Video: 'King George VI And Queen Elizabeth In Washington (1939)'

(Thursday, June 8, 1939, 11:00 a.m. EDT) — With war clouds looming on the European continent, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, welcomed Britain’s King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, today at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

King George became the first reigning British monarch to visit the United States when he and Queen Elizabeth entered the country for a five-day stay when they crossed the U.S.-Canadian border at Niagara Falls, N.Y., the previous day, June 7, 1939.

On June 11, 1939, the King and Queen would join Roosevelt as his estate in Hyde Park, New York, where the President served hot dogs, along with strawberry shortcakes, at an informal Sunday picnic.