Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C18151
Head table set up for a luncheon in honor of Prime Minister of Japan Hayato Ikeda. The painting over the fireplace is an 1869 portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George P. A. Healy and was donated to the White House in 1939. The inscription in the green marble fireplace is taken from a letter written by John Adams to his wife, Abigail, and reads, “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.” State Dining Room, White House, Washington, D.C.