Where Presidents Go to Unwind
The White House may be home, but it has rarely been a refuge
On the night of October 24, 1973, the United States entered DEFCON 3, its highest level of peacetime defense readiness, after the Soviet Union threatened unilateral intervention to halt the Yom Kippur War. But the action was taken by Henry Kissinger, not President Richard Nixon, because Nixon was asleep and drunk — or too “loaded,” as Kissinger had described Nixon earlier in the month when he was unavailable for an urgent call from the British prime minister. In 1973 and ’74, amid the pressure of the Watergate investigation, Nixon’s health deteriorated because of acute depression, anxiety, insomnia, and paranoia, against which he employed alcohol and prescription drugs.
Nixon experienced similar health issues after the Kent State shooting — when, after one sleepless night, he famously went to the Lincoln Memorial for a predawn talk with protesters. As the stress grew too heavy, Nixon often managed to find relief by escaping to the seclusion of his coastal retreat in San Clemente, CA. At “La Casa Pacifica,” then known as the “Western White House,” Nixon could work with the sound of waves crashing against rocks on one of the most idyllic stretches of the Southern California coastline. There, in his home state, the stress temporarily eased.
The pressures of the presidency are indeed immense, and they likely made underlying health issues worse. Woodrow Wilson suffered multiple strokes in office. Franklin Roosevelt battled severe hypertension that ultimately claimed his life. Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack. John F. Kennedy’s Addison’s disease worsened and his chronic back pain grew unbearable, leading him to rely on a dangerous mix of uppers and downers — as many as 12 at a time — that included methadone, Ritalin, and a variety of barbiturates.
Given the unrivaled stress of the job, presidents have historically sought sanctuaries outside Washington where they could escape, recover, or even create more intimate environments for statecraft. George Washington often visited Mount Vernon. John Adams spent congressional recesses at his home in Massachusetts. And, when possible, Thomas Jefferson retreated to his beloved Monticello.
But in the 20th century, as the presidency grew in power and global influence, so too did the challenges of protecting presidents in their retreats.
A rustic getaway
The major change came during World War II. Until 1942, Franklin Roosevelt frequently found peace aboard the USS Potomac, a presidential yacht then known as the “Floating White House.” He would escape the heat of Washington to enjoy long trips along the Potomac and across the Chesapeake, sometimes voyaging into the Atlantic Ocean. But when the US entered the war, the Secret Service worried that German U-boats might attack the yacht.
Needing a secure location with a less muggy climate than DC — whose damp and dirty air irritated FDR’s sinus and respiratory issues — the president settled on a spot in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. Ten degrees cooler than the capital but less than 70 miles away, Camp Hi-Catoctin — called Shangri-La by FDR before being renamed Camp David by Eisenhower — was originally built by the Works Progress Administration as a rustic getaway for federal employees. In 1942, the surrounding area was made into a naval base and the camp was repurposed, at a cost of $18,650, into a presidential retreat.
In the eight decades since, every president has spent time there. Though also the site of Cabinet meetings and a planning ground for world-shaking events, including the Allied invasion of Normandy and the 1979 treaty that ended decades of war between Israel and Egypt, Camp David has primarily been a place for the commander-in-chief to work while making time for himself and his family.
The camp has been more important to some presidents than others.
Despite his fondness for his private retreats in California and Key Biscayne, FL, Richard Nixon spent more time at Camp David. It was at Camp David that he gifted a Lincoln Continental to Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader. A car lover, Brezhnev grabbed the keys and insisted on driving, frightening Nixon as he careered down camp roads. Nixon also invited aides such as Henry Kissinger and added a pool to the compound. After he had visited on average every other weekend during his first term and spent the first two weeks of his second term there, The New York Times suggested that he “found Camp David a better home than the one on Pennsylvania Avenue.”
It was from Camp David that Ronald Reagan delivered his address to the nation amid the Iran–Contra scandal, because, as he explained, “the atmosphere” was “more informal,” providing an “opportunity to think and reflect.” With 186 visits over more than 500 days, Reagan spent more time at Camp David than any other president, taking every opportunity to decompress by riding horses with Nancy or tinkering in the woodshop.
Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush trail just behind Reagan in their use of the compound. A recent panel at the George W. Bush Presidential Center highlighted his time at Camp David, focusing less on his hosting Vladimir Putin there than on how close he and Laura became with the families who lived in the camp. They knew their names, brought Christmas gifts for children, attended church with them, bicycled with them, and spent so much time there that they felt integrated into the larger community.
Joe Biden, in his only term as president, made 39 trips to Camp David, where he enjoyed being outdoors without an army of bodyguards, playing Mario Kart with his granddaughter, and taking long walks along the camp’s wooded trails. Describing the White House as “a little like a gilded cage,” Biden often appreciated the healthier work environments at Camp David and his home in Delaware.
Private retreats
Many presidents have preferred their own properties to Camp David. Harry Truman considered the camp too isolating, more often choosing to visit his “Little White House” in Key West. Kennedy liked Camp David — even meeting Eisenhower there after the Bay of Pigs fiasco — but spent significantly more time at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, MA. Lyndon Johnson preferred traveling to his ranch in the Texas Hill Country. And although George H. W. Bush enjoyed Camp David, he favored the family summer home in Kennebunkport, ME, where the Bushes had vacationed since the 1870s.
Bill Clinton, unique among presidents for entering office owning no properties, was initially rumored to dislike Camp David for its isolation, tendency to provoke allergies, and distance from good golf courses. Although aides reported that his affection grew for the camp as a place where he could “be human again,” he remained more likely to vacation in the homes of wealthy friends in Martha’s Vineyard than at his official retreat.
Confidants of Barack Obama, who also used the retreat less than his predecessors, said he was more of an “urban guy,” preferring weekends of basketball and golf. His getaways were typically coastal, often in Martha’s Vineyard or Hawaii. Obama was criticized for his trips, especially the ones to Hawaii, because even though he paid his own rental expenses, the costs of using Air Force One, securing non-government locations, and providing lodging for advisers and Secret Service members were seen as astronomical compared with the expense of Camp David, which, not counting the price of transporting the president, runs about $8 million per year.
Donald Trump is decidedly not charmed by Camp David. “Camp David is very rustic,” he told reporters during his first term. “It’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it for? About 30 minutes.” He declined to visit during the first five months of his first term and has been there only twice since returning to office, usually choosing instead to visit his Bedminster, NJ, golf course or — at an average cost to taxpayers of $3.4 million per trip — flying to Mar-a-Lago. During his first term, Trump made over 500 visits to his own properties, including 134 trips to Mar-a-Lago and a total of 394 separate days spent on his properties. (As with Obama, this has been criticized as extravagant and wasteful, with the additional concern that by visiting a property he operates as a business, he is effectively diverting taxpayer money into his own pockets.)
Wherever they go — a mountain camp, a Texas ranch, a golf course with a ballroom attached — presidents will keep escaping Washington, and the rest of us will keep tallying the bill and forming opinions about their choice of getaway. Fair enough. But history suggests we should probably root for the vacation. The alternative is a president who never unclenches — and in October 1973, that meant the nation entering DEFCON 3 while the commander-in-chief slept (perhaps intoxicatedly) through it.
 | A guest post by
|