The Largest White House Party Ever Was in Honor of Returning Vietnam POWs

Between Feb. 12 and April 4, 1973, U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifters flew 54 missions into Hanoi, North Vietnam, to pick up 591 American prisoners of war captured by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Called Operation Homecoming, the Air Force shuttled the former POWs first to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, then to military hospitals before finally returning home to American soil.

It wasn't long before all 591 erstwhile prisoners were formally invited to the White House for the largest formal dinner and party ever held by any commander in chief. The event had a total guest list of more than 1,300 that included movie stars Bob Hope, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, along with performances by Sammy Davis Jr., Irving Berlin and Vic Damone. The party was such a spectacle that it was broadcast live on ABC.

Despite the large guest list, President Richard Nixon's "Freedom Banquet" was an event open to only a select few in Washington. Political allies, socialites and even members of Congress were denied entry to what is still the largest party ever thrown by the White House.

Under a massive orange- and yellow-striped tent erected on the South Lawn, hundreds of veterans, former prisoners, celebrities and their families gathered to be served a dinner of Seafood Neptune and beef au jus by the White House staff. Despite a brief rainstorm, the crowd arrived in their formal dress uniforms -- whites for the U.S. Navy, dress blues for the U.S. Air Force and formal dress for the Army.

When Nixon took the stage, the crowd erupted into a raucous standing ovation, which must have been a boon to the president, who was in the middle of the Watergate investigation at the time. To begin the evening, he introduced the honorary chaplain for the prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton, Navy Capt. Charles Gillespie, who provided the invocation. A chorus of 35 POWs then sang the "POW Hymn," which was composed by prisoners in the camp.

An honor guard presented an American flag that had been constructed in secret by Air Force Lt. Col. John Dramesi. He used red underwear, a white handkerchief, a blue jacket and a gold blanket to reconstruct a version of Old Glory while being held in a prison camp. Dramesi had been held by the enemy since April 1967.

Nixon then took the stage to make a champagne toast to the evening's honored guests.

"The difficulty tonight is that there are so many honored guests, that we would be drinking all night and into the day," Nixon said. "I think you would be interested to know the advice I got from senior officers when I asked how the toast should be proposed. To a man, each one of them said, 'Do not propose a toast to us; we have been toasted and appreciate the great welcome we have received.'

"Most of them referred to the missing in action, those who have been killed in action, those who have served in Vietnam, to those serving all day all over the world," the president continued. "But one group I would like to mention particularly ... the brave men who took those B-52s in and did the job."

Nixon received another standing ovation for that remark. He was referring to the 1972 "Christmas Bombing" of North Vietnam that he believed led to the 1973 Paris Peace Accords and the eventual return of the prisoners. The actual toast was proposed to the wives and mothers of the POWs, whom Nixon called "the bravest and most magnificent women I have ever met in my life."

The POWs' response to the toast was led by Air Force Col. John P. Flynn, who had been held in North Vietnam since 1967. He led a toast to the president and praised his leadership, praise that was echoed by everyone in attendance. Nixon then handed the mic off to Bob Hope, the emcee, to begin the evening's show.

"Some of you guys were prisoners for so long, some of you missed my shows overseas," said Hope. "So we're gonna give you the whole works tonight. ... Let's face it, your luck couldn't hold out forever."

There were only 34 former prisoners who could not attend the show due to their ongoing medical problems. The United States also listed 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action, as well as the remains of some 1,200 killed in the fighting. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of more than a thousand Americans have been returned since 1973, but more than 1,600 are still unaccounted for.

In 2023, 50 years after their historic dinner party, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library held a recreation of the "Freedom Banquet." Nixon died in 1994, but surviving members of the Nixon family, Dr. Henry Kissinger and others who were present in 1973 welcomed nearly 150 former prisoners of war to the library's East Room to once again celebrate their homecoming.

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