Obama, Gates and Crowley Sit for White House Talk

President Barack Obama welcomed Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr . and police Sergeant James Crowley to the White House this evening for a private talk over beers at a table outside the Oval Office.

The three, joined by Vice President Joe Biden , sat briefly for photographs and video and made no statements before diving into a private discussion intended to put behind them the national controversy that followed the July 16 arrest of Gates, who is black, by Crowley, who is white. Advertisement

The men had “a friendly, thoughtful conversation,” Obama said in a statement released after the event. “I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode.”

Crowley said afterward that while he and Gates have different perspectives, they plan to meet again to discuss the issues raised by the furor. “We all agreed it is important to look forward rather than backward,” Crowley told reporters.

Gates said in a statement posted on the Web Site theroot.com, that it is “incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.”

The men were served beer in glass mugs by White House butlers -- Bud Light for the president, a non-alcoholic Buckler for Biden, Sam Adams Light for Gates and Blue Moon for Crowley. Obama and Biden were in shirtsleeves; Crowley and Gates kept their suit jackets on. The discussion lasted about 40 minutes, according to the administration.