Camp David Jackets

One of the customs at Camp David is to present guests with an official Camp David jacket.  The most common type is the windbreaker; although some Presidents prefer the leather bomber jacket.  Below are some photos of Presidents and their guests wearing the official Camp David jacket.

President Nixon with Soviet President Brezhnev - June 1973

President Nixon wearing his Camp David leather jacket in December 1971

President Carter with close friend and advisor Charles Kirbo at Camp David in April 1978

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan at Camp David in September 1978

President Reagan and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone at Camp David in April 1986

Prime Minister Nakasone presents a portable television to the Reagans in the Aspen Lodge 

The Reagans at Camp David in July 1988

President and Mrs. Bush - March 1990

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David 

Gift from President George W. Bush to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

President Obama and VP Joe Biden at Camp David in October 2010

And, for just five bucks you can buy an official-looking Camp David patch on eBay and sew it on your own jacket.






Sources:  Richard Nixon Library; Jimmy Carter Library; Ronald Reagan Library; George Bush Presidential Library;  AP; Daily Mail; White House; eBay

Thanksgiving at Camp David

President and Mrs. Bush along with daughter Doro watch as Thanksgiving pies are prepared in 1989

According to this story in the Washington Examiner:

"The Thanksgiving holiday week at the White House traditionally follows a familiar trajectory: pardon the turkey in the Rose Garden, receive bizarre, carriage-driven delivery of the White House Christmas tree, then off to Camp David to give staff and Secret Service time off with their families."

The Clintons celebrate Thanksgiving at Camp David in 1994

Camp David - Thanksgiving 2000

This 1998 newspaper article describes President Clinton's Thanksgiving Day round of golf at nearby Maple Run Golf Course prior to sitting down for a traditional dinner at Camp David with his family and friends.

Hillary Clinton describes that 1998 Thanksgiving in her book Living History:

 "The men played golf despite the freezing weather, competing for what they called the Camp David trophy.  We ate our meals and spent our time in Laurel, where I had a big-screen television brought in so that every play in every football game could be seen from every corner of the room.  At dinner we voted on which movie to watch that night in the camp's theater."

The Clintons celebrated their first Camp David Thanksgiving in 1995.  The menu included President Clinton's mother Virginia Kelley's cornbread stuffing.  The complete menu can be found on this foodie blog.

President George W. Bush had an annual Camp David tradition of calling troops stationed overseas to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.   .

President Bush talks to troops on Thanksgiving in 2006

2007 Thanksgiving phone call to the troops

Here is what was served for Thanksgiving at Camp David in 2008:

Sources:  White House; National Archives; William J. Clinton Presidential Library; Washington Examiner; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Living History; Gherkins & Tomatoes; George Bush Presidential Library; Boston Globe

Truman Shangri-La Photos

The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum website has these interesting old photos of Camp David back when it was called Shangri-La:

            

Bess Truman and her Independence (MO) bridge club at Shangri-La  -  1946

Aspen Lodge at Shangri-La  -  1948

Laurel Lodge at Shangri-La  -  1948

Aspen Lodge at Shangri-La  -  1948

View from Shangri-La  -  1950

Outdoors at Shangri-La  -  1950

Source:  Harry S. Truman Library and Museum

Aspen Fish Pond

President Nixon with Soviet President Brezhnev 

There is a fish pond located in front of the Aspen Lodge that, according to the Camp David Tour site, was originally built there to use as a water supply in the event of a fire. The site describes how the water is "pumped from the pond to the top of a concrete-lined spillway where it cascades over the rocks and returns to the pond".  The pond was first stocked with rainbow trout at the request of President Eisenhower.

I received an email from someone who took care of the Aspen Pond in the early 1970s. Upon his discharge, he was given the photo of Nixon and Brezhnev signed by President Nixon.  He provided some additional information about the pond:

"In the picture of Nixon and Brezhnev at Aspen fish pond, the fish in there at that time were Japanese Koi and Golden Orfe plus floating water hyacinth and some water lilies. The log in the foreground was cut out as a bench where FDR would sit and fish. The log has been replaced several times because of decay and rot. FDR then was fishing for stocked bass and trout."  

I also came across an anecdote about the Aspen Lodge fish pond written by someone who once lived at Camp David:

In front of Aspen Cabin, the President’s abode at Camp David, is a man-made rock pond, filled with imported, exotic fish. A call was placed to the Camp’s CO:
“Sir, the President is on the line,” said military aide.
“Yes, Sir, Mr. President,” my husband said, “What can I do for you, Mr. Reagan?”
“Well…..,” came the slow, steady voice, “You need to get over here right away, the poor fellas are floating belly up!”

Below are some more photos of the pond.

President Johnson and Ambassadors Ellsworth Bunker and W. Averell Harriman in April 1968;
 CyrusVance, Jody Powell, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Hamilton Jordan in September 1978

                                                                                                                       President Ford in front of the Aspen pond in 1974

September 1978

Google Maps view of the pond in front of the Aspen Lodge

Sources:  Richard Nixon Library; Lyndon Baines Johnson Library; Jimmy Carter Library; Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library; Camp David Tour; The New York Times; What A Party; Florida Sportsman Magazine; UPI; Google Maps

Camp David on Whitehouse.gov

The first whitehouse.gov website was launched in October 1994.  The official White House website was redesigned multiple times during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.  Below are the Camp David pages from each administration.  You can visit each original website page by clicking on the screenshot image.

Clinton Administration:

Bush Administration:

Obama Administration:

Basketball

President Obama playing basketball at Camp David in July 2009

The photo above shows President Obama playing basketball with senior staff and their family members at the Leatherwood Court during a retreat at Camp David on July 18, 2009.  President Obama was reported to have played basketball on his first trip to Camp David in February 2009 and on subsequent trips.

In January 2009, Black America Web reported that President Obama would "become the first president in history to build a basketball court at Camp David".  They reported they received information from an unnamed source that Resilite was working on a project at Camp David taking measurements for wall padding for a basketball court.

I could not find any follow-up stories confirming this and a quick search on FedBizOpps found no basketball court-related materials for Camp David (a long shot, I admit...). So, did President Obama build the basketball court pictured above at Camp David?  The question remains unanswered.

In August 2009, Boston University basketball player Sherrod Smith got the chance to play basketball with President Obama at Camp David. The story, photo and video about this opportunity is on the BU website.

Captain's Cup Dodge Ball at Leatherwood Court at Camp David

Sources: The White House; Black America Web;  Baller-in-Chief; The Swamp; ESPN; Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC)

Video - History of Camp David

1959 Guidebook to Camp David

1959 Guidebook to Camp David

The Eisenhower Presidential Library has a Camp David page containing photos and interesting links to documents related to Camp David.

The above guidebook describes a 1959 Camp David with four guest cabins in the White House Staff area: Sycamore, Hawthorn, Walnut, and Laurel.  It also includes a description of recreational facilities available and some photos of the guest cabins.



Source:  Eisenhower Presidential Library

Movies

Movie theater in Hickory Lodge - May 2001 (National Archives)

Movies are shown in several locations around Camp David.  President Eisenhower enjoyed watching movies in the Aspen Lodge and had a projection booth installed along with a motorized screen that retracted into the living room ceiling.   Eventually, the use of VCRs and DVD players replaced the need for the projector.  However, when President Reagan was in office, he still preferred using the film projector at Aspen over the VCR and enjoyed watching old movies from the 1930s and 1940s. The Ronald Reagan Presidential library has a list of all of the films he viewed while in office including 344 movies at Camp David! 

President Reagan and Nancy Reagan watching "Lord Jim" in 1985 (Reagan Library)

 

 

Movies are also shown at a small theater inside the Hickory Lodge. The 2007 book What A Party! describes a 1998 "Good Will Hunting" screening weekend at Camp David attended by a group including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  After having dinner at Laurel Lodge,  the group headed off in golf carts to the theater in Hickory where "everyone sits on couches or overstuffed chairs and in the front row are two love seats."  

Hillary Clinton writes in her memoir that her daughter Chelsea and a "busload of friends" celebrated her 16th birthday at Camp David.  Following a birthday dinner at Laurel Lodge, they headed over to Hickory to watch movies and go bowling.

During the 1978 Camp David peace negotiations, a movie projector was set up in Holly and 58 films were shown there over the 13-day summit.  Laurel Lodge also has a big-screen TV.

When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met with President Eisenhower at Camp David in 1959, the two leaders watched a U.S. Navy movie about the nuclear submarine Nautilus; they also watched a Western. The following is a list of movies that were available for viewing during that visit:

From the "Camp David Operation Plan 2-59"

Presidential diaries also give us a glimpse into the movie-watching activities at Camp David.  Here are some entries from Richard Nixon's diary over two weekends in September 1970 and Jimmy Carter's diary from 1977.

Excerpts from President Richard Nixon's Daily Diary - September 1970

Excerpt from the Daily Diary of President Jimmy Carter

Sources:  The President is at Camp David;  What A Party!; Living History; Time; Eisenhower Presidential Library; Nixon Presidential Libary; Jimmy Carter Library; Ronald Reagan Library; National Archives