In Washington, the family dined with President Gerald Ford at 10pm in the State Dining Room at the White House. Prime Minister Bhutto responded to President Ford’s toast and speech by saying: “Here at this table we had the honor of having a very congenial conversation with Mrs. Ford and with the very dangerous man sitting on my right.” He was referring to columnist Art Buchwald. The dinner party broke out into laughter at this remark.
PM Bhutto went on to say: “[Mr Buchwald] told us that this evening he came to the White House in a taxi. So that reminded me of one occasion during my many visits to your great capital, and it was in 1965. President Ayub then was in charge of the destiny of our country, and we had prolonged discussions with President Johnson.
“And the discussions went well, but at the same time we left the room a little depressed. So I and some of my companions went to all the nightclubs in Washington. And when we left the last place, we told the taxi driver, ‘Take us to Blair House.’ He said, ‘Are you kidding?’” Prime Minister Bhutto was referring to The President’s Guest House, commonly known as Blair House. The taxi driver was astonished to have had such illustrious guests in his vehicle.