Blue Lake, located in the mountains of New Mexico, is sacred land to the Taos Pueblo. It was seized by the U.S. government in 1906 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, and the Taos Pueblo fought to have the land returned for more than six decades. 

On December 15, 1970, President Nixon signed bipartisan legislation returning the lake and surrounding lands to the Taos Pueblo in the State Dining Room of the White House. After the signing, he said the bill “indicates a new direction in which there will be more of an attitude of cooperation rather than paternalism, one of self-determination rather than termination, one of mutual respect.”

The State Dining Room has been the primary dining room of the White House since the James Madison administration (1809–17). The traditional setting for official and state dinners, the room has also been used to host first family dinners. Today, the State Dining Room serves as a place for official meetings and events.