Fifteen presidents of the United States have made thirty-four presidential visits to Mexico. The first visit by an incumbent president to Mexico was made in 1909 by William Howard Taft. It was only the second time in U.S. history that a president left the country while in office.
President | Dates | Locations | Key details |
---|---|---|---|
William Howard Taft | October 16, 1909 | Ciudad Juárez | Part of an exchange of visits with President Porfirio Díaz across the border. [1] |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | April 20, 1943 | Monterrey | Part of an exchange of visits with President Manuel Ávila Camacho across the border. [2] |
Harry S. Truman | March 3–6, 1947 | México, D. F. | State visit; met with President Miguel Alemán Valdés. [3] Also visited the monument to the "Niños Héroes" of Chapultepec. [4] |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | October 19, 1953 | Nueva Ciudad Guerrero | Dedication of Falcon Dam, with President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines. [5] [6] |
February 19–20, 1959 | Acapulco | Informal meeting with President Adolfo López Mateos. [5] | |
October 24, 1960 | Ciudad Acuña | Informal visit; met with President López Mateos. [5] | |
John F. Kennedy | June 29 – July 1, 1962 | México, D. F. | State visit; met with President López Mateos. [7] |
Lyndon B. Johnson | April 14–15, 1966 | México, D. F. | Informal visit; met with President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. [8] |
December 3, 1966 | Ciudad Acuña | Informal meeting with President Díaz Ordaz. Inspected construction of Amistad Dam. [8] | |
October 28, 1967 | Ciudad Juárez | Attended transfer of El Chamizal from the US. to Mexico and conferred with President Díaz Ordaz. [8] | |
Richard M. Nixon | September 8, 1969 | Ciudad Acuña | Dedication of Amistad Dam with President Díaz Ordaz. [9] |
August 20–21, 1970 | Puerto Vallarta | Official visit; met with President Díaz Ordaz. [9] | |
Gerald R. Ford | October 21, 1974 | Nogales, Magdalena de Kino | Met with President Luis Echeverría and laid a wreath at the tomb of Padre Eusebio Kino. [10] |
Jimmy Carter | February 14–16, 1979 | México, D. F. | State visit; met with President José López Portillo and addressed the Mexican Congress. [11] |
Ronald Reagan | January 5, 1981 | Ciudad Juárez | Met with President López Portillo. (Visit made as President-elect.) [12] |
October 21–24, 1981 | Cancún | Attended 22-nation [13] North–South Summit meeting on Cooperation and Development. Met with the Heads of state and government of Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Guyana, India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. [12] | |
October 8, 1982 | Tijuana | Exchange of visits with President-elect Miguel de la Madrid. [12] | |
August 14, 1983 | La Paz | Informal meeting with President de la Madrid. [12] | |
January 3, 1986 | Mexicali | Informal meeting with President de la Madrid. [12] | |
February 13, 1988 | Mazatlán | Informal meeting with President de la Madrid. [12] | |
George H. W. Bush | November 26–27, 1990 | Monterrey, Agualeguas | State Visit; met with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. [14] |
Bill Clinton | May 5–7, 1997 | México, D. F., Tlaxcala | State Visit; met with President Ernesto Zedillo. [15] |
February 14–15, 1999 | Mérida | State Visit; met with President Zedillo. [15] | |
George W. Bush | February 16, 2001 | San Cristóbal | Met with President Vicente Fox. [16] [17] |
March 21–22, 2002 | Monterrey | Attended the International Conference on Financing for Development and met with President Fox. [16] | |
October 26–27, 2002 | Los Cabos | Attended the 14th APEC Summit Meeting. [16] | |
January 12–13, 2004 | Monterrey | Attended the Special Summit of the Americas. [16] | |
March 30–31, 2006 | Cancun, Chichen-Itza | Attended the 2nd North American Leaders' Summit with President Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; visited the Chichen-Itza archaeological site. [16] | |
March 12–14, 2007 | Mérida, Uxmal | Met with President Felipe Calderón; visited the Maya ruin complex of Uxmal. [16] | |
Barack Obama | April 16–17, 2009 | Mexico City | Met with President Calderón. [18] |
August 9–10, 2009 | Guadalajara | Attended the 5th North American Leaders' Summit with President Calderón and Prime Minister Harper. [18] | |
June 17–19, 2012 | Los Cabos | Attended the G-20 Summit meeting. [18] | |
May 2–3, 2013 | Mexico City | Met with President Enrique Peña Nieto. [18] | |
February 19, 2014 | Toluca | Attended the 7th North American Leaders' Summit with President Peña and Prime Minister Harper. [19] | |
Joe Biden | January 8–10, 2023 | Mexico City | Attended the 10th North American Leaders' Summit with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. |
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Several United States presidents have made presidential visits to Australia and New Zealand. The first visit by an incumbent to these Australasian nations was made in 1966 by Lyndon B. Johnson. His three-day five-city visit to Australia was intended as a show of gratitude to the Australian nation for its then emphatic support for the Vietnam War. Four presidents have traveled there since. Prior to arriving in Australia, Johnson visited New Zealand. He went primarily to shore up support for the war in Vietnam. Only one sitting president has visited since.
Eleven United States presidents and three presidents-elect have made thirty-four presidential visits to Central America. The first visit by an incumbent president to a country in Central America was made in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt. The trip, to Panama, was the first international presidential trip in U.S. history, and signaled the start of a new era in how presidents conducted diplomatic relations with other countries. In 1928, Herbert Hoover, during the time when he was president-elect, visited the region during his historic "good will" trip, to Central and South America.
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Eleven United States presidents and one president-elect have made presidential visits to South America. The first trip was made by Herbert Hoover in 1928. During this tour he delivered twenty-five speeches in ten Central and South American countries, almost all of which stressed his plans to reduce American political and military interference in Latin American affairs. In sum, he pledged that the United States would act as a "good neighbor."
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