READING DURING DINNER

President Carter once permitted his daughter Amy, 9, to bring books to a state dinner. Amy was spotted quietly reading The Story of the Gettysburg Address and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. A senator tried to get her to stop reading to eat her spinach, but no report indicates he had success.

FIRST LADIES’ SPAT

The state dinner in 1987, held by President Reagan, was reportedly marred by tension between first ladies Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev. Nancy Reagan later called the notion “so silly”, but Raisa Gorbachev’s body language suggested otherwise.

PANDA PROTEST

At a state dinner for Chinese President Jiang Zemin, White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier served marzipan panda bears. Fresh marzipan candy, made mostly from finely ground almonds and sugar. As officials enjoyed the delicacy, humans rights protesters outside the White House bitterly picketed the celebration.

COULDN’T KEEP FOOD DOWN

In January of 1992, Former President George H W Bush reportedly threw up at a state dinner in Japan, into the lap of Kiichi Miyazawa, then-Prime Minister of Japan. Bush’s spokesman said after the episode, “that Bush had the kind of gastroenteritis commonly known as intestinal flu”.

A DANCE WITH THE QUEEN

After a meal of cold salmon, roast beef, Brie and mousse, President Ford and Queen Elizabeth danced at a state dinner of July 1976.

BUSINESS SUITS TO DINNER

As officials arrived in clad tuxes to state dinners in 1959 and 1987, Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev — guests of honor at the respective occasions — sported business suits.

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