Time in Office: January 2001 to January 2009
Terms: Two
Birthday: July 6, 1946
Birth Place: New Haven, Connecticut

Notes:
Oldest of 5 children – one sister died of leukemia
Keen rugby player at Yale
Arrested DUI – 1976
Only President with a MBA
Most travelled president (to date) in US history

Grandson of a Senator, son of a Vice President and President – America’s 43rd President, George Walker Bush seemed destined for public and political life. Both the road to the Presidency and his years in office were at times, a bit rocky.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, George W. Bush spent most of his time until the 7th grade living in Midlands, Texas. The family then moved to Houston where he first attended a prep school – then finished the last two of his high school years at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

He attended Yale from 1964 to 1968 when he graduated with a degree in History. After graduation, Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard where his selection for the pilot (flight) program remains controversial. He later drilled with the Alabama Air National Guard, was transferred to inactive duty and the Air force Reserve, and was honorably discharged November 1974 – while having also received a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1973.

Multiple episodes of alcohol abuse plagued him even after his November 1977 marriage to Laura Welch. The couple settled in Midlands – adding fraternal twins Barbara and Jenna to the family in 1981. Bush has since stated that his decision to give up alcohol in 1986 was due to the stabilizing influence of his wife and family. In 1978, he launched a unsuccessful campaign for the House of Representatives after which he began several small oil exploration companies. These later merged and George served on the board of directors.

By 1988 George moved his family to Washington, DC to work on his father’s election campaign – working as a campaign liaison and media advisor. In 1991, he also worked on his father’s 1992 unsuccessful Presidential re-election campaign. After campaigning for his father, George returned to Texas and bought $800,000 worth of shares in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise. The sale of these shares for $15 million in 1998 gave George a tidy profit.

He declared himself a candidate for Governor of Texas in 1994 which he won – serving as the State’s Governor until December 2000. In June 1999 he announced he would run for United States President – which he won in a still controversial legal decision whose outcome went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2000. He was sworn in as President January, 2001.

Trying Times for a US President

The George W. Bush Presidential era covered not only the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but meltdown of the financial industry and economic recession.

These events, followed by Hurricane Katrina and problems with FEMA response, questions regarding “WMDs” or “weapons of mass destruction”, approved torture at Guantanamo, questionable decisions regarding Afghanistan and Iraq, and the passage of the controversial “Patriot Act” – meant George W. Bush left the White House after two terms – as one of the most unpopular US Presidents – second only to Richard Nixon.

Presidential Travel

Countries Visited by President George W. Bush

2001
~Mexico ~Canada ~Spain ~Belgium ~Sweden
~Poland ~Slovenia ~United Kingdom ~Italy
~Yugoslavia (Kosovo) ~China

2002
~Japan ~Korea ~China ~Mexico ~Peru
~El Salvador ~Germany ~Russia (2) ~France ~Italy
~Vatican City ~Canada ~Mexico ~Czech Republic
~Lithuania ~Romania

2003
~Portugal ~United Kingdom (2) ~Poland ~Russia
~France ~Egypt ~Jordan ~Qatar ~Senegal
~South Africa ~Botswana ~Uganda ~Nigeria ~Japan
~Philippines ~Thailand ~Singapore ~Indonesia
~Australia ~Iraq

2004
~Mexico ~Vatican City ~Italy ~France ~Ireland
~Chile ~Turkey ~Columbia ~Canada

2005
~Belgium ~Germany ~Slovakia ~Vatican City
~Italy ~Latvia ~Netherlands ~Russia ~Georgia
~Denmark ~United Kingdom ~Argentina ~Brazil
~Panama ~Japan ~Korea ~China ~Mongolia

2006
~Ireland ~India ~Afghanistan ~Pakistan ~Mexico
~Iraq ~Austria ~Hungary ~Germany ~Russia
~Singapore ~Vietnam ~Indonesia ~Estonia ~Latvia
~Jordan

2007
~Brazil ~Uraguary ~Columbia ~Guatemala ~Mexico
~Czech Republic ~Germany ~Poland ~Italy ~Vatican City
~Albania ~Bulgaria ~Canada ~Iraq ~Australia

2008
~Israel ~Palenstinian Authority ~Kuwait ~Bahrain
~United Arab Emirates ~Saudi Arabia (2) ~Egypt (2) ~Benin
~Tanzania ~Rwanda ~Ghana ~Liberia ~Ukraine ~Romania
~Croatia ~Russia ~Israel ~Slovenia ~Germany ~Italy
~Vatican City ~United Kingdom ~France ~Japan ~South Korea
~Thailand ~China ~Peru ~Iraq ~Afghanistan

Regarding Presidential vacations, Bush appears to have taken full advantage of “Presidential” travel…

After leaving office Bush and his family settled for a short time back at their 1500 – 1600 acre ranch in Crawford, Texas but then purchased a home in the exclusive neighborhood of Preston Hollow – about 6 miles outside Dallas. He gives public speeches, attends both Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers sporting events, and threw out the first pitch of the 2010 World Series at the stadium in Arlington, Texas. His memoir, “Decision Points” was published November, 2010.

Human rights group still hound Bush for his acknowledgment that he ordered waterboarding of detainees. In February 2011, Bush cancelled a trip planned to Switzerland for fear of being arrested.

Former: President Bill Clinton

Presidential Travel Index

Time in Office: January 1993 to January 2001
Terms: Two
Birthday: August 19, 1946
Birth Place: Hope, Arkansas

Notes:
~ Father died 3 months before his birth
~ Skilled musician
~ Decided at age 16 that he would have a public life in politics
~ Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University
~ Rhodes Scholar
~ Played rugby at Oxford
~ Third youngest President at age 46
~ First “baby boom” generation President
~ Impeached for perjury; acquitted by the Senate
~ Opened the first official White House web site – 1994
~ Left office with the highest Presidential approval rating (65%) since World War II

“Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

From Clinton’s Inaugural Address – January, 20, 1993.

William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, began life as William Jefferson Blythe III. His father died 3 months before “Bill” was born and his mother left him with his maternal grandparents for most of his first 4 years while she attended nursing school.

Returning from New Orleans with a nursing degree in 1950, Bill’s mother married Roger Clinton and the new family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bill did not adopt his stepfather’s surname of Clinton until he was 15. Bill’s half-brother, Roger, was born in July 1956.

He attended Hot Springs High School in Arkansas and with the aid of scholarships attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University – interning with Senator J. William Fulbright in the summer of 1967 – and graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1968.

He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1968 – taking him to Oxford, England – after which he returned to the US and to Yale University from which he received his law degree in 1973. Also after leaving Oxford, Clinton met his future wife, Hillary Rodham, whom he married in 1975. Their only child, Chelsea, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas – February 1980.

After spending some time in California and Texas, Clinton returned to Arkansas as a law professor at the University of Arkansas. He was defeated in a run for the House of Representatives in 1974 but was elected Arkansas’ Attorney General in 1976 and Governor of Arkansas in 1978. Losing this seat in 1980, he regained it in 1982 and kept the Governor’s post for the next 10 years. In 1992, Clinton won the U.S. Presidential election.

Countries Visited by President Clinton

Note: In May 1993, President Clinton fired many members of the White House Travel Office claiming that financial improprieties had been found. Critics believed the firings were instead motivated by the Clinton’s desire to provide this Presidential travel business to their friends and business associates.

Clinton was elected for a second Presidential term in 1996. In 1998 the House voted to impeach Clinton regarding statements made in a sworn deposition. He was acquitted in 1999 and remained in office, finishing this second term January 20, 2001.

Presidential Travel

US Presidents have to be in good health – and for good reason. Bill Clinton made the equivalent of two international trips per month during 1994 alone. Good thing Air Force One is available and that he didn’t lose time waiting for his luggage to hit the good old airport carousel!

1993
~Canada ~Japan ~Korea

1994
~Belgium ~Czech Republic ~Ukraine ~Russia ~Belarus
~Switzerland ~Italy (2) ~Vatican City ~United Kingdom (2)
~France ~Latvia ~Poland ~Germany ~Egypt ~Jordan
~Syria ~Israel ~Kuwait ~Saudi Arabia ~Philipines
~Indonesia ~Hungary

1995
~Canda (2) ~Haiti ~Russia ~Ukraine ~Israel ~United Kingdom
~Ireland ~Germany ~Spain ~France

1996
~Italy ~Hungary ~Bosnia-Herzegovina ~Croatia ~Egypt
~Israel ~Korea ~Japan ~Russia ~France ~Australia
~Philapines ~Thailand

1997
~Finland ~Mexico ~Costa Rica ~Barbados ~France
~Netherlands ~United Kingdom ~Spain ~Poland ~Romania
~Denmark ~Venezuela ~Brazil ~Argentina ~Canada ~Italy
~Bosnia-Herzegovina

1998
~Ghana ~Uganda ~Rwanda ~South Africa ~Botswanna ~Senegal
~Chile ~Germany ~United Kingdom (2) ~Switzerland ~China ~Russia
~Ireland ~Japan ~Korea ~Israel ~Palestinian Authority

1999
~Jordan ~Mexico ~Nicaragua ~Honduras ~El Salvador ~Guatemala
~Belgium ~Germany (2) ~Switzerland ~France ~Slovinia
~Macedonia ~Italy (2) ~Morocco ~Bosnia-Herzegovina ~New Zealand
~Canada ~Norway ~Turkey ~Greece ~Bulgaria ~Serbia (Kosovo)

2000
~Switzerland (2) ~Italy ~India ~Bangladesh ~Pakistan ~Oman
~Portugal ~Germany ~Russia ~Ukraine ~Japan ~Nigeria
~Tanzania ~Egypt (2) ~Columbia ~Brunei Durassalam ~Vietnam
~Ireland ~United Kingdom

President Clinton holds the record so far for the least vacation days taken as President. However, he did seem to favor Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Travel: Post-Presidency

As he planned in 1963, Bill Clinton continues an active and involved public life after his time in office.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park was dedicated in 2004 along with the publication of his best-selling biography, “My Life.” He has also created the William J. Clinton Foundation to address issues such as Aids and HIV – and the Clinton Global Initiative which is involved with public health, and religious and ethnic rights and issues. He is also heavily involved with groups studying the impacts of global warming, climate change, and global environmental pollution.

He and his wife, Hillary, the current US Secretary of State, live in Chappaqua, Westchester County, N.Y. His latest book, “Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy” was published in November 2011.

Former: President George H. W. Bush

Next: George W. Bush

Presidential Travel Index

Time in Office: January 1989 to January 1993
Terms: One
Birthday: June 12, 1924
Birth Place: Milton, Massachusetts

Notes:
~ A school leader at Phillips Academy
~ Parachuted out of his burning plane during World War II
~ Flew 58 combat missions during World War II
~ Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale in 2 and a half years instead of 4
~ A millionaire by the age of 42
~ Two terms as US Vice President (under Reagan)
~ Was acting President for 8 hours during a Reagan surgery
~ One son was US President, another is Governor of Florida
~ Director of the CIA
~ Awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2011

The 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush was born in 1924 in the town of Milton, Massachusetts. Soon after George’s birth, the family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut where he attended the Greenwich Country Day School and Phillips Academy – Andover, Massachusetts. George was a well-rounded student – playing both basketball and baseball – along with being president of his senior class and a active member of the school’s newspaper.

George was accepted to Yale but when he graduated from Phillips Academy in 1942 he instead entered the Navy and World War II. Commissioned in 1943 as an Ensign and aviator in the US Naval Reserve in Chorpus Christi, Texas, Bush began his Naval career 3 days before his 19th birthday.

Flying missions off the aircraft carrier San Jacinto, Bush had to once abandon his burning aircraft and spend 4 hours on the sea in a lifeboat waiting for rescue. Bush took part in missions in the Bonin Islands and the Phillipines.

Reassigned to the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia and then to a naval air station in Michigan, Ltjg (junior grade) Bush was honorably discharged September 1945.

Earlier in 1945 George Bush had married Barbara Pierce and had finally begun his time at Yale. He was captain of the baseball team and was elected president of his fraternity. He graduated in 1948 and moved his family to West Texas to take a job as a sales clerk at an oil company where his father was on the board of directors.

Bush started his own oil company in 1951. He moved company operations from Midland, Texas to Houston, and by the time Bush began to pursue his political ambitions in 1966, he was the company’s chairman and a millionaire. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1966, was appointed by Nixon as Ambassador to the United Nations in 1971, and by President Ford as Chinese envoy. In 1976 Ford appointed Bush Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Deciding to run for President in the 1980 election, George’s unsuccessful campaign took him some 250,000 miles to over 850 political events. Feeling discouraged, he sold his home in Houston and bought his Grandfather’s estate in Kennebunkport, Maine. He was soon selected for the Vice Presidential spot by Ronald Reagan – the Republican party’s eventual winner. After serving two terms as Vice President, George H. W. Bush was elected President in the 1988 US election – taking office January 1989.

Bush was busy during his Presidency dealing with political upheaval in Panama, the Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the NAFTA agreement, civil war in Somalia, and the Gulf War. He was a frequent traveler. International trips for the President were enhanced by his receipt of the new Boeing 747s – which technological advances enabled him to function as if he were at the White House while traveling. Bush was defeated in the Presidential Election of 1992 by Bill Clinton.

Presidential Travel

1989
~Canada ~Japan ~People’s Republic of China ~Korea
~Italy ~Vatican City ~Belgium(2x) ~Federal Republic of Germany
~United Kindgom ~Poland ~Hungary ~France(2x) ~ The Netherlands
~Costa Rica ~Malta

1990
~Columbia ~Canada ~United Kingdom ~Finland ~Czechoslovakia
~Germany ~France ~Saudi Arabis ~Egypt ~Switzerland ~Mexico
~Brazil ~Uraguay ~Argentina ~Chile ~Venezuela

1991
~Canada(2x) ~France(2x) ~United Kingdom(2x) ~Greece ~Turkey
~USSR ~Spain ~Italy ~Vatican City ~The Netherlands

1992
~Australia ~Singapore ~Korea ~Japan ~Panama ~Brazil
~Poland ~Germany ~Finland ~Saudi Arabia ~Somalia ~Russia
~France

++ 2011 hourly costs to US taxpayers for Presidential travel on Air Force One?

$181,000 per hour.

Bush and his wife live in Houston and at their estate in Maine. George holds his own fishing tournament at Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

In November 1997 the George Bush Presidential Library opened on the Texas A&M campus – College Station, Texas. Bush continues to make public appearances and in 2009 was with his son, then President George W. Bush, at the commissioning of the aircraft supercarrier bearing his name.

Former: President Ronald W. Reagan
Next : Bill Clinton

Time in Office: January 1981 to January 1989
Terms: Two
Birthday: February 6, 1911
Birth Place: Tampico, Illinois
Date of Death: June 5, 2004
Place of Death: At his home – Bel Air, California
Buried: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library – Rancho del Cielo, California

Notes:

~ Nicknamed “Dutch” for his haircut and round “Dutchboy” face
~ Lifelong nickname, “the Gipper” from the film “Knute Rockne, All-American”
~ Was nearsighted
~ Performed 77 rescues as a lifeguard
~ Oldest man elected to the Presidency
~ Only US President to have been divorced
~ Began his political life as a Democrat – swithcing to Republican
~ First sitting President to survive being shot in an assassination attempt

Reagan’s most famous statement: “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

Ronald Wilson Reagan, America’s 40th President, was born in Tampico, Illinois February 6, 1911. The family moved to nearby Dixon, where Reagan eventually attended the nearby Eureka College and where he was captain of the swim team, a member of the football team, and student body president.

After graduating from college in 1932, Ron drove to Iowa where he landed a job as a radio announcer. He continued this career path until 1937 when a screen test he took while in California landed him a Hollywood contract. At the same time, he was completing Army Extension (homestudy) courses and would, by the end of the Second World War in 1945, help to complete some 400 training films for the Army.

Having served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild since 1941, Reagan was nominated as its President in 1947. He continued his film (and now television) career – serving as host of the General Electric Theater which required he travel to GE plants 16 weeks of the year. His final acting role took place on the TV series, “Death Valley Days” in 1965.

Ronald Reagan’s first marriage was to actress Jane Wyman (1940) and his second to another actress, Nancy Davis in 1952.

Sworn in as Governor of California in 1967, Reagan served until 1974 – while also surviving a recall attempt in 1968. In 1976 Reagan ran an unsuccessful challenge against incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford who then lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

He was successful against Carter in the 1980 election and took office as President January 20, 1981. Just over two months into his Presidency Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley. Hinckley has been in the news again lately as he wants to spend more time out of the psychiatric hospital he has been residing in for over 30 years…

Sworn in again as President January 1985 on one of the coldest days on record in Washington, Reagan left office for the last time January 1989. He and his wife Nancy purchased a home in Bel Air, California (the home is on the market right now) – in addition to their ranch in Santa Barbara. Reagan continued to be politically active and in 1992 he established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award. In November 1994 it was announced that Reagan had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. He died of complications from pneumonia, June 5, 2004.

After a State Funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, Reagan’s body was flown back to the Reagan Presidential Library in California. Opinions and discussions over Reagan’s popularity and effectiveness as President continue today.

Presidential Travel

From Wikipedia:

“Reagan’s presidency would be transitional in international travel. During his term in office, he ordered the two special mission Boeing 747s that would become the new presidential transport to replace the aging Boeing 707s. Heavy lift aircraft could bring security,limousines, and helicopters. After that time, the president had access to inflight bedrooms and showers, boardrooms, and communication equipment and with refueling virtually unlimited range. Summit meetings would proliferate, and international travel would become more of a constant expectation of the presidency.”

Below are the countries visited by Reagan during his Presidency. Over 661,000 miles in less than 8 full years while taking some 335 days total “vacation” – usually at his ranch in Santa Barbara. Though this is the (current) highest number of vacation days taken by any President except George W. Bush, remember – Presidents’ “on vacation” means they still meet with advisors on an almost daily basis, and are on call 24/7 in case of emergency. Just lucky for them they don’t have to make hotel reservations like the rest of us! And these aren’t the horse and carriage or slower train trips of past US Presidents.

1981
~Mexico (2x) ~Canada (2x) ~France (2x)

1982
~Jamaica ~Barbados ~France ~Italy ~Vatican City ~United Kingdom ~Germany
~Mexico ~Brazil ~Columbia ~Costa Rica ~Honduras

1983
~Mexico ~Japan ~Korea

1984
~People’s Republic of China ~Ireland ~United Kingdom
~France

1985
~Canada ~Germany ~Spain ~France ~Portugal ~Switzerland ~Belgium

1986
~Mexico ~Granada ~Indonesia ~Japan ~Iceland

1987
~Canada ~Italy ~Germany

1988
~Mexico ~Belgium ~Finland ~USSR ~United Kingdom ~Canada

Former: President Jimmy Carter
Next: George H. W. Bush

Time in Office: January 1977 to January 1981
Terms: One
Birthday: October 1, 1924
Birth Place: Plains, Georgia

Notes:

~ First President born in a hospital
~ Gift student and star basketball player
~ Served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant – 1946 to 1953
~ Assisted with the shutdown of the Chalk River Nuclear Reactor
~ Created the Departments of Energy and Education
~ Returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama
~ Founded the Carter Center in 1982
~ Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
~ Key figure in the Habitat for Humanity project

James Earl Carter Jr – forever it seems known as “Jimmy,” was born October 1, 1924 in a hospital near Plains, Georgia. His father was a successful local business leader and his mother, a nurse. He was the eldest of four children.

A gifted student who loved to read, Carter attended Plains High School and then enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College.

After taking some additional math courses at Georgia Tech, Jimmy was accepted at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 1943. He married Rosalynn Smith in 1946.

Carter applied to the US Navy’s new nuclear submarine program and was based in Schenectady, New York. He was sent to Canada’s Chalk River Laboratory in 1952, the site of a (partial) nuclear reactor meltdown. This experience shaped his views of nuclear power and after the death of his father in 1953, Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Plains to run the family business.

While successfully managing and expanding the family’s peanut farming business, Carter began to take part in local boards until his election to the State Senate in 1961. By 1966, he declined a return to the Senate in order to seek election as Governor of Georgia – he was not successful. A second run was successful and by January 1971 he was Governor.

Although almost an unknown to the majority of American voters prior to the Presidential campaign of 1976, thanks to the media’s focus on this political “underdog,” along with the support of Christian voters, and his reputation of NOT being a political insider, (remember Watergate!) Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States.

Travel to the following countries, by year, was taken by Jimmy Carter during his Presidency:

1977
~United Kingdom ~Switzerland ~Poland ~Iran

1978
~Iran ~India ~Saudi Arabia ~Egypt ~France ~Belgium ~Venezuela
~Brazil ~Nigeria ~Liberia ~Panama ~Germany

1979
~France ~Mexico ~Israel ~Egypt (twice) ~Austria ~Japan
~Korea

1980
~Italy ~Yugoslavia ~Spain ~Portugal ~Japan

Presidential Travel

As President, Jimmy had little time for vacations. He liked to head home to Plains, visit St. Simons Island, Georgia, and most “downtime” might find him relaxing while fishing.

President Carter was defeated in his run for re-election in 1980 by Ronald Reagan. During his Presidency, Jimmy Carter traveled some 224,668 miles. President Carter’s last trip aboard Air Force One (SAM 27000) was to Germany to meet and welcome home the 52 American hostages that had been held captive in Iran.

Like most Presidents before him, Carter remained – and this case, remains – very active in politics after the Presidency.

Through his work at The Carter Center with his wife Rosalynn, politics, and other humanitarian causes, former President Carter is the first President we’ve covered during our travels that is still alive and now at the age of 87, is still working.

As you can see from this 2008 photo taken when President Carter was 83, “move or it lose it” seems to be working for this President!

Check out some of the links below to find out what this former President has been up to since 1981.

Links:

Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
President Jimmy Carter – The Miller Center
Habitat for Humanity

Prior: President Gerald Ford
Next: Ronald Reagan

Time in Office: August 1974 to January 1977
Terms: One +
Birthday: July 14, 1913
Birth Place: Omaha, Nebraska
Date of Death: December 28, 2006
Place of Death: At his home – Rancho Mirage, California
Buried: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Notes:

~ Didn’t meet his biological father until he was 17
~ An Eagle Scout
~ An excellent athlete and football player
~ An avid golfer – once shot a hole-in-one
~ Turned down offers to play in the NFL
~ Was a member of the Freemasons
~ Never elected to be either President or Vice President
~ Made the first visit of a sitting US President to Japan
~ Survived two assassination attempts
~ Longest-lived US President – 93 years, 165 days
~ Was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission

Quote: “The length of one’s days matters less than the love of one’s family and friends.”

I felt a bit sorry for Gerald Ford. The man tripped once in 1975 while heading down the stairs of Air Force One and was forever after “bullied” by the Press and the media as a “klutz.” How likely is it that the only US President ever drafted by the NFL while in college was a “klutz”?

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., America’s 38th President, was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr in Omaha, Nebraska – 1913. His mother divorced his father, remarried in 1916, and although “Leslie” was never formally adopted by his new stepfather, his name was legally changed in 1935. He was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he was an Eagle Scout and captain of his high school football team.

Gerald attended the University of Michigan, played football – where he was scouted by NFL recruiters – and washed dishes to pay his college expenses. Ford applied to and was eventually accepted at Yale Law School in 1938. He graduated and began practicing law in 1941, but due to World War II in 1942, he enlisted in the Navy. He reported for duty at Annapolis, attended further traning in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and then served with distinction aboard the carrier USS Monterey. He finished out his military career as an instructor and on staff in California and Illinois. He resigned June 1946.

In 1948 Gerald married the former model and dancer, Elizabeth Bloomer Warren and over the next 9 years they had 4 children – 3 sons and one daughter. This coincided with his first election as Representative – a role he held for the next 25 years.

In 1963 he was appointed to the Warren Commission which investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He also served as House Minority Leader from 1965 to 1973.

In October 1973 the then Vice President, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign on bribery charges he faced as Governor of Maryland, Ford was selected to replace him. While the Ford family was still waiting to be moved into the Vice President’s residence, “Watergate” erupted and Ford was told to prepare himself to take over as President. When Nixon resigned August 1974, Gerald R. Ford, never voted in as Vice President, became the 38th President of the United States.

Countries visited by Gerald Ford in 1974: (He first visited China in 1972.)

~ Mexico ~Japan ~Korea ~USSR ~France ~Belgium ~Spain ~Austria

In 1975:

~Belgium ~Spain ~Austria ~Italy ~Germany ~Poland ~Finland ~Romania ~France ~China ~Indonesia ~Phillipines

He stayed in the United States for all of 1976.

Ford faced many trials as President – from the controversy over the Nixon pardon to a crushing economy. Add to this a swine flu epidemic, the ending of the Vietnam War, and the subsequent management of final evacuations. Ford was a somewhat reluctant candidate in the 1976 Presidential election which he lost to Jimmy Carter.

Ford’s Presidential Travel

After his Presidency, Gerald Ford remained politically active, briefly considered a run for the Presidency in 1980, and was also considered as a Vice Presidential candidate to Ronald Reagan in that same year.

The Ford family was energetic and athletic. Deep-sea fishing in the Bahamas; skiing in Vail, Colorado and in Utah, and for the President – golf and tennis.

Gerald Ford is the one and only President I’ve seen in person. I attended the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach, California in 1977 where President Ford was playing. A ball he hit landed within 5 feet of where I was standing. As he walked up to take his next shot he said, “Excuse me for temporarily blocking your view.” There’s even a YouTube available of this 34-year old golf event believe it or not!

President Gerald R. Ford died December 26, 2006 of arteriosclerosis. He was 93. He was buried at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. His wife Betty died July 8 2011, also aged 93, and is buried alongside her husband.

Links:

Ford Presidential Library and Museum
Gerald R. Ford International Airport
President Ford’s Daily Diaries
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
The Betty Ford Center

Next: America’s 39th President – James Earl Carter
Prior: Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States

Time in Office: January 1969 to August 1974
Terms: One +
Birthday: January 9, 1913
Birth Place: Yorba Linda, California
Date of Death: April 22, 1994
Place of Death: Cornell Medical Center, Manhattan, New York
Buried: Yorba Linda, California

Notes:

~ An avid walker
~ Played several musical instruments
~ “President” of his 8th grade class
~ Won numerous debating awards
~ Wrote the bestselling book “Six Crises” (1962)
~ Served 8 years as Vice President
~ First incumbent President to visit the People’s Republic of China
~ Established the Environmental Protection Agency
~ Wrote 10 books during his retirement

The 37th President of the United States, Richard Milhouse Nixon was born in a small farmhouse built by his father but was raised mainly in nearby Whittier, California.

Having moved and then transferring schools in his early years, Nixon graduated 3rd in his class from Whittier High School and was offered a grant to Harvard. He was unable to accept due to family responsibilities and instead attended Whittier College – graduating in 1934. Richard received a full scholarship to Duke University School of Law (North Carolina,) where he graduated near the top of his class in 1937.

Nixon had hoped to work for the FBI but instead found himself practicing law back in Whittier. Cast in a local theater production, Nixon met Thelma “Pat” Ryan whom he married in 1940. In 1942 Nixon accepted a job in Washington, DC and later in that same year he joined the US Navy – serving stateside and in the South West Pacific theater. He resigned from the Navy in 1946.

Most of the next 30+ years Nixon’s life was totally involved in politics. His political career began with his election to the US House of Representatives – January 1947 to December 1950. He was then elected US Senator from California – December 1950 to January 1953. Later in January 1953 he became the 36th Vice President of the United States – a office he held until January 1961.

From 1961 to 1967, Nixon traveled to Europe with his family, meeting with leaders in an unofficial capacity. He moved his family to New York where he was senior partner in the law firm Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. Nixon had stated that he was not interested in a run for President and seemed disillusioned by politics but by the end of 1967 he had changed his mind and by January 20, 1969 he was President. He was re-elected in 1972 and impeached August 1974. Nixon is the only President ever forced to resign while in office.

Nixon – “Traveling Man”

It gets more difficult to cover Presidential travel now that Air Force One and air travel are the main means of transportation. Current era Presidents, unlike Jefferson and Jackson who got around either on horseback, by carriage, or by slow, ocean-going vessels – can and do visit several countries in the same week. As example, President Nixon visited the following countries in the year 1969 alone:

~ Belgium ~ UK ~ Italy ~ Germany ~ France ~ Indonesia ~ Phillipines ~ Thailand
~ Viet Nam ~ Pakistan ~ Romania ~ Mexico

In 1970, Nixon visited:

~Mexico ~Italy ~Yugoslavia ~Spain ~UK ~Ireland ~France ~Portugal ~Bermuda
~China ~Canada ~Austria ~USSR ~Iran ~Poland ~Iceland ~Egypt ~Saudi Arabia
~Israel ~Jordan ~Belgium

The purpose of most Presidential travel is State or “official visits,” or to attend memorial services for foreign dignitaries. Use of the radio call sign “Air Force One” began in 1953 when a plane carrying President Dwight Eisenhower had a near miss with a commercial plane using a prior, similar call sign. “Air Force One” is now notification to air traffic control as a plane transporting the President of the United States.

Flying via Air Force One, which Nixon named “The Spirit of ’76″ is now “standard procedure” for US Presidents. One of the two planes used during this timeframe was a Boeing 707 – tail number “26000″ which also flew John F. Kennedy to Dallas in 1963.

The U. S. S. Sequoia, placed in service in 1920, has been used by Presidents including Nixon – who played the piano while onboard. The Sequoia is docked near Washington, DC and is open for tours and even rentals! The Sequoia was possibly the first handicapped-accessible boat since it was outfitted to provide wheelchair access for Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Vacations and time off were spent at Camp David, Maryland. President Nixon used Camp David as much as his 5 predecessors combined. Nixon also spent much time at the “Florida White House” which was his private compound on Key Biscayne, Florida and which he visited more than 50 times while in office between 1969 and 1974.

“La Casa Pacifica” (The Pacific House), which overlooked the beach in San Clemente, California was also known as the “Western White House.” The home is now a private residence and closed to the public.

Time magazine reported that some $10.5 million tax dollars went in to the “refurbishment” of these two estates. The Key Biscayne property had a floating helicopter pad…and you can now rent it yourself…maybe for your next vacation?

Nixon suffered a severe stroke while at his home in New Jersey, April 1994. He died April 22, 1994 at the age of 81. His funeral was attended by 5 living Presidents. Nixon is buried next to his wife Pat – who had died in 1993, at the Nixon Library and Birthplace. He was survived by his two daughters, Tricia and Julie.

Links:

Nixon Library & Birthplace
An essay on Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon – The Politician
Nixon’s Resignation Speech

Prior President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Next: Gerald R. Ford

The Traveling with the Presidents Series.

Time in Office: November 1963 to January 1969
Terms: One +
Birthday: August 27, 1908
Birth Place: Stonewall, Texas
Date of Death: January 22, 1973
Place of Death: At his ranch – Stonewall, Texas
Buried: Family cemetery – Lyndon B. Johnson National Park, Stonewall, Texas.

Notes:

~ Edited his high school’s paper
~ First candidate to campaign by helicopter
~ Had a first, severe heart attack at age 47
~ Guided the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
~ Liked to get drunk and drive vehicles around his ranch

Quote: “I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. First, let her think she’s having her own way. And second, let her have it.”

America’s 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson may have been born to humble beginnings, but this energetic and ambitious young man would become one of only four people ever to hold office as a Representative, a Senator, a Vice President, and as President of the United States.

“LBJ” as he was known, was born in 1908 in a small farmhouse on the Perdanales River near Johnson City, Texas – named for one of his forebearers. Holding his first elected office as President of his Junior Class in high school, Johnson graduated in 1924 having taken part in debate, public speaking and America’s favorite pastime – baseball. Graduating from Southwest Texas Teacher’s College in 1930, Johnson honed his public speaking skills and was a informed and persuasive speaker – even conducting a class on the subject at Sam Houston High School. With his background in speaking and debate, and a father who had held 5 terms as a Texas legislator, Johnson entered politics as a congressional aide. In 1935 he was appointed head of the Texas National Youth Administration and from 1937 to 1941 he was the elected representative of Texas’ 10th Congressional district.

LBJ married Claudia Alta Taylor in 1934. With his marriage to Miss Taylor, conveniently and already nicknamed “Lady Bird” – Lyndon would begin his “LBJ” naming convention with his daughters Lynda Bird Johnson – born in 1944, and Lucy Baines Johnson – born in 1947. Even one of Johnson’s dogs was given the name “Little Beagle Johnson!”

When America entered World War II in 1941, Johnson became a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserve. He worked stateside until the Spring of 1942 when he spent a short time in the Southwest Pacific to survey military conditions and readiness to be reported back to President Roosevelt. LBJ was awarded a Silver Star though there is much controversy over how an “observer” could have done anything to warrant such a high honor.

Johnson won a Senate seat in 1948, was chosen as Senate Majority Whip in 1951, and Minority Leader in 1953. Johnson visited his various districts during his campaigning via his rented helicopter known as the “Johnson City Windmill.” A savvy, well-informed, and well-connected politician, Johnson was selected (with some controversy still remaining) as John F. Kennedy’s VP candidate in the 1960 Presidential Election.

LBJ – Travel as President

Within hours after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36th President of the United States – taking the Oath of Office aboard Air Force One at Love Field Airport in Dallas. Johnson would fly some 523,000 miles on Air Force One during his 5 years as President. He took trips to Vietnam and Asia – and one long, unplanned trip across the US and to Australia, Thailand, South Vietnam, Pakistan, and Italy. You get the feeling that Johnson’s “inquiring mind” might have thought he was missing something, somewhere…

Johnson was elected President in 1964. Due in large part to unresolved civil rights issues and the Vietnam War, Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1968. His health was also beginning to fail.

Johnson returned to his ranch in Stonewall, Texas January 1969. He published his memoirs, and later that year the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum opened near the University of Texas – Austin. Johnson died at his ranch January 22, 1973, (one day before the ceasefire in Vietnam was signed) and willed his ranch to the public. The ranch formed the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park with Johnson’s wish that the ranch continue to be a “working” ranch – not just a museum of days gone by. Johnson is buried at the park – just a short walk from the house in which he was born.

Links:

LBJ Library and Museum
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Austin, Texas – Convention & Visitor’s Bureau
More on the life of LBJ
More on LBJ Presidential Travel

Prior: John F. Kennedy
Next: Richard M. Nixon

The Traveling with the Presidents Series.

Time in Office: January 1961 to November 1963
Terms: Less than one – assassinated
Birthday: May 29, 1917
Birth Place: Brookline, Massachusetts
Date of Death: November 22, 1963
Place of Death: Dallas, Texas
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Notes:
~ First Boy Scout to become President
~ Was so ill, he once received “last rites”
~ Appeared with Nixon on the first televised Presidential debate
~ Youngest man elected President
~ Created the Peace Corp
~ Kennedy and Taft – Only 2 Presidents buried at Arlington
~ First of 6 Presidents to have served in the US Navy

What hasn’t already been written or said about America’s 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy?

That he was a rather sickly child? That he lived in the shadow of a near paragon of an older brother? No matter what has been said about JFK – he was certainly never boring!

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Massachusetts but raised mainly in New York. His prominent, wealthy, and politically active family provided a private school education and vacation homes in Hyannisport, Massachusetts and Palm Beach, Florida. He attended first Canterbury School in Milford, Connecticut and then the Choate School in Wallingford where he graduated high school in 1935.

Kennedy made his first trip abroad in September 1935 – to London with his family. It was planned for him to attend school there, but by October he was back in the US instead and enrolling late at Princeton University. He spent only 6 weeks there until becoming ill. He recuperated at his family’s home in Palm Beach and then spent the Spring of 1936 working on a ranch in Benson, Arizona. In September 1936 he enrolled at Harvard.

“Jack” as he was called, led an envious college existence in between extended trips abroad – to France and Europe in 1937, to London with his father and to Cannes in 1938, and to the Soviet Union, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Czechoslovakia and Germany – heading back to London – all before September 1939. After starting as a somewhat indifferent college student, Kennedy made the Dean’s List at Harvard in his junior year, and by 1940, his thesis had been published as “Why England Slept.” In 1941 he spent some time auditing classes at Stanford University and later in the year, traveled to South America. This is a lot of travel for someone still under the age of 25. Kennedy was published again in 1955. His second book, “Profiles in Courage” won a Pulitzer Prize.

Joining the Navy in 1941, Kennedy served with distinction and honor in Panama, the Pacific Theater, and the Solomons Islands. On August 12, 1944, Kennedy’s older brother Joe was killed in action flying a mission over England. The family’s political expectations for Joe now fell on JFK. He was elected US Representative in 1946 and in 1951, as a Massachusetts congressman, Kennedy, his brother Robert, and his sister Patricia traveled for seven weeks in India, Japan, Vietnam, and Israel. Elected Senator in 1952, Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, and was on the Democratic ticket for Vice President in 1956. He was nominated and then elected President, November 1960. Kennedy – along with his wife Jacqueline and other family members, traveled nearly non-stop across the US during these campaigning years.

Trips, accompanied by his wife Jackie, to Paris and Vienna in 1961 involved political issues surrounding Nikita Khrushchev which continued with the botched Cuba invasion, (Bay of Pigs) and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also looming as an issue during Kennedy’s brief administration was the growing political unrest in Laos which, despite Kennedy’s calls for peace and after his assassination, developed into the Vietnam War.

Kennedy visited West Berlin in June 1963 where he gave this (now) famous speech at the Berlin Wall:

Kennedy's Berlin Speech

He also made a visit in 1963 to the home of his ancestors when he visited the Republic of Ireland. For a man who suffered chronic back pain, was diagnosed in with Addison’s disease in 1947, and who had other endocrine-related health issues, Kennedy refused to let pain control him.

Presidential Travels – John F. Kennedy

Anyone alive and old enough to remember November 22nd, 1963 can probably tell you where they were when they heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot while in Dallas, Texas. Thirty minutes later came the televised announcement that he had died.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery – his grave lit with an Eternal Flame. In only the first 3 years, an estimated 16 million people visited Kennedy’s grave. His two deceased minor children and later, his wife Jacqueline (May 1994), were buried there with him.

Links:
Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy International Airport
Visitor info – Arlington National Cemetery

Next, The 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson

America’s 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Traveling with American Presidents Series

More on US Presidents, their homes, and their Presidential Libraries:

The Ideals Guide to Presidential Homes and Libraries

Time in Office: April 1945- January 1953
Terms: Less than 2 – assumed office after Roosevelt’s death
Birthday: May 8, 1884
Birth Place: Lamar, Missouri
Date of Death: December 26, 1972
Place of Death: Kansas City, Missouri
Buried: Truman Library – Independence, Missouri

Notes:
~ Middle initial “S” but no middle name
~ Was legally blind in one eye
~ A member of the Freemasons
~ Had several business failures
~ Inaguration was the first televised nationally
~ Only President who served after 1897 without a college degree
~ “Time” magazine’s “Man of the Year” – 1945 and 1948
~ Created and organized the Department of Defense
~ Approved the Berlin Airlift
~ Received the first ever Medicare card

Photo Credit: Young Harry S. Truman
Trumanlibrary.org

Born into a farming family, Harry S. Truman, America’s 33rd President, spent most of his formative years in Independence, Missouri. Harry didn’t attend a traditional school until the age of 8 but he loved to read – having been taught by his college-educated mother, and he loved both history and music.

Harry would get up at 5am to practice piano for two hours each morning before heading off to school. A somewhat quiet and bookish young man, Harry served as a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City, graduated from Independence High School in 1901, and began looking for ways to earn a living – working various clerical positions in the Independence and Kansas City areas. In 1906, his father called him home to help work the farm which Harry did without complaint.

In 1905-1911 Harry was also a member of the Missouri Army National Guard. His eyesight was so poor in one eye that Harry passed the physical exam only by memorizing the eye chart in advance. In 1911 Harry also made his first proposal to Elizabeth “Bess” Wallace – a girl he had loved since he’d first met her at Sunday School at the age of 5. She rejected him and in Harry’s practical mind, she should have since he was, according to himself, a rather useless farm boy!

Prior to leaving for the war Harry was sent to Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma and then on to France. Rising to the rank of Colonel, Harry first exhibited leadership qualities and his successful war record would, in future, help him politically. At war’s end, Harry was in a bit of a hurry to get back to Missouri. His second proposal to Bess had been accepted and in June 1919 they married.

After a haberdashery business failure Truman, with the aide of a wealthy but shady local political bigwig, was elected county commisioner for Jackson County, Missouri. He became popular due to his diligence and willingness to work hard for the good of the county and it’s citizens but the connection to his benefactor who had connections to organized crime, constantly plagued him. Backed by the same benefactor, (Thomas Pendergast) in a run for the Senate in 1934, Truman would win the election, but arrive in Washington with a reputation as having bought or stolen his election. Truman would spend the next several years earning the respect of his senatorial peers.

Harry moved his wife Bess and his daughter Margaret to a rented apartment in Washington, but Bess was not pleased to be there. Having spent her entire adult life living – even after marriage – with her mother in what was her mother’s home, Bess returned to Independence, Missouri though she and Harry communicated by letter almost daily. Harry took his job as Senator very seriously and began the committee that exposed fraud and waste in military contracting during World War II.

Presidential Travel – Harry S. Truman

His honesty and willingness to dig for the details brought him to national notice and when the party was looking for an acceptable Vice Presidential nominee to Franklin’s Presidential election in 1944 – Harry was selected. Party members knew that Roosevelt’s health was deteriorating and Truman’s eventual win as Roosevelt’s VP almost guaranteed he would one day be President.

After only 82 days as Vice President, Truman learned that Roosevelt had died. His panic and feelings of being unprepared and unworthy to serve as President were summed up in his quote,”…I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.” (More quotes from Harry)

With no time to waste Harry immediately learned about underway plans for an atomic bomb, and was soon attending the Potsdam Conference in Europe. By august, with the Japanese unwilling to surrender, Truman authorized use of the atomic bomb:

In 1950 he would approve development of the hydrogen bomb – 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic version.

Truman’s re-election would prove an arduous and seemingly impossible task. The US transition from war-time to peace-time had not gone smoothly and Truman was held responsbile. His efforts to win re-election took him over 21,000 miles across the United States in 1948. While supportive crowds continued to grow as news of Truman’s “Whistlestop” train tour spread, political pollsters predicted Truman would lose the election to his rival, Republican Thomas Dewey. Truman won the election – photographed proudly waving newspapers with headlines predicting his loss.

Not long after his inauguration, the Truman family was moved to Blair House in Washington, DC while extensive renovations were done at the White House. On November 1, 1950 an assassination attempt was made against Truman while he was still living there. Although it would have been allowed, despite the new 22nd amendment against third-term Presidents, by 1952, Truman decided not to run for re-election.

In 1956 Truman traveled to Europe and, after accepting an offer to give a speech in Philadelphia, drove himself and his wife, turning down “official” transport. In 1972 Truman was admitted to a Kansas City hospital suffering from pnuemonia. On December 26, 1972, at the age of 88, he died. He was buried at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. His wife Bess joined him there in 1982.

Links:
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

Former President, #32 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Up next, America’s 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Series: “Traveling with American Presidents“