The Allure Of Camp David
As is so often the case on weekends, and always at Christmastime, the current occupants of the White House are not here. They're at their home away from home at a place designated Naval Support Facility Thurmont -- better known as Camp David.
"We love to go there. It's a great place to go on the weekends where we can actually be outside, we can walk outside, and we can also be with family and friends," first lady Laura Bush tells CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller.
It was a familiar sight Thursday as President Bush headed to Marine One for the 30-minute flight to Camp David. And the numbers reflect just how much he enjoys the place.
Our CBS News tally shows this weekend marks his 100th visit. Since taking office, Mr. Bush has spent all or part of 314 days there.
"Well, there are a lot of little cabins. Some of them date back to Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, when Camp David was built," Mrs. Bush explains. "It was really installed during the war when they wanted the President to have a safe place to go to out of Washington."
The 143-acre compound is nestled in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, about 70 miles from the White house.
It's a hideaway that doesn't appear on maps and is move heavily guarded than the White House.
It was FDR who established the place and named it Shangri-la. He went there to get away from the summer heat of Washington, DC. Since then, other presidents have gone there to flee the political heat as well.
Rejecting FDR's name for the place as too high-falutin, Dwight Eisenhower changed it to Camp David to honor his five-year-old grandson.
Gerald Ford had a swimming pool installed during his term in office. He also liked the tennis.
No one enjoyed the place more than Ronald Reagan. In fact, he holds the presidential record for the most visits with 186.
But First Lady Laura Bush thinks people may have the wrong idea about Camp David.
"Well, I think they'd be surprised to know how rustic it is. They're rustic little cabins, they're very charming, but they're simple. And then there's a lodge, one big cabin where we go for all of our meals," she says.
All the presidents have used Camp David as a secluded setting in which to pursue diplomacy -- none of greater import than the Mideast peace agreement negotiated by Jimmy Carter.
President Bush has played host at Camp David to eight foreign leaders, but also to scores of policy meetings. None was more ominous than the gathering of his war cabinet four days after the 9/11 attacks.
"It was a weekend of high emotion, as you might guess, and anxiety, certainly," Mrs. Bush recalls. "But also there was a lot of fellowship with being with each other. The Cabinet members and the president and the National Security Advisor met during the days. The spouses worked on puzzles together or went for walks."
But this weekend the focus is on Christmas. About 30 members of the extended first family are at Camp David with the president, including his parents, his brothers and sisters and their families. They attend services tomorrow morning in the Camp David chapel and then have a Christmas dinner together later in the day.