WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden spent his third week in office visiting the Pentagon, visiting the National Institutes of Health and working on the government’s response to COVID-19.
He ended up beating one of his granddaughters on Mario Kart during his first presidential visit to Camp David, the historic retreat for US leaders.
This is what Camp David traditionally offers presidents: a break from Washington, where they can break free and relax with their family. The Maryland mountain complex, just 60 miles from the capital, offers everything from a bowling alley to an archery trail.
It has been used by all presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first there in 1943 as a personal refuge and has been the site of important diplomatic negotiations and political discussions throughout history, according to Michael Giorgione, who served as commander from Camp David to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and wrote the book “Inside Camp David”.
With the exception of Donald Trump – he generally preferred his own private clubs – each president used Camp David “for a personal getaway, an escape from the clamor and noise and things like the White House, and really go to this exclusive mountain retreat. it’s one purpose, and the other is to bring world leaders there, ”said Giorgione.
When Roosevelt first arrived, the rustic retreat was ″ a hideout with little hot water and shrubs growing up to the windowsill, ”wrote former Associated Press White House reporter Dale Nelson in his 1995 story, ″ The president is at Camp David ″. Still, Roosevelt dubbed it somewhat fantastically “Shangri-La”, the name of the utopian community in the popular 1933 novel, “Lost Horizon”.
When Dwight Eisenhower took over, he added a golf course and a new name: Camp David, in honor of his father and grandson.
Over the years, presidents have made updates to suit their tastes. Richard Nixon added a heated pool and George HW Bush installed a horseshoe-shaped stove. Barack Obama, known for his love of basketball, built a court.
The complex also has a cinema room, shooting range, horseback riding and tennis courts.
“I leave my problems outside the gate,” said Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Johnson, once about the camp.
Biden himself told reporters before leaving Washington for the compound that his main plans for the long weekend were “just to go out with the family and do what we always do”. Although presidents normally use the Marine helicopter for the brief trip, the weather forced the president to fly to Hagerstown, Maryland, via Air Force One, before taking a motorcade to camp.
Her granddaughter Naomi posted on her Instagram on Saturday night a clip of Biden playing video games, with the caption: “a little rusty, but still won (narrowly)”.
Biden worked with him, however, meeting with national security advisers on Saturday, issuing a statement on Trump’s acquittal at his impeachment trial on Saturday night and signing an executive order re-establishing a White House office on religious engagement on Sunday.
The complex’s history includes more than just winter games and sleds. It has also hosted foreign dignitaries and has been a meeting place for diplomacy. Giorgione says the camp’s relaxed atmosphere contributes to building relationships.
“There is a certain feeling of going to camp as opposed to the White House, which is a little more formal, a little more stuffy if you would say, and certain presidents find a much better connection at the camp than at the White House,” he said .
Roosevelt received British Prime Minister Winston Churchill there in 1943 to help lay the groundwork for the Normandy invasion on the first visit by a foreign leader.
The camp became synonymous with feverish and last-minute diplomatic negotiations after President Jimmy Carter invited Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat there in 1978 to negotiate a peace deal. After 13 days of tense talks, the two agreed to a structure that led to peace between the two nations.
Bill Clinton tried to replicate that diplomatic alchemy when he invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David for peace talks in the Middle East in 2000. After two weeks of negotiations, the summit ended without an agreement.
George W. Bush visited the camp frequently, using it to entertain a number of foreign leaders, as well as to withdraw from the cabinet to plan his government’s response to the 9/11 attacks.
In 2012, Obama hosted the Group of Eight summit for world leaders there, after the Occupy Wall Street protests made his hometown of Chicago out of the question. World leaders stayed in the 12 cabins of the complex and were able to spend their free time mingling on site.
Trump spent little time there and did not host any foreign dignitaries. He once joked with a reporter: “Do you know how long you would like to? For about 30 minutes. “
But Giorgione said he hoped that Biden, with his appreciation for diplomacy, would probably use the space to host foreign leaders after the coronavirus pandemic, which prevented most face-to-face meetings, is under control. He said that when foreign leaders arrive at Camp David, it can be like an “adult sleepover.”
“Camping in the booths creates an atmosphere where leaders are very close. There is no large conference room with chandeliers and coffee service. This is a homey and rustic meeting, ”he said.
Participants “walk the trails together, let’s go for a bike ride, we sit at a beautiful table in a small conference room”.
“This created the art of having to enter each other’s personal space and find time to speak legitimately,” he said.