Camp David - Presidential Use

Presidential Use

Every president since Franklin Roosevelt has made use of Camp David.

  • Roosevelt hosted Sir Winston Churchill in May 1943.
  • Harry S. Truman rarely visited Camp David, because his wife Bess found it dull.
  • Dwight Eisenhower held his first cabinet meeting there.
  • John F. Kennedy and his family often enjoyed horseback riding and other recreational activities. Kennedy often allowed White House staff and cabinet members to use the retreat when he or his family were not there.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson often met with important advisors at the retreat and hosted Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt.
  • Richard Nixon was a frequent visitor and did much to add to and modernize the facilities.
  • Gerald Ford often rode his snowmobile around Camp David and hosted Indonesian President Suharto.
  • Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Accords there in September 1978 between Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
  • Ronald Reagan visited the retreat more than any other president. In 1984, Ronald Reagan hosted the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.
  • George H.W. Bush's daughter, Dorothy Bush Koch, was married there in 1992, the first ever to do so.
  • Bill Clinton used Camp David more as his tenure in office progressed, and hosted then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, on several occasions in addition to numerous celebrities.
  • George W. Bush hosted dignitaries, including the then President of Russia, Vladimir Putin in 2003 and hosted the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, in 2007.
  • Barack Obama has made the camp's Evergreen Chapel his primary place of worship, as George W. Bush had done before him. Camp David was also chosen by President Obama to host the 2012 G8 Summit. President Obama also hosted Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at Camp David.

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