Camp David is the official retreat of the president of the United States. It lies in a heavily wooded area of Catoctin Mountain in Maryland, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Washington, D.C.
Camp David has an office for the president, and living quarters for the first family, staff, and guests. The camp includes a pitch-and-putt golf green, a swimming pool, and facilities for other sports.
Camp David is administered by the Military Office of the White House and is operated by the United States Navy. Armed guards from the U.S. Marine Corps patrol the area and permit no unauthorized person to enter.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the camp in 1942, as a retreat where he could escape the summer heat of Washington. He chose the site because its elevation made it cool in summer and the isolated high location provided adequate security.
Roosevelt called the camp Shangri-La, the name of a perfect mountain kingdom in Lost Horizon, a famous novel by the English author James Hilton. In 1945, President Harry S. Truman made Shangri-La the official presidential retreat. President Dwight D. Eisenhower renamed the camp in 1953 for his grandson, David Eisenhower. President Eisenhower also added the golf green.
Presidents have conducted their regular business at the retreat, and several have held important conferences there. In 1943, during World War II, Roosevelt met at the camp with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain. Eisenhower conferred at Camp David with Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev of the Soviet Union in 1959.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter used Camp David to host peace talks between President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel. The peace talks resulted in a major agreement, called the Camp David Accords. For details on the Camp David Accords, see Arab-Israeli conflict (The Camp David Accords) .
