The United States Marine Band: Music as Diplomacy

Gallery

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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
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King Kalakaua of Hawaii dined with President Ulysses S. Grant on December 22, 1874. This was the first time the Marine Band played for a visited head of state.
White House Collection/White House Historical Association
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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

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 international 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.