Mark Knoller: Bush Racking Up More Frequent Flyer Miles Abroad
In traveling to Austria and Hungary this week, President Bush is making his 33rd foreign trip since taking office.
Our CBS News tally of his travels abroad shows that this journey brings to 56 the number of foreign countries Mr. Bush has visited during his presidency. (See list after the jump.)
In Vienna, he'll attend the bi-annual U.S. summit with leaders of the European Union. And then in Budapest, he'll join in ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution against Soviet domination.
"The trip is an opportunity to reaffirm the strong relationship between the United States and the European Union," says White House National Security Advisor Steve Hadley.
Topping the agenda is the showdown with Iran. Mr. Bush will reaffirm American support for joint efforts with the E.U. to get the Iranian government to foreswear enrichment of Uranium, which the U.S. and its allies fear could be used for nuclear weapons.
Neither Austria nor Hungary has been a frequent destination for U.S. presidents.
Not since Jimmy Carter in 1979 has an American chief executive set foot in Austria. It was the site of a summit with then-Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev. The two leaders signed a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.
Only two previous U.S. presidents have visited Hungary: George H. W. Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in '94 and '96. The second visit was a brief drop-by to a muddy staging area in Taszar for U.S. troops bound for peacekeeping duty in Bosnia.
As a foreign traveler, President Bush is keeping pace with his predecessors. He's not far behind the record set by Mr. Clinton. During his eight years in office Clinton made 55 foreign trips to 72 nations. Near the midpoint of his sixth year in office, Mr. Bush this week is making his 33rd foreign trip to 56 countries.
Though unlike Clinton, Bush is not one to linger. By nature, he is not given to sight-seeing, though he will occasionally visit famous landmarks to avoid offending his hosts.
As part of the US-EU Summit in Vienna on Wednesday, Mr. Bush will tour the historic National Library and attend a performance by the Vienna Boys Choir.
TALLY OF FOREIGN NATIONS VISITED BY PRESIDENT BUSH
(number in parentheses indicates # of visits)
1 - Mexico (4)
2 - Canada (3)
3 - Spain
4 – Belgium (2)
5 - Sweden
6 - Poland (2)
7 - Slovenia
8 - Britain (4)
9 - Italy (4)
10 - Kosovo
11 - China (3)
12 - Japan (3)
13- South Korea (2)
14 - Peru
15 - El Salvador
16 – Germany (2)
17 - Russia (3)
18 - France (3)
19 – Vatican (3)
20 - Czech Republic
21 - Lithuania
22 - Romania
23 - Portugal (Azores)
24 - Switzerland (Transit only)
25 - Egypt
26 - Jordan
27 - Qatar
28 - Senegal
29 - South Africa
30 - Botswana
31 - Uganda
32 - Nigeria
33 - The Philippines
34 - Thailand
35 - Singapore
36 - Indonesia
37 - Australia
38 – Iraq (2)
39 - Ireland
40 – Turkey
41 – Chile
42 – Colombia
43 – Slovakia
44- Latvia
45 - The Netherlands
46 - Georgia
47 – Denmark
48 – Argentina
49 – Brazil
50 – Panama
51 – Mongolia
52 - Afghanistan
53 – India
54 – Pakistan
55- Austria (this week)
56 – Hungary (this week)