferson professed, but also as an element of the pageantry accompanying international diplomacy. Through the years the United States Marine Band has musically represented the nation before world-wide audiences, including kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, in war and peace, in triumph and in tragedy. The White House calls upon the Marine Band to perform at welcoming ceremonies, state dinners, receptions, and other official functions.

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