7 The last recorded visit was on July 9, 1944, when FDR visited Shangri-La with his longtime paramour, Lucy Mercer Rutherford. FDR made nineteen visits to Shangri-La and spent sixty-four days there during his presidency. Roosevelt also hosted Princess Martha of Norway and Princess Julianna of Netherlands at the camp. During his 1943 stay, the two leaders discussed early planning for the 1944 D-Day invasion. ![]() Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, visited FDR at Shangri-La twice. 6 Roosevelt also decided that the campsite could host foreign leaders. With his own doghouse next to the presidential cabin, FDR’s dog Fala often joined him at the site. He sat there to think, but also to enjoy an evening cocktail. Roosevelt’s favorite spot at Shangri-La was the closed-in porch of his presidential cabin. 5įDR began using the camp for two purposes: relaxation and international diplomacy. 4 Security was maximized surrounding Shangri-La, with an alarmed fence and 100 Marines onsite when the president was in residence. 3 The budget for the renovation and construction was $18,650. Roosevelt had the main cabin renovated so that an extra-wide door was cut into the wall outside his bedroom, enabling a mechanical ramp for exiting in a wheelchair. Roosevelt named it “Shangri-La” from the James Hilton novel, The Lost Horizon and began spending time there during the summer of 1942. 2 It officially became a United States Naval installation, operated by military personnel. On April 22, 1942, FDR visited Camp Hi-Catoctin and selected it as the location for the future presidential retreat. Roosevelt requested that the National Park Service identify sites within one hundred miles of the White House that might serve as an alternative respite for the president. However, after the United States entered the war, military and Secret Service officials became concerned about the president’s safety on the open waters of the Atlantic due to threats of German U-boats. President Franklin Roosevelt previously used the presidential yacht, the USS Potomac, for relaxation. It might have remained a federal employee recreation spot if World War II had not intervened. The camp is located east of Hagerstown and north of Frederick in the Catoctin Mountains of western Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont and Emmitsburg. Camp David was originally built as a camp for federal employees and their families, a project completed in 1938 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the New Deal. ![]() ![]() is a rustic wilderness retreat that serves presidents and first families as a secluded getaway from the White House.
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