Abroad Travel: Presidential Edition

International travel by U.S. presidents has become a valuable part of the country's interactions with foreign nations. However, it was not always common for the president to travel abroad. In fact, in the 19th century, it was taboo for an incumbent president to travel internationally, although this was acceptable for former presidents. This taboo was broken in 1906 when Theodore Roosevelt made the first presidential trip abroad to Panama, becoming the first U.S. president to leave the country while in office.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first US president to travel abroad while in office

In the 19th century, American social convention made international travel by a sitting president taboo. Foreign travel by former presidents was acceptable, and the most publicized trip of this nature was Ulysses S. Grant's world tour from 1877 to 1879. Domestic travel was welcomed as it allowed the president to connect with voters, but foreign travel was seen differently. The American public did not want their president mingling with royalty or exchanging bows with kings and queens.

This taboo was broken in the early 20th century as policymakers at the federal level began to reevaluate the nation's role in international affairs. New transportation technologies also played a role in the changing patterns of presidential travel. Early in the 20th century, trips were made by steamship. When Woodrow Wilson travelled to Europe by ship in 1918, the voyage took nine days. Forty years later, Dwight Eisenhower made the same trip by jet in just nine hours.

Theodore Roosevelt's trip to Panama was not too controversial because he was overseeing a US project, and it was his only trip abroad as president. In contrast, Woodrow Wilson's two-month trip to Europe at the end of World War I was criticized by Republicans in Congress, who argued that it was a sign that Wilson was focusing too much on foreign issues at the expense of his domestic duties.

In 1943, Franklin Roosevelt became the first sitting president to fly in an aeroplane

In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first sitting president to fly in an aeroplane. He flew across the Atlantic to Casablanca, Morocco, for a strategy meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The trip was kept secret and was considered highly dangerous due to German U-boat operations in the Atlantic. Roosevelt's trip marked the beginning of presidential air travel and highlighted the importance of international diplomacy in the early 20th century.

The journey began on January 9, 1943, when Roosevelt and his entourage left the White House for Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. From there, they boarded a train to Miami, Florida. On January 11, Roosevelt boarded the "Dixie Clipper," a Pan Am Boeing 314 flying boat, for the Atlantic crossing. The plane made several stops in Trinidad, Brazil, and West Africa for refuelling before reaching Casablanca. The entire trip covered approximately 7,000 miles and took over 50 hours.

Roosevelt's experience of flying sparked discussions about having a specially fitted-out plane for the president. This led to the creation of the "Sacred Cow," a Douglas VC-54C Skymaster aircraft modified with a sleeping area, radiotelephone, and an elevator to accommodate Roosevelt's wheelchair. The "Sacred Cow" became the first official presidential aircraft, setting a precedent for future presidential travel.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic flight in 1943 not only broke new ground in presidential transportation but also demonstrated the evolving nature of international diplomacy and the increasing importance of air travel in connecting world leaders. It marked a significant shift in how American presidents conducted diplomatic relations and paved the way for future presidential trips abroad.

In the years following Roosevelt's flight, international travel by sitting presidents became more frequent and far-reaching. With the introduction of jet aircraft, such as the Boeing 707 in the 1960s, presidential travel became faster and more practical, enabling leaders like Dwight Eisenhower to conduct face-to-face meetings with world leaders more efficiently.

William Taft was the first US president to visit Mexico

In 1909, William Howard Taft became the first incumbent US president to visit Mexico. The trip was only the second time in US history that a sitting president had left the country.

Taft's visit took place on October 16, 1909, and was split into two stages. The first was a private meeting in Texas, at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. The second stage saw Taft cross the border to meet Mexican President Porfirio Díaz at the Ciudad Juárez customs office. Díaz greeted Taft with a 21-gun salute. The two presidents dined together, with Taft saying a few words in Spanish, which he had learned during his time in the Philippines.

The visit was a significant moment in the history of US-Mexico relations. Taft later reflected on the trip:

> I esteem it a great privilege to be the president at the time when that event happened. I hope that it is significant of the tightening of the bond between the two counties. Railroads and other means of communication like the telegraph have brought us closer to each other, so that the City of Mexico and the city of Washington are far nearer today than they ever were before, and that means a closer union of feeling between the two peoples, a closer feeling between those responsible for the government of each country.

The meeting also paved the way for the start of construction on the Elephant Butte Dam project in 1911, even as Mexico fell into revolution.

In 1923, Warren Harding became the first US president to visit Canada

The "Voyage of Understanding" began with visits to states in the Midwest and Mountain regions of the US. On June 28, the group stopped in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where nearly 30,000 locals came out to hear Harding speak. The Hardings and their entourage received gifts from citizens and community groups, including local trout, dairy, and a papier-mâché potato. In early July, the group arrived in Tacoma, Washington, their last stop before sailing to Alaska. Harding received a gift of a walrus skull with elaborately carved tusks from a local hunter and trapper.

On July 6, Harding and his party set sail for Alaska, arriving two days later. They stopped in over a dozen cities, receiving gifts that reflected the artistic traditions of Alaska Native cultures, as well as the territory's natural resources. On July 15, Harding helped complete construction of the interior Alaska Railroad by driving a "Golden Spike" into a railroad bridge spanning the Tanana River at Nenana. As a thank-you gift, the local government presented him with a miniature model of the bridge.

Harding left Alaska on July 26 and headed back towards the Pacific Northwest. On July 27, he made a brief stop in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he gave a speech and played golf, one of his favourite pastimes. Harding then travelled to Seattle, where he gave a speech at the University of Washington stadium. This would be his final speech as president. By this point in the trip, Harding had become increasingly ill, and all remaining engagements were cancelled. Instead of making stops in Portland and the Yosemite Valley, the train carried him to San Francisco so he could rest. However, Harding's condition worsened, and he died on August 2, 1923. His body was loaded onto the Superb, the Pullman railroad car he had travelled on during his cross-country tour, and departed for San Francisco on August 3.

In 1918, Woodrow Wilson became the first sitting US president to travel to Europe

Wilson's trip was made possible by new transportation technologies, as it was only in the early 20th century that federal policymakers began to reevaluate the nation's role in international affairs, breaking the taboo against international travel by incumbent presidents. Before this, the idea of a US president making even one or two international visits was unheard of. The first president to travel abroad was Theodore Roosevelt, who sailed to Panama in 1906 to inspect the construction of the Panama Canal.

Wilson's trip to Europe was the first of many by US presidents in the following decades, with Dwight Eisenhower making the same trip by jet in 1959, this time in just nine hours. Since then, international trips have become a valuable part of the United States' interactions with foreign nations, with presidents visiting dozens of countries by the end of their terms.

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