16x2 LCD Shows Nothing on Top Row and White Boxes on Bottom Row

The picture is a bit dark so some things are a bit hard to tall, like the pot and the exact position of the wires in the Arduino. There are some really dark shadows that look like black wires.
The pictures is cropped so the other half of the display is not visible.

One thing that you should check is the power rails. It is hard to tell in the photo, but it looks like the power
rail may not be a single rail all the way across. It kind of looks like there are blocks of 5 pins separated by a blank position.
Some bread boards are made that way and the individual blocks are not connected.
And some boards have blocks that are connected; however, the left and right side are not connected.
Check to see if is the case on your board.
If so you either need to use a single block, or use jumper wires to interconnect them.
Or use two columns in the main section for your "power rails".

If it isn't the power rails, can you post some additional photos taken in better light without using a flash so we can get a better view of things.

--- bill