US President Barack Obama sat down for beers with an eminent black scholar and a white police officer, in a White House happy hour designed to quell a countrywide furor over race.

NONE Obama welcomed Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates and police sergeant James Crowley for 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) beers around a white patio table in the White House Rose Garden, hoping to turn the page on a race row that erupted during a July 16 incident at the scholar's home.

The contretemps occurred when Gates - arguably the foremost US scholar on African-American affairs - was arrested after police received a call that two men might be attempting a break-in at a house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to Harvard University.

As it turned out, Gates was merely attempting to enter his own home when the door jammed. But Gates and Crowley exchanged heated words, and the professor was ultimately arrested for disorderly conduct.

That set the stage for one of the most highly anticipated White House happy hours in recent memory, which the president described as a "friendly, thoughtful conversation."

Obama suggested it was time to move on, saying in a brief statement that he hoped "that all of us are able to draw (a) positive lesson from this episode."

Earlier the president had downplayed the significance of the meeting, which has been dubbed a "beer summit" by the press, saying he was "fascinated with the fascination about this evening."

NONE "I noticed this has been called the beer summit. It's a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. And that's really all it is," Obama told reporters in the Oval Office.

The comments did little, however, to quench the media's thirst about the trio's beer bash, which grew to a foursome with the surprise addition of Vice President Joe Biden.

But the White House media pool was kept at bay, shuttled to the far side of the Rose Garden for a 30-second photo opportunity that yielded no chance to ask questions or listen to the conversation.

Crowley addressed reporters after the meeting at a nearby office building, where he said the group "had a cordial and productive discussion," but when asked if anyone apologized over the incident two weeks ago, the sergeant said "No."

"I think what you had today was, two gentlemen agreed to disagree on a particular issue," Crowley said.

Obama, the nation's first African-American president, had earlier become enmeshed in the controversy, saying police had "acted stupidly" by arresting his friend after establishing that Gates had been in his own home.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Gates ( left ), in a statement, said the furor and the subsequent White House meeting have provided an opportunity "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 national conversation over the past week about my arrest has been rowdy, not to say tumultuous and unruly," he said.

"But we've learned that we can have our differences without demonizing one another."

Arrest sparks intense debate

The arrest sparked an intense national discussion as to whether police rushed to stereotype a black man as a potential criminal - even a bookish middle-aged one such as Gates - solely based on his race.

But public outrage also swelled over Obama's choice of words, and his hasty characterization of what had happened.

It provided an opening for right-wing commentators to criticize the president as well, including one who accused Obama of being racist against whites.

Some critics say the president maligned Crowley, a well-regarded officer in Cambridge who trained others in his department on the perils of racial profiling.

The controversy ends the first six months of Obama's presidency in which he managed not to be defined by his race, but Obama said he hoped the chat would offer a chance for reconciliation.

NONE In the Rose Garden, Crowley and Gates, dressed in dark suit jackets, sat next to one another while Obama, in white shirtsleeves, sat next to the sergeant and Biden alongside the professor.

According to the White House, Obama drank Bud Light, Gates was served Boston local brew Sam Adams Light, and Crowley drank Blue Moon. The vice president drank a low-alcohol Buckler.

Crowley said he and Gates agreed to meet again in the near future, although he declined to provide a location and hinted that alcohol would not be involved.

Even as beer diplomacy was in full swig, Americans were left wincing over a related race scandal.

Boston police have suspended officer Justin Barrett, who wrote a racist e-mail rant about coverage of the Gates-Crowley clash in which he compared Gates to a "banana-eating jungle monkey."

- AFP