14. The first state visit to the White House did not occur until 1874, almost 100 years into the United States’ existence
Despite the strategic and diplomatic importance of hosting foreign heads of state, it would not be until 1874, nearly a century after the founding of the United States of America, that one would visit the White House. In 1874, the newly elected King of Hawaii, Kalākaua, became the first when he visited Ulysses S. Grant at his official residence, enjoying the first state dinner ever hosted by an American President. Although another state dinner would not be held until 1931, when President Hoover hosted King Prajadhipok of Siam, the tradition of state visits had been started and the number swiftly increased.
Two years later, in 1876, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil became the first South American head of state to visit the United States. Although followed by President Justo Rufino Barrios of Guatemala, the first North American, in 1882, the geographical gap separating the American continent from the rest of the world would take decades to be broken down. It would not be until 1913 that a European head of state visited the United States: Prince Albert I of Monaco. After a pause to permit for the World War I and peacetime diplomacy to resume, the aforementioned visit of King Prajadhipok in 1931 saw the first Asian head of state visit, and, finally, in 1943, with President Edwin Barclay of Liberia, an African head of state completed the continental checklist.