Tokens Logo Carved Lamp

Introduction
About This Exhibit
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
William J. Clinton
Gifts of State

Order the Catalog
Presidential Library System
Exhibit Hall

 

Tokens Logo
Tokens Logo

Teapot

AN EXHIBITION PRESENTED BY THE
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
W
ASHINGTON, DC


As the highest representative of the people and government, the President accepts gifts on behalf of the United States of America. The phenomenon, as old as the Presidency itself, grows with each administration: Today a President may receive 15,000 gifts a year. They come from every state in the nation and every country in the world. Gifts from foreign leaders continue a rich diplomatic tradition of exchange between heads of state; those from citizens, both Americans and others, symbolize an inherently democratic exercise - ordinary people freely addressing, in every manner and form, the President of the United States.

Citations
"Teapot, Gift to President Franklin Roosevelt from Olav and Märtha, The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway, 1939, National Archives and Records Administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library."

"Carved Lamp, Gift to President and Mrs. Kennedy from Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, Ivory, Wood, 17 1/2 x 7 7/16 inches. (detail)."