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Ephemera collection from President Richard Nixon’s dinner honoring the Apollo 11 astronauts at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on August 13, 1969, highlighted by an Apollo 11 presentation folder, 11.25 x 9, containing a metallic reproduction of the lunar plaque, signed in the lower border in felt tip by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin. The plaque reproduces the historic inscription, “Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon The Moon,” with the printed facsimile signatures of the three astronauts and President Richard Nixon, and is captioned below, “President’s Dinner Honoring Apollo 11 Astronauts, August 13, 1969.”
Originating from Captain and Mrs. H. C. Weart, the group also includes: the official White House invitation, bearing the presidential seal and requesting their attendance at the black-tie dinner in the Los Angeles Ballroom; a personalized non-transferable admission card for “Captain and Mrs. H. C. Weart”; a Century Plaza Hotel welcome letter to the Wearts, dated August 13, 1969, signed by hotel executives Harry Mullikin and Dan McClaskey; a yellow “Presidential Party—Apollo XI Dinner” windshield parking pass; the official presidential-seal dinner menu; a table assignment card marked “116”; and three gold-tone Apollo 11 commemorative matchbooks featuring the mission insignia and the names of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. In overall fine condition, with toning to the folder covers and some staining to the inside; the other items also bear scattered spotting or staining.
The August 13, 1969, Century Plaza dinner was the first state dinner held outside the White House in more than a century, and was dubbed the ‘Dinner of the Century’ by the press. Some 1,440 guests attended, including Vice President Spiro Agnew, Governor Ronald Reagan, dozens of other governors, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, and diplomats from 83 nations. The event capped a remarkable day for the astronauts, who had completed their post-flight quarantine only three days earlier and were feted with ticker-tape parades in New York and Chicago before arriving in Los Angeles that evening. During the dinner, President Nixon presented Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
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