advocate for students, and eric jaffe, who works -- clerks for the supreme court clerks for clarence thomas. join the conversation-under, our #landmark cases and follow us at c-span. we referee source -- we have resources on our web page. >> tomorrow night tonight president trump and first lady

melania trump will welcome the president. in the 18th century, gorge washington human beinged guests to -- welcomed guests to his estate. >> on the east lawn of mt. vernon with the mt. vernon president. picked nor site of a private dinner on sunday with president trump and the french president. >> good to have a visit from president trump and president macron mt. vernon and an important commission in the connection of the fresh nation to the american nation, going back to all sorts of wonderful french visitors who have come here and george washington's

role in enabling the first alliance between the french and the americans which allowed the success in the war for independence. now, the visit coming up this monday, i can't give you details but what exactly will happen but they will be arriving here on the estate in the evening and touring a little bit of the grounds of george washington's mount vernon and the intention is to have dinner oregon the piazza, a private dinner. so a state visit but a private dinner, and we are very honored and looking forward to having them here. >> who does the cooking. >> the white house chef. >> has either president been to mount vernon before. >> no trump has not been to mount vernon yet, and president mac macron has not been here the their, the first lady visit

it mountain vernon and brought out of the spouses of the governors with a luncheon at the george washington presidential lie area. i was at that luncheon, a wonderful time. a fun time was had by all, as they say, and the first lady gave wonderful remarks which emphasized the mount vernonade's association. >> how often did george washington inviter foreign visitors to dine at mount vernon. >> that's an interesting question. how long did he ask foreign visitor -- i don't think there's any record of if specifically inviting someone. when he was in president, he was in new york where the copal was then in -- capital was, and then in philadelphia.

that said, there were a lot of foreign dignitaries that visit mount von northwestern, -- vernon, and when the revolution ended in 1783 and george washington reminds his commission -- resigns his commission and is visited bull out sorted of foreign dignity tears and there wasn't really a capital. so there was regular visitation of -- people wanted to see the great george washington and where he lived and that was the that the marquee delaw fayette visited. >> presidents have been visiting mount vernon since the very beginning, since john adams, who was second after george washington, of course, and

bringing foreign dignitaries to mount vernon has been a big part of what they've done, particularly in the 20th 20th century. the first one that i know of, i think, is the visit of president buchanan with the prince of england at the time, edward, who would go on to become edwards vii of england. but prince it ward came out and the full congress came out in that moment, and although he was the head of state it was an incredibly important moment because you have a visiting prince of the country america broke free from and that was important. in the 20th century, it was common for visitors of dignitary to come to mount vernon to plant trees or lay wreaths at the tomb. so there is a visit after world war i where we had

numerous of the generals from world war i, the french marshal, as well as other important visitors. the most famous visit by a head of state and the state dinner was during the kennedy administration. jackie kennedy had been riding out in mount vernon with the then-head of mount vernon, the superintendent, and she really came up with a great idea of trying to host a state dinner here on the east lawn at george washington's house and they did that on july 11, 1961, for the president of pakistan. so in some cases was referred to as the pakistani george washington because he was the great leader of that independence movement there. pakistan established itself. >> what was the scene like that night? >> well, there's wonderful videos of that evening, and i was a lot of pomp and

circumstance. they um with the potomac rivers which bit -- and president kennedy arrived in pt-109. the boat he commend in the pacific. and then the were brought by limousine up to the mansion hear and there were pictures on the lawn and then a performance on the bolling grown side of the mansion which had a performance by revolutionary era soldiers and then a wonderful banquet on the east lawn here. in a tent designed by tiffany in's it and was wonderful. >> what are the details. people want to know but what they wore and the famous. >> i don't know what gowns people were wearing. i'm sure they were fantastic. certainly in the images you can see what they looked like. i'm not certain of all the other

famous guests. bobby kennedy was there and hundred -- lyndon johnson was there, and henry deponce was there who was a mentor of jacqueline kennedy. and there was also controversial, i think, that well know after the fact, certainly it was a very expensive affair, probably the first state dinner outside of washington, dc after the capital moved to washington, dc. and so there was criticism that it was an expense that the government should not have gone. then also an effort to keep themake down here in mount vernon and they sprayed ddt all over the area to kill off the bugs and then there was concern that the food might not be good,

but a they tasted the food and said, let's go for it. that's a from a memoir from a sect of jackie kennedy. >> how did the weather hold up. >> it was good weather and people were smoking which would not be allowed today. >> the state dinner expected tuesday next week, private dinner on monday. what do you hope the takes from the experience of being here at mount vernon. >> one is this is an answer by the first lady to the experience they had at the eiffel tower. just the four of them eating at the eiffel tower in paris and i think it's extraordinary for us that she selected mount vernon as the answer to the eiffel daughter there's an opportunity to be -- it's a very different view. obviously an urban situation but an extraordinary place and an important place here, where the

resting place of george washington, the father of our country. i'd very much interested in telling them the story of the keys of the bass steel, which -- bastille in the passage way, and the are lafayette was a great hero of our war and was the commander of the national guard in paris when the bastille fell, the prison represents tyranny against which this revolutionary fervor is appearingen when the bastille falls and the take this key to the george washington because he is the missionary of liberty to the patriarch of liberty and that key which george washington played she presidential mansion in philadelphia, brought it back their mount vernon and hanging in the central passage way for

220 years. so that is an important connection between our french friends and their revolution and our revolution, and that's why i think visit is the first state visit of the french president is so crucial to come to a place like this. these are stories but our long connection and relationships are important to think about and mount vernon has always been a praise that has spoken about the past, present and future, and that's why it's so relevant for the million visitors and dignitaries we get. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> tuesday, president trump welcomes french president emanuel macron.

then live coverage of president trump's first state dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. eastern with guests arrivals and dinner toasts. the official state visit of french president emanuel macron live, starting tuesday morning, on c-span. c-span.org, and on the free c-span radio app. >> next the confirmation hearing for several of president trump's military nominees, including commanders to their u.s. pacific command and the u.s. northern command. senator james inhofe of oklahoma chaired the committee hearing with ranking member, jack reid of rhode island.