First Lady Pat Nixon attending the reception ceremony

 
From left: Giant Pamdas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing

Two Giant Pandas were given to the United States as gifts by the government of
China following President Richard Nixon‘s visit in 1972. In return, the U.S. sent 
China a pair of musk oxen.The Pandas arrived at the National Zoo in Washington,
D.C.at a ceremony attended by First Lady Pat Nixon. During their time at the Zoo,
the pair had five cubs, but none of them survived past a few days.

Ling-Ling died suddenly from heart failure in December 1992, at which time she was
the longest-lived giant panda in captivity outside China. Hsing-Hsing would go on to
pass her record when he was euthanized by zookeepers in November 1999 at the
age of 28 due to painful kidney failure.

This is the last known high-quality photograph of Lincoln.

 


President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes
Booth. He was carried across the street to a small room in a boarding house
where he never regained consciousness. Lincoln died early the next morning.

The Presidential Box at Ford’s Theatre

The Philadelphia Derringer pistol Booth used to shoot  Lincoln is on display
at the museum in Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C.

 
John Wilkes Booth

The $3,000,000 Jefferson Memorial was officially dedicated by President Roosevelt
(left) on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson’s birthday. At that time, 
the statue of Jefferson had not yet been finished,due to material shortages during
World War II. The statue that was installed at the time was a plaster cast of the
sculptors work that had been painted to look like bronze. The finished bronze
statue was installed in 1947. 

 
Rare Official Program for the Dedication of the Jefferson Memorial

Apollo 13 crew from left: Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise, Command Module 
Pilot Jack Swigert, and Commander James Lovell.

The Medal of Freedom

The Apollo 13 astronauts receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Richard Nixon

 
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)

Roosevelt was resting at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia
for an upcoming appearance the the United Nations when he suddenly
collapsed in his chair unconscious and died of massive stroke. At the 
time Roosevelt had been sitting for a portrait painting by artist Elizabeth
Shoumatoff, known today as the famous Unfinished Portrait of FDR. He
was succeeded by Harry S. Truman.