Camp David

Main Lodge at Camp David during Nixon administration, February 9, 1971.

The Naval Support Facility Thurmont, popularly known as Camp David, is the rustic 125-acre mountain retreat of the President of the United States. Camp David is part of the Catoctin Mountain Park recreational area in Frederick County, Maryland, 60 miles north of Washington, D.C., about 20 miles southwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and about 15 miles east of Hagerstown, Maryland.

First known as Hi-Catoctin, Camp David was originally built as a camp for federal government employees and their families, by the WPA, starting in 1935, opening in 1938. In 1942, it was converted to a presidential retreat by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and renamed Shangri-La. Camp David received its present name from Dwight Eisenhower, in honor of his grandson, Dwight David Eisenhower II. In 1978, it was the site of the signing of Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement.

The Camp is very isolated and quiet. The compound consists of several cabins hidden throughout the woods, only connected by small mulch walking paths. They are all named after various trees, plants, and flowers.

Navy Operations

Camp David or (Naval Support Facility Thurmont) is a United States Navy installation. The Camp is commanded by an O-5 (Commanders Rank.) Sailors are mostly Seabees and most officers are in the civil engineering field. The Navy Seabee Detachment does maintenance and beautification. The sailors must attain "Yankee White" security clearance, the highest- level clearance in the Department of Defense (DOD). The sailors are hand picked for their service at Camp David and represent the best of the U.S. Navy. Some of the Sailors include: grounds and maintenance personnel, electricians, carpenters, corpsman, and the President's cooks (mess specialists).

The Camp is alleged to be one of the most secure facilities in the world, as reported by a Department of Defense journal in 1998. The Facility is guarded by one of the United States Marine Corps' most elite units, MSC-CD (Marine Security Company, Camp David). Each Marine is hand picked from the infantry and sent through a battery of psychological and physical tests. He then must undergo specialized security training at the Marine Corps Security Forces School, in Chesapeake, Virginia. The Marines then report to Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. Assuming the Marines successfully complete all their schooling, they still must attain "Yankee White" security clearance. Only then will the Marines be eligible for the assignment at Camp David. After 12 months of service at Camp David, a Marine is awarded the Presidential Service Badge. Typically tours at Camp David are 18-24 months.

Facilities

Located within Catoctin Mountain Park a half-hour helicopter ride from the nation's capital in Marine One, Camp David provides privacy and seclusion, along with opportunities for the President and his guests to engage in recreation, contemplation, rest, and relaxation. Camp David has a pool, putting green, driving range, tennis courts, gymnasium, and guest cabins, including Dogwood, Maple, Holly, Birch, and Rosebud, named for the surrounding foliage. The president's cabin is called Aspen Lodge.

Although the presidential retreat is closed to the public, the adjacent eastern hardwood forest in Catoctin Mountain Park offers camping, picnicking, fishing, 25 miles of hiking trails, nature exploration, and fine scenic views to the public.

Camp David offers a secure, contemplative environment where presidents can relax from the pressures of the demanding office.

Camp history

Catoctin Mountain Park was originally submarginal land purchased by the government in 1936, to be developed into a recreational facility. The facility was to demonstrate how rough terrain and eroded soil could be turned into productive land again. The New Deal's Works Progress Administration, WPA, began the work in the newly created Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area, joined by the Civilian Conservation Crops, CCC, in 1939. Camp Misty Mount was first used by the Maryland League for Crippled Children. After the first year, the League moved to a second camp in 1938, Camp Greentop, because Camp Misty Mount's terrain was difficult to negotiate in a wheelchair. A third camp, Camp Hi-Catoctin, was completed in the winter of 1938-1939 and was used for three years as a family camp for federal employees.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was accustomed to seeking relief from hot Washington, D.C. summers and relaxing on weekends, aboard the presidential yacht "Potomac" or at Hyde Park, NY. In 1942 the U.S. Secret Service were very concerned about the President's continued use of the "Potomac." World War II had brought an attack on Pearl Harbor and German U boats close in Atlantic waters. Presidential safety was a concern and Presidential health was also a concern. The muggy climate of Washington, D.C., was considered detrimental to his health, affecting his sinuses. A new retreat, a place to relax, within a 100 mile radius of Washington, D.C. and in the cool mountain air was sought. Several sites were considered but Camp Hi-Catoctin in the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area was selected after the President's first visit on April 22, 1942. A camp was already built on the site and the estimated conversion cost was $18,650. It was also almost 10 degrees cooler than Washington. The camp for federal employee's families became the camp of one federal employee, the President of the United States. Roosevelt quickly renamed the camp to "Shangri-La" from James Hilton's 1933 novel, Lost Horizon.

At the close of World War II, there was some debate over the future of Shangri-La. Should it be returned to the National Park Service? Should it be maintained as a national shrine or monument? Should it be transferred to the Maryland State Forest and Park System as was the original plan of the demonstration area? In 1952 Truman approved a compromise under which the land north of Maryland Route 77 would remain Catoctin Mountain Park operated by the National Park Service and the land south of Maryland Route 77 would become Cunningham Falls State Park. The official transfer took effect in 1954. President Eisenhower renamed the retreat, after he took office in 1953, "Camp David," after his grandson.

Camp David has been the site of many historic international meetings. It was there, during World War II, that President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill planned the Allies' invasion of Europe. Many historical events have occurred at the Presidential Retreat; the planning of the Normandy invasion, Eisenhower-Khrushchev meetings, discussions of the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam War discussions, and many other meetings with foreign dignitaries and guests. President Jimmy Carter chose the site for the meeting of Middle East leaders that led to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.

Camp David Accords

The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter. This represented the first diplomatic success in the effort to resolve the ongoing problems surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1947, following the initial war between Israel and her Arab neighbors, the 1967 Six-day War when Israel extended her borders, occupying parts of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt; and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It saw the first Muslim Arab state to recognize Israel and to normalize diplomatic and economic relations.

Critics say that Camp David was a limited development, since it only involved Egypt. However, it was (at the time) the only diplomatic initiative to succeed, and it gave both impetus and content to the subsequent Oslo Accord of 1993 which led to the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (anticipated by the Accord's reference to the possibility of an autonomous state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip) followed by the Israel-Jordan treaty of 1994.

Sadat and Begin, the principals to the accord, both took great political risks. Later, Sadat would be assassinated in 1980 by Muslim radicals who objected to peace with Israel. Yet in moving the peace process forward, Camp David is clearly understood as an historical, progressive, and positive event.

Gallery

• Camp David 29-0054a.gif

  George H. W. Bush meets with his National Security advisors in the Laurel Lodge conference room on August 4, 1990.

• Camp David 4 p37126-25a-515h.jpg

  George W. Bush meets with his advisors at Camp David on January 17, 2004, while preparing for his State of the Union address.

• CAMPDAVIDIRAQ.jpg

  From Camp David, Vice President Dick Cheney and members of the Interagency Team on Iraq participate in a video teleconference with President George W. Bush in Baghdad, Iraq.

• Georgebushjuly2007campdavid.jpg

  President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten walk together with the President's dog, Barney, at Camp David, July 21, 2007.

• Shinzo Abe & George W Bush, 2007Apr27.jpg

  Shinzo Abe and George W. Bush at Camp David in 2007.

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  Richard and Pat Nixon walking their dogs in Camp David.

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  Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter, and Anwar Sadat at Camp David, September 7, 1978.

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  Menachem Begin poses at Camp David, 1978.

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  Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat with U.S. president Jimmy Carter at Camp David in 1978.

• Carter and Sadat.jpg

  President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, and Jimmy Carter meet at the beginning of the Camp David Summit in 1978.

• Sadat Carter Begin, Camp David 1978.gif

  Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter, and Menachem Begin meet on the Aspen Lodge patio of Camp David on September 6, 1978.

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  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan walk at Camp David in 1986.

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  British Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan sitting in Aspen Lodge, 1986

[Image:http://www.8thandi.com/ikenikita1959.jpg%7Cthumb%7C President Eisenhower and Chairman Nikita Kruschev, U.S.S.R.at Camp David - 1959.]

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Nelson, W. Dale. The President is At Camp David. Syracuse, N.Y. Syracuse University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0815603184
• Quandt, William B. Camp David: Peacemaking and Politics. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute, 1986. ISBN 978-0815772903
• Quandt, William B. The Middle East: Ten Years after Camp David. Was. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute, 1986. ISBN 978-0815772903

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Camp David

• Camp David official White House page
• Camp David from the Federation of American Scientists

For the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, see Camp David Accords.

References

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