By Desiree Adib and Neal Carter
Rock Center
The custom of diplomatic gift giving has a long, colorful and sometimes controversial history. Dealing with literally thousands of gifts per year is no small feat. The White House has designated a special team, the Office of the Chief of Protocol, to select the gifts the United States gives and handle the gifts the U.S. cordially receives – even if it is a venomous flesh eating lizard. In 1990, the president of Indonesia presented a pair of Komodo dragons to President George H. Bush.
Ambassador Capricia Marshall, chief of protocol, is who you might call the “gift-giver-in-chief.” She governs the cultural minefield of gift giving, setting the tone for the visit, and exchanging a token that will become a historical imprint of the meeting.
“Part of what we do in protocol is creating and laying a foundation for diplomacy," Marshall said. The gift giving, she says, is a huge component because it signals the beginning of the engagement at the bilateral table. “It is an essential part of creating an atmosphere of diplomacy.”
Selecting the gift that the president of the United States or the secretary of state gives a visiting head of state is an extremely delicate and sensitive matter. The process takes months of brainstorming and research sessions by teams of staffers in the Office of the Chief of Protocol.
“We ask: What is this visit about? Why has the president invited this leader? We reach out to a variety of sources, their embassies, our embassies, experts on the individual, and gather information. We put together a bunch of ideas that we present to the president to pick the gift,” Marshall said. Her office also looks at the type of the relationship between the United States and the visiting leader. "Is this a first-time visit? Or is this a long term relationship? Like this visit with Prime Minister Cameron, this visit takes on a different aspect. There is a real friendship between these two leaders,” she said.
The gift selection for a state visit such as Cameron’s takes months of preparation. After many weeks of brainstorming sessions the final selection was a nod to the moment dubbed “Obama-cue” by Cameron’s 7-year-old daughter. During Obama’s last official visit to 10 Downing Street in May 2011, the two leaders rolled up their sleeves and barbecued hamburgers and sausages for American and British armed service members. So the team agreed that the perfect gift should be a quintessential “All-American” grill.
The actual “Obama-cue” was made by Chris Engelbrecht in his shop based in Paxton, Ill. Family-run Engelbrecht Grills and Cookersmakes American grills out of American parts. They now also have the distinction of making one very special “Made in the USA” grill with a presidential seal on it.
“The first time I was actually told the president’s giving this to the British prime minister, I'm like 'Holy heck! Holy heck!,'" said Engelbrecht. “My little message to the president is, ‘Thank you for supporting American labor.’”
According to the Office of Protocol, Cameron is expected to present the president and his family with a Dunlop table tennis table. The blue table is complete with UK and U.S. flags. The prime minister reportedly chose the gift because it's something the whole Obama family could enjoy. When President Obama visited Cameron in May of last year, the two leaders teamed up to play table tennis with students at a school in South London.
The prime minister's wife gave the first lady a Jonathan Saunders Victoriana printed scarf in blue. Sasha and Malia also received gifts from the Cameron family. Each daughter was given a set of books that contained British classics.
Lots and lots of gifts received
Three hundred pounds of raw lamb meat, a heart-shaped portrait woven into a rug, two giant pandas and a $75 bottle of olive oil -- these items might not seem to have a lot in common, but they all have the distinction of being diplomatic gifts received by the U.S. president from various nations around the world.
The lamb meat was presented as a gift to President George W. Bush in 2003 from the president of Argentina. The rug was a gift from the president of Azerbaijan to the Clintons in 1997. It was a portrait of the president and the first lady in a heart-shaped medallion that was painstakingly woven into the rug by 12 young girls working 8-hour shifts. Historically, one of the most famous diplomatic gifts might have been the two roly-poly black and white Chinese pandas Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling. Chairman Mao gifted the two pandas to President Richard Nixon in 1972. After 1980, however, the Chinese decided to stop giving pandas as gifts and would only loan pandas.
In 2009, a $75 bottle of olive oil from the president of the Palestinian Authority to Obama had the distinction of being the lowest valued gift of 2009. The values and types of gifts to all federal employees are listed and registered in a list released to the public by the State Department.
The gifts received by the president and government officials are often packed up -- sometimes in elaborate containers -- and sent to the United States, where the General Services Administration registers them and calculates their value. Gifts are usually put away in storage and are occasionally brought out for display throughout the White House. Once a president leaves office, most gifts end up as highlight show pieces in presidential libraries or in the national archives.
The president is not allowed to keep many of the gifts he receives. Any gift worth more than $350 becomes the property of the federal government. In 2009, the King of Saudi Arabia, known for often being a very lavish gift giver, gave the entire Obama family nearly $190,000 worth of glittering jewelry, including a ruby and diamond set for the first lady worth $132,000. It's unlikely you'll see the first lady wear the jewels, but they might end up on display one day in a presidential library.
