Komla Agbeli Gbedemah - Howard Johnson's Restaurant Incident

Howard Johnson's Restaurant Incident

In the United States, he is most widely known from an October 10, 1957, incident when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to him after he was refused service in a Howard Johnson's restaurant in Dover, Delaware. He reportedly told the staff "The people here are of a lower social status than I am but they can drink here and we can't. You can keep the orange juice and the change, but this is not the last you have heard of this." Some sources suspect that the incident, which resulted in some publicity, may have been engineered by Gbedemah's secretary. Nonetheless, it resulted in Gbedemah being invited to breakfast at the White House.

Read more about this topic:  Komla Agbeli Gbedemah

Famous quotes containing the words howard, johnson, restaurant and/or incident:

    The Government is able to afford a suitable army and a suitable navy. It may maintain them without the slightest danger to the Republic or the cause of free institutions, and fear of additional taxation ought not to change a proper policy in this regard.
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    Hunger is never delicate; they who are seldom gorged to the full with praise may be safely fed with gross compliments, for the appetite must be satisfied before it is disgusted.
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

    In a restaurant one is both observed and unobserved. Joy and sorrow can be displayed and observed “unwittingly,” the writer scowling naively and the diners wondering, What the hell is he doing?
    David Mamet (b. 1947)

    “It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognise out of a number of facts which are incidental and which are vital.... I would call your attention to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
    “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
    “That was the curious incident.”
    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)