Camp David
Presidential Retreat "Camp David" is the unofficial but well-known name for the Naval Support Facility Thurmont , officially also Camp 3 . The facility is located in the Catoctin Mountain Recreation Area in Frederick County, Maryland on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains and serves as a recreational facility for the incumbent President of the United States , away from the normal seat of government and the day-to-day political affairs of the White House in Washington, DC
Camp David is just a few kilometers away from the Site R bunker , also known as Raven Rock . Camp David owes its current unofficial name to President Dwight D. Eisenhower , who named it after his grandson David. As the official name suggests, the facility is administered by the US Navy .
In recent history, in addition to its role as a vacation retreat for the American president and his family ( first family ), Camp David has often been used as a place for formal and informal discussions between the United States and heads of government of other countries. Probably the best known was the Camp David I peace agreement between Anwar as-Sadat and Menachem Begin , which led to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979 through the mediation of Jimmy Carter .
In 2000, renewed talks to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a summit between Bill Clinton , PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak failed . This meeting is known as Camp David II .
history
The Catoctin Mountain Park was originally very unprofitable land that was converted by the government into a recreation facility 1936th The aim was to show how barren, rough terrain and eroded soil can be converted into economically usable terrain. The first camp, Misty Mount , was used by the Maryland League for Disabled Children for a year , but they subsequently moved to Camp Greentop because the site was more wheelchair accessible. A third camp, Hi-Catoctin , which was then completed in the winter of 1938/39, served as a holiday camp for civil servants' families for three years.
The then President Franklin D. Roosevelt used at weekends and in the summer on board his yacht Potomac or in Hyde Park in New York State to recover. In 1942 - after the attack of Japan on Pearl Harbor and the maneuvering German submarines in the Atlantic - the overall situation was still dangerous, it was for reasons of safety and health of the President, a new resort within 100 miles outside Washington, DC in wanted a safer, cooler mountain location.
Some places were considered; after Roosevelt's first visit to the Hi-Catoctin camp on April 22, 1942, this was chosen. There was already a facility, the renovation cost was 18,650 US dollars, and last but not least, the area was around ten degrees cooler than Washington, which benefited the President's airways. The holiday camp for civil servants' families became a holiday camp for an "official", the president. Roosevelt christened the place to in Shangri-La , inspired by the novel Lost Horizon (dt. Lost Horizon ) by James Hilton .
Towards the end of the Second World War there was a discussion about what would become of Shangri-La , the former country residence of the president. Should it be returned to the national park administration or should it be preserved as a national monument? Or should it be restored to its original purpose and returned to the Maryland State Forest as a model site?
In 1952, President Truman agreed to a compromise that the land north of Route 77 would continue to be administered by the National Park Service and the land south of it would be assigned to Cunningham Falls State Park. The official handover took place in 1954. President Dwight D. Eisenhower then named the site Camp David after his grandson .
At the invitation of US President Jimmy Carter , the peace negotiations between Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar al-Sadat began on September 5, 1978 in Camp David . In addition to these historical Israeli-Palestinian talks, numerous meetings and conversations of importance took place in the private, secluded atmosphere of the camp: the planning of the landing in Normandy in World War II , the meetings between Eisenhower and Khrushchev , negotiations on the Bay of Pigs crisis , about the Vietnam War and other conversations with rulers, foreign dignitaries and guests.
A G8 summit took place here from May 18-19, 2012 .
The presidential camp is within the boundaries of the national park; it is not open to the public. This is for security reasons and ensures the privacy of those present.
Web links
- Camp David , entry on the official website of the White House
- A brief history of the Presidential mountain retreat and its famous guests (English)
- Map and detailed aerial photo of the site
- Catoctin Mountain Park website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Camp 3 ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved May 22, 2012.
- ↑ Christoph von Marschall: Euro summit in the United States. In: Zeit Online , May 17, 2012. ("At the G-8 meeting in Camp David, the focus is on the euro crisis. The participants are curious about the new French and wonder about the absent Russian.")
Coordinates: 39 ° 38 ′ 54 " N , 77 ° 27 ′ 49" W.