Presidential Visits Abroad

Preface

Visits Abroad of the Presidents of the United States, 1906-2004, prepared by the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, presents basic information concerning trips taken outside the United States by the President of the United States. It includes the first visit abroad, made by President Theodore Roosevelt, through President George W. Bush's foreign travels through December 2004.

Entries cover all official visits to foreign countries made by U.S. Presidents during their tenure as President or President-elect. They also include instances of unofficial travel to foreign countries by a President or President-elect for vacation purposes, when information concerning such visits is available.  Coverage, however, does not include Presidential trips to U.S. territories overseas, days spent at sea in international waters, or stops at uninhabited islands.

Entries include the name of the President, the country and the city (locale) or dependent area visited, the inclusive dates of the visit, and highlights relating to each visit. When a locale is mentioned for a dependent area, the dependent area appears in parentheses.  When multiple locales appear, they are in the order visited.  Under the highlights section the characterization of a visit as "state," "official," "informal," or "private" is given on the basis of official announcements at the time. A state or official visit is one made at the invitation of a foreign chief of state. Visits made as President-elect are indicated in brackets.

The visits are listed in two separate sections:  chronologically by President and alphabetically by country.  Visits to dependent territories are included under the country having sovereignty over the territory at the time of the visit. For example, visits to Bermuda are found under the United Kingdom. In the country list, entries for countries that no longer exist have been moved under the name of the successor state and cross references provided as needed. In the entries under the Presidents, the name of the country as it was at the time of the visit has been retained.  The names and spellings of cities in both sections remain as they were at the time of the visit.

The data presented here were collected by Evan M. Duncan of the Policy Studies Division, Office of the Historian.