Eleven United States presidents and one president-elect have made presidential visits to South America. The first trip was made by Herbert Hoover (as president-elect) 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." [1] [2]
The first official visits by a sitting president were those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. Of the 12 independent countries on the continent, all but Bolivia, Guyana and Paraguay have been visited by an American president. Ecuador has only been visited by a president elect.
President | Dates | Countries | Locations | Key details |
---|---|---|---|---|
Herbert Hoover [3] | December 1, 1928 | Ecuador | Guayaquil | Met with President Isidro Ayora. [4] |
December 5, 1928 | Peru | Lima | Met with President Augusto B. Leguía. [4] | |
December 8–11, 1928 | Chile | Antofagasta, Santiago | Met with President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. Met with Bolivian diplomats to discuss the ongoing Tacna–Arica dispute. [4] [5] | |
December 13–15, 1928 | Argentina | Buenos Aires | Met with President Hipólito Yrigoyen. [6] Also reported to (U.S.) President Calvin Coolidge on the success of his tour via telegraph. [7] | |
December 16–18, 1928 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Met with President Juan Campisteguy, and addressed the National Council of Administration. [4] | |
December 21–23, 1928 | Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | Met with President Washington Luís; addressed the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. [8] | |
Franklin D. Roosevelt [9] | July 10, 1934 | Colombia | Cartagena | Informal visit en route to vacation in Hawaii. |
November 27, 1936 | Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | Addressed the National Congress of Brazil. | |
November 30 – December 2, 1936 | Argentina | Buenos Aires | Attended session of Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace. | |
December 3, 1936 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Official visit. Met with President Gabriel Terra. | |
January 12, 1943 | Brazil | Belém | Overnight stop en route to Casablanca. | |
January 28, 1943 | Natal | Informal visit (following Casablanca Conference); met with President Getúlio Vargas. | ||
Harry S. Truman [10] | September 1–7, 1947 | Rio de Janeiro | State visit; addressed Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security and the Brazilian Congress. | |
Dwight D. Eisenhower [11] | February 23–26, 1960 | Brasília Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo | Met with President Juscelino Kubitschek and addressed Brazilian Congress. | |
February 26–29, 1960 | Argentina | Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, San Carlos de Bariloche | Met with President Arturo Frondizi. | |
February 29 – March 2, 1960 | Chile | Santiago | Met with President Jorge Alessandri. | |
March 2–3, 1960 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Met with President Benito Nardone. | |
John F. Kennedy [12] | December 16–17, 1961 | Venezuela | Caracas | Met with President Rómulo Betancourt. |
December 17, 1961 | Colombia | Bogota | Met with President Alberto Lleras Camargo. | |
Lyndon B. Johnson [13] | April 11–14, 1967 | Uruguay | Punta del Este | Summit Meeting with Latin American Heads of State. |
April 14, 1967 | Suriname | Paramaribo | Refuelling stop en route from Uruguay. | |
Jimmy Carter [14] | March 28–29, 1978 | Venezuela | Caracas | Met with President Carlos Andrés Pérez. Addressed Congress and signed maritime boundary agreement. |
March 29–31, 1978 | Brazil | Brasília, Rio de Janeiro | Official visit; met with President Ernesto Geisel and addressed Brazilian Congress. | |
Ronald Reagan [15] | November 30 – December 3, 1982 | Brasilia, São Paulo | Official working visit; met with President João Figueiredo. | |
December 3, 1982 | Colombia | Bogota | Official Working Visit. Met with President Belisario Betancur. | |
George H. W. Bush [16] | February 15, 1990 | Cartagena | Attended Summit Meeting on the control of illicit drug trafficking with President Virgilio Barco Vargas, Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora and Peruvian President Alan García. | |
December 3–4, 1990 | Brazil | Brasilia | Met with President Fernando Collor de Mello and addressed a Joint Session of the Brazilian Congress. | |
December 4–5, 1990 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Met with President Luis Alberto Lacalle. Addressed a Joint Session of the Uruguayan Congress. | |
December 5–6, 1990 | Argentina | Buenos Aires | Met with President Carlos Menem and addressed a Joint Session of the Argentine National Congress. | |
December 6–7, 1990 | Chile | Santiago | Met with President Patricio Aylwin and addressed a Joint Session of the Chilean National Congress. | |
December 7–8, 1990 | Venezuela | Caracas | Met with President Carlos Andrés Pérez. | |
June 12–13, 1992 | Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | Attended the Earth Summit meeting. | |
Bill Clinton [17] | October 12–13, 1997 | Venezuela | Caracas | Met with President Rafael Caldera. |
October 13–15, 1997 | Brazil | Brasilia, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro | Met with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso; delivered several public addresses | |
October 15–18, 1997 | Argentina | Buenos Aires, Bariloche | Met with President Menem; delivered several public addresses. | |
April 16–19, 1998 | Chile | Santiago | State visit. Attended the 2nd Summit of the Americas. | |
August 30, 1998 | Colombia | Cartagena | Met with President Andrés Pastrana Arango. | |
George W. Bush [18] | March 23–24, 2002 | Peru | Lima | Met with the Presidents of Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia, and with the Vice President of Ecuador. |
November 19–22, 2004 | Chile | Santiago | Attended 16th APEC Summit. | |
November 22, 2004 | Colombia | Cartagena | Met with President Álvaro Uribe. | |
November 3–5, 2005 | Argentina | Mar del Plata | Attended 4th Summit of the Americas. | |
November 5–6, 2005 | Brazil | Brasilia | Met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. | |
March 8–9, 2007 | São Paulo | Met with President Lula da Silva. | ||
March 9–11, 2007 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Met with President Tabaré Vázquez. | |
March 11, 2007 | Colombia | Bogota | Met with President Álvaro Uribe. | |
November 21–23, 2008 | Peru | Lima | Attended the APEC Summit Meeting. | |
Barack Obama | March 19–21, 2011 | Brazil | Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro | Met with President Dilma Rousseff. [19] |
March 21–22, 2011 | Chile | Santiago | Met with President Sebastián Piñera. [19] | |
April 13–15, 2012 | Colombia | Cartagena | Attended the 6th Summit of the Americas. [19] Attended a leaders' dinner at the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas prior to the meeting. [20] Announced, along with President Juan Manuel Santos, that the United States–Colombia Free Trade Agreement would take effect May 15, 2012. [21] | |
March 23–24, 2016 | Argentina | Buenos Aires, Bariloche | Official visit. Met with President Mauricio Macri. Laid a wreath at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral. [22] | |
November 18–20, 2016 | Peru | Lima | Attended the APEC Summit Meeting. | |
Donald Trump | November 29 – December 1, 2018 | Argentina | Buenos Aires | Attended the G20 summit. |
Joe Biden | November 14–17, 2024 | Peru | Lima | Attended the APEC Summit Meeting. |
November 17–19, 2024 | Brazil | Rio de Janeiro, Manaus | Attended the G20 summit. It was the first time a sitting American president had visited the Amazon [23] . |
Theodore Roosevelt, along with Cândido Rondon, explorered the 1000-mile long "River of Doubt" (later renamed Rio Roosevelt) located in a remote area of the Amazon basin in 1913–14. Sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History, they also collected many new animal and insect specimens. [24]
Jimmy Carter, along with Carter Center personnel, met with São Paulo Governor José Serra and former president Fernando Cardoso; received special human rights award; and met with a roundtable of preeminent business and financial leaders in São Paulo. Also met with President Lula da Silva, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, and other Brazilian leaders in Brasilia, May 3–4, 2009. [25]
In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.
The current United States Ambassador to the Holy See is Joe Donnelly, who replaced the ad interim Chargé d'Affaires, Patrick Connell, on April 11, 2021. The Holy See is represented by its apostolic nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who assumed office on April 12, 2016. The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See is located in Rome, in the Villa Domiziana. The Nunciature to the United States is located in Washington, D.C., at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
There have been 41 United States presidential visits to Canada by 14 presidents over the past century. As the U.S. president is both head of state and head of government, these visits have taken many forms, ranging from formal state visits to official visits, working visits, or private visits.
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.
Six United States presidents have made presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa. The first was an offshoot of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretive World War II trip to French Morocco for the Casablanca Conference. More recently, Barack Obama, the first U.S. president with African American ancestry, visited his father's native Kenya in 2015. Of the 46 African nations identified as sub-Saharan by the United Nations, 14 have been visited by an American president.
Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The first trip by an incumbent president to Eastern Europe was made by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, to the Soviet Union, and was an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. The first trip by an incumbent president to Northern Asia was made by Gerald Ford in 1974, also to the Soviet Union, and was an offshoot of U.S.–Soviet Détente during the Cold War. The first presidential visits to other Eastern European countries occurred during this era of easing geo-political tensions as well.
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.
Nine presidents of the United States have made presidential visits to North Africa. The first trips by a sitting president to countries in North Africa were those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. Of the five countries in the region, only Libya has not yet been visited by an American president.
Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to the Middle East. The first trips by an incumbent president to countries in the Middle East were those by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. To date, 16 visits have been made to Egypt, 12 to Saudi Arabia, 11 to Israel, six to both Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, four to Iran, three to the Palestinian Territories, two to both Kuwait and Syria, one to Bahrain, Georgia, Oman, Qatar, and to the United Arab Emirates. No incumbent American president has yet visited Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Nine United States presidents and one president-elect have made presidential visits to the Caribbean since 1928. Franklin D. Roosevelt made the most trips to the Caribbean islands (14), either for vacation or while involved with Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. Of the 13 sovereign countries in the region, four—Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines—have not as of yet been visited by an American president.
Twelve United States presidents have made presidential visits to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The first visit by an incumbent president to the United Kingdom was made in December 1918 by Woodrow Wilson, and was an offshoot of American diplomatic interactions with the Principal Allied Powers at the conclusion of World War I prior to the Paris Peace Conference. The first visit by an incumbent president to the island of Ireland was made in June 1963 by John F. Kennedy when he visited the Republic of Ireland. To date, 40 visits have been made to the United Kingdom and 11 to Ireland.
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Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to East Asia. The first presidential trip to a country in East Asia was made by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. Since then, all presidents, except John F. Kennedy, have traveled to one or more nations in the region while in office.
Thirteen United States presidents have made presidential visits to Southern Europe. Woodrow Wilson became the first incumbent president to visit a Southern European country in January 1919 in the aftermath of World War I. Visits occurring during the 1940s through 1980s were offshoots of American diplomatic interactions during World War II and then the Cold War.
Thirteen United States presidents have made presidential visits to Western Europe. The first visits by an incumbent president to countries in Western Europe were made in 1918 and 1919 by Woodrow Wilson in the aftermath of World War I. He was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his peacemaking efforts. Visits occurring during the 1940s through 1980s were offshoots of American diplomatic interactions following World War II and during the Cold War. To date, 41 visits have been made to France, 32 to Germany, 21 to Belgium, 11 to Switzerland, six to Austria, and five to the Netherlands. No president has yet visited Liechtenstein, Luxembourg or Monaco.
The presidential transition of Herbert Hoover began when he won the United States 1928 United States presidential election, becoming the president-elect, and ended when Hoover was inaugurated on March 4, 1929.
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