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- President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned a Maryland camp into a presidential retreat in 1942.
- President Dwight Eisenhower changed the name to “Camp David” after his grandson.
- Subsequent presidents added amenities including a pool, a chapel, and “Golf Cart One.”
Located in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, Camp David serves as an escape for US presidents to unwind away from the White House and meet with world leaders in a more relaxed setting.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the presidential retreat when his preferred vacation, cruises aboard a presidential yacht, became too risky during World War II, according to the White House Historical Association.
Over the years, various presidents have enhanced the mountain property with amenities such as a heated pool, a non-denominational chapel, and the president’s own “Golf Cart One” to drive around the 180-acre retreat. For his part, President Donald Trump has called the getaway “very rustic.”
Take a look at how Camp David has changed through the years.
Camp David was known as Shangri-La when President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it as a presidential retreat in 1942.
The name “Shangri-La” was the name of a fictional kingdom in the book “The Lost Horizon” by James Hilton.
President Harry Truman had the cabins updated with heating so that Camp David could also function as a winter retreat.
The retreat center was originally built in 1938 as a summer camp for use by government employees as part of The New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, so it wasn’t equipped for chilly weather.
In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower changed the name from “Shangri-La” to “Camp David” after his grandson.
David Eisenhower was 5 years old when his grandfather named the presidential retreat after him.
Today, David Eisenhower works as the director of the Institute for Public Service and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.
Mamie Eisenhower added the name “Aspen” to the main presidential cabin.
Aspen has four bedrooms, a kitchen, an office, and a patio.
Eisenhower became the first president to travel by helicopter in 1957, so he had a landing site installed at Camp David.
The helicopter flight from the White House to Camp David takes around 30 minutes, according to Eisenhower’s presidential library.
President Richard Nixon added a swimming pool near the presidential cabin in the 1970s.
There is also a second pool further out on the grounds.
Nixon also had the gravel paths paved to make it easier to drive around on golf carts.
Camp David measures 180 acres and includes miles of walking trails through the Catoctin Mountains.
Camp David was the setting for groundbreaking diplomatic agreements such as President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David Accords in 1978.
President Jimmy Carter convened Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David in 1978, where the leaders negotiated a peace treaty between the two countries.
During Carter’s presidency, Camp David interiors featured plaid couches and wicker chairs.
Plaid and wicker furniture were popular decor trends in the 1970s.
Presidents who gave weekly radio addresses did so from the presidential office in Laurel Lodge.
FDR was the first US president to deliver fireside chats over the radio in 1933.
Reagan brought them back in 1982, and every president since has continued the tradition except for President Donald Trump, who stopped recording weekly addresses about two years into his first term.
President Joe Biden revived them briefly in 2021, with a new format in which he spoke with Americans from the Oval Office and answered their questions and concerns.
Ronald Reagan designed Easter Chapel, a non-denominational space that opened during George H.W. Bush’s presidency.
Reagan held a groundbreaking ceremony for the chapel at Camp David in 1988, and George H.W. Bush dedicated the space during his presidency in 1991.
George H.W. Bush revisited the chapel to celebrate Easter in 2006 during the presidency of his son, President George W. Bush.
Golf carts have long been the vehicle of choice to get around Camp David.
President George W. Bush had a placard made for his golf cart labeling it “Golf Cart One,” a reference to Air Force One. He drove it during visits to Camp David in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
President Barack Obama hosted the G8 Summit in Laurel Cabin in 2012.
Leaders from the UK, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and France joined Obama at Camp David in 2012 to discuss the European debt crisis.
He also took advantage of the pool table in Holly Cabin.
Camp David also has a bowling alley and a movie theater.
President Donald Trump only made occasional visits to Camp David during his first term and seemed to prefer his own luxurious residences.
Trump described Camp David as “very rustic” and told reporters in 2017 that they would tire of it after 30 minutes.
He spent more time at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, which became known as his “winter White House.”
Camp David featured more modern decor during President Joe Biden’s presidency.
The wicker dining set and plaid couches were replaced with sleeker leather chairs and recessed lighting.
During his second term, Trump used Camp David to hold meetings about US strategy in the Middle East.
Trump met with his foreign policy team at Camp David in June to discuss brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, Axios reported.
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