Camp David, the president’s rustic Maryland mountain retreat, through the years
Jul 31, 2026, 8:32 AM | Updated: 10:00 am
FILE - President John Kennedy and former President Dwight Eisenhower walks along a flagstone path, in perfect step at Camp David, atop of mountain near Thurmont, Maryland on April 22, 1961 after they flew there to discuss the Cuban crisis. In background is one of the lodges at the camp. (AP Photo, File)
Credit: AP Photo/Anonymous
(AP Photo, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is leaving behind the gold-accented White House on Friday for a Cabinet meeting at rustic Camp David in Maryland’s mountains.
The retreat, about an hour northwest of Washington, has been the backdrop for presidential summits and smaller-scale meetings since Franklin Roosevelt established it during World War II. Friday’s meeting isn’t Trump’s first at Camp David, but he has spent less time at the compound than other presidents, and typically spends weekends at his own properties, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and his golf courses in New Jersey and Virginia.
Here’s a look at some key dates and prominent visitors in the camp’s history, assembled using archival material from The Associated Press, the National Archives, and presidential libraries.
1942 — Roosevelt established the camp as Shangri-La, a reference from James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon.” Roosevelt had liked to relax on a presidential yacht, but the military and Secret Service started to worry about his safety on the open water during World War II. Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to identify sites within 100 miles of the White House that he could use for rest and picked what is now known as Camp David.
1943 — Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill, who went on a fishing trip with the president and discussed the Normandy invasion at the retreat.
1953 — Dwight Eisenhower renamed the facility Camp David after his grandson and father.
1959 — Eisenhower hosted Nikita Khrushchev, the first time a Soviet leader had come to the United States.
1971 — Richard Nixon met with economic advisers amid inflation and a looming run on gold, leading eventually to an announcement ending the gold-backed dollar.
1973 — Nixon hosted his Soviet counterpart, Leonid Brezhnev.
1978 — Jimmy Carter hosted Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, resulting in the Camp David Accords signed in 1979. Unlike at the White House, where journalists come and go, the news media are barred from Camp David, unless they are invited to cover an event, like Friday’s summit.
1984 — Ronald Reagan, the president who spent the most time at Camp David, hosted British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the first time.
1990 — George H.W. Bush hosted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1992 — Camp David’s only wedding occurred when Bush’s daughter, Dorothy, married Bobby Koch at Evergreen Chapel at the facility.
2000 — Bill Clinton hosted a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
2001 — George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair early in the year and held post 9/11 meetings ahead of the Afghanistan invasion later in the year.
2003 — Bush hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin.
2012 — Barack Obama hosted the G8 Summit.
2015 — Obama hosted Persian Gulf nations for a summit.
2019 — Trump canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier. ———
Darlene Superville contributed archival reporting for this timeline.
