United States presidential visits to Western Europe

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Western Europe

Thirteen United States presidents have made presidential visits to Western Europe.[a] The first visits by an incumbent president to countries in Western Europe were made in 1918 and 19 by Woodrow Wilson in the aftermath of World War I. He was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his peacemaking efforts.[2] Visits occurring during the 1940s through 1980s were offshoots of American diplomatic interactions following World War II and during the Cold War. To date, 40 visits have been made to France, 31 to Germany (including 10 specifically to West Germany or West Berlin), 21 to Belgium, 11 to Switzerland, six to Austria, and five to the Netherlands. No president has yet visited Liechtenstein, Luxembourg or Monaco.

Table of visits[edit]

President Dates Countries Locations Key details
Woodrow Wilson[3] December 14–25, 1918  France Paris,
Chaumont 		Attended preliminary discussions prior to the Paris Peace Conference; promoted his Fourteen Points principles for world peace. Departed the U.S. December 4.
December 31, 1918 –
January 1, 1919 		Paris Stopover en route to Italy.
January 7–14, 1919 Attended Paris Peace Conference. Arrived In the U.S. February 24.
March 14 – June 18, 1919 Attended Paris Peace Conference. Departed the U.S. March 5.
June 18–19, 1919  Belgium Brussels,
Charleroi,
Malines,
Louvain 		Met with King Albert I. Addressed Parliament, following Paris Peace Conference.
June 20–28, 1919  France Paris Attended the Paris Peace Conference. Returned to the U.S. on July 8.
Harry S. Truman[4] July 15, 1945  Belgium Antwerp,
Brussels 		Disembarked en route to Potsdam.
July 16 – August 2, 1945 Germany Potsdam Attended Potsdam Conference with British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.
Dwight D. Eisenhower[5] July 16–23, 1955   Switzerland Geneva Attended summit meeting with British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, French Premier Edgar Faure and Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin.
December 14–19, 1957  France Paris Attended the First NATO summit.
August 26–27, 1959  West Germany Bonn Informal meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss.
September 2–4, 1959  France Paris Informal Meeting with President Charles de Gaulle and Italian Prime Minister Antonio Segni. Addressed North Atlantic Council.
December 18–21, 1959 Toulon,
Paris 		Conference with President Charles de Gaulle, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
May 15–19, 1960 Paris Conference with President Charles de Gaulle, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
John F. Kennedy[6] May 31 – June 3, 1961 State Visit. Addressed North Atlantic Council. Met with President Charles de Gaulle.
June 3–4, 1961  Austria Vienna Met with President Adolf Schärf. held talks with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
June 23–26, 1963  West Germany Bonn, Cologne, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden,
West Berlin 		Met with Chancellor Adenauer and other officials. Delivered several public addresses.
Lyndon B. Johnson[7] April 23–26, 1967 Bonn Attended funeral of Chancellor Adenauer and conversed with various heads of state.
Richard Nixon[8] February 23–24, 1969  Belgium Brussels Attended the 23rd meeting of North Atlantic Council. Met with King Baudouin I.
February 26–27, 1969  West Germany Bonn,
West Berlin 		Addressed the Bundestag.
February 28 –
March 2, 1969 		 France Paris Met with President Charles de Gaulle.
November 12, 1970 Attended the memorial services for former President Charles de Gaulle.
May 20–22, 1972  Austria Salzburg Informal visit. Met with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky.
April 5–7, 1974  France Paris Attended the memorial services for former President Georges Pompidou. Met afterward with interim President Alain Poher, Italian President Giovanni Leone, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, Danish Prime Minister Poul Hartling, Soviet head of state Nikolai Podgorny and Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
June 10–12, 1974  Austria Salzburg Met with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky.
June 25–26, 1974  Belgium Brussels Attended the 2nd NATO Summit Meeting. Met separately with King Baudouin I and Queen Fabiola, Prime Minister Leo Tindemans, and with German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Italian Prime Minister Mariano Rumor.
Gerald R. Ford[9] May 28–31, 1975 Attended the 3rd NATO Summit Meeting. Addressed the North Atlantic Council and met separately with NATO Heads of State and Government.
June 1–3, 1975  Austria Salzburg Met with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
July 26–28, 1975  West Germany Bonn
Linz am Rhein 		Met with President Walter Scheel and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
November 15–17, 1975  France Rambouillet Attended the 1st G6 summit.
Jimmy Carter[10] January 4–6, 1978  France Paris,
Normandy,
Bayeux,
Versailles 		Met with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Prime Minister Raymond Barre.
January 6, 1978  Belgium Brussels Met with King Baudouin and Prime Minister Leo Tindemans. Attended meetings of the Commission of the European Communities and the North Atlantic Council.
July 14–15, 1978  West Germany Bonn, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Frankfurt,
West Berlin 		State visit; met with President Scheel and Chancellor Schmidt. Addressed U.S. and German military personnel at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, and spoke at the Berlin Airlift Monument.
June 14–18, 1979  Austria Vienna State visit. Met with President Rudolf Kirchschläger and Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. Met with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev to sign SALT II Treaty.
Ronald Reagan[11] June 2–7, 1982  France Paris,
Versailles 		State Visit. Met with President François Mitterrand and Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy. Attended the 8th G7 summit.
June 9–11, 1982  West Germany Bonn,
West Berlin 		State visit; met with Chancellor Schmidt and President Karl Carstens; addressed the Bundestag; and attended a meeting of the North Atlantic Council.
June 6, 1984  France Normandy Attended commemorative ceremonies of the 40th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy. Also present were Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, King Olav V of Norway, King Baudouin I of Belgium, French President François Mitterrand, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
April 30 – May 6, 1985  West Germany Bonn,
Bergen-Belsen,
Bitburg,
Hambach Castle
West Berlin 		State visit; attended ceremonies commemorating 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Attended 11th G7 summit.
May 8, 1985  France Strasbourg Addressed the European Parliament.
November 21, 1985  Belgium Brussels Attended the 7th NATO Summit Meeting. Present were the Heads of State and Government of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Portugal, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
November 16–21, 1985   Switzerland Geneva Attended the Summit Meeting with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Met also with Swiss President Kurt Furgler.
June 11–12, 1987  West Germany West Berlin, Bonn Delivered a speech at the commemoration of Berlin's 750th anniversary; met with Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
March 1–3, 1988  Belgium Brussels Attended the 1988 Brussels summit. Present were the Heads of State and Government of Canada, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
George H. W. Bush[12] May 28–30, 1989 Attended the May 1989 NATO summit. Present were the Heads of State and Government of Canada, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
May 30–31, 1989  West Germany Bonn,
Mainz 		Met with Chancellor Kohl.
July 13–17, 1989  France Paris Attended the 15th G7 summit. Also attended ceremonies for the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. Met with Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
July 17–18, 1989  Netherlands The Hague,
Leiden 		Met with Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers. Delivered a public address.
December 3–4, 1989  Belgium Brussels Attended the December 1989 Brussels summit Meeting and briefed leaders on the U.S.–Soviet Summit Meeting.
November 18, 1990  Germany Speyer,
Ludwigshafen 		Met with Chancellor Kohl.
November 18–21, 1990  France Paris Attended the CSCE Summit Meeting and the signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
November 23, 1990   Switzerland Geneva Discussed the Persian Gulf crisis with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
July 14, 1991  France Rambouillet Discussed further sanctions against Iraq with President François Mitterrand.
November 8–9, 1991  Netherlands The Hague Attended the European Community Summit Meeting.
July 5–8, 1992  Germany Munich Attended 18th G7 summit. Also met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
January 3–5, 1993  France Paris Discussed the Bosnian crisis with President François Mitterrand.
Bill Clinton[13] January 9–11, 1994  Belgium Brussels Attended the 13th NATO Summit Meeting. Met with King Albert II and Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene.
January 15–16, 1994   Switzerland Geneva Met with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
June 6–8, 1994  France Colleville,
Paris 		Attended the 50th anniversary of D-Day memorial ceremonies. Met with President François Mitterrand and senior French officials. Addressed the French National Assembly.
July 10–12, 1994  Germany Bonn,
Oggersheim,
Berlin 		Met with Chancellor Kohl and German political leaders. Delivered a public address at the Brandenburg Gate and attended deactivation ceremony for the Berlin Brigade.
December 2, 1995 Baumholder Addressed U.S. military personnel and met with Chancellor Kohl.
December 14, 1995  France Paris Attended the signing of the Bosnian peace treaty.
June 27–29, 1996 Lyon,
Pérouges,
Paris 		Attended the 22nd G7 summit. Met with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
May 26–27, 1997 Paris Attended the NATO Summit Meeting and the signing of the NATO-Russia Founding Act.
May 27–28, 1997  Netherlands The Hague,
Rotterdam 		Attended the U.S.–EU Summit Meeting. Attended the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
May 12–14, 1998  Germany Berlin,
Potsdam,
Frankfurt,
Eisenach 		Met with Chancellor Kohl; commemorated 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
May 18, 1998   Switzerland Geneva Attended the World Trade Organization meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of GATT.
May 4, 1999  Belgium Brussels Discussed the Kosovo War with NATO officials.
May 4–6, 1999  Germany Frankfurt,
Ramstein Air Base,
Spangdahlem Air Base,
Bonn,
Ingelheim 		Addressed U.S. military personnel; met with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder; met with Kosovo War refugees.
June 16, 1999   Switzerland Geneva Addressed International Labour Organization Conference. Met with President Ruth Dreifuss.
June 16–17, 1999  France Paris Discussed peacekeeping in Kosovo with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
June 17–21, 1999  Germany Cologne,
Bonn 		Attended 25th G8 summit.
January 29, 2000   Switzerland Davos Addressed the World Economic Forum.
March 25, 2000 Geneva Met with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
June 1–3, 2000  Germany Berlin,
Aachen 		Met with President Johannes Rau and Chancellor Schröder; received Charlemagne Prize, and attended a Third Way Conference.
George W. Bush[14] June 13–14, 2001  Belgium Brussels Attended the special Meeting of the North Atlantic Council. Met with King Albert II and Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
May 22–23, 2002  Germany Berlin Met with Chancellor Schröder and addressed the Bundestag.
May 26–27, 2002  France Paris,
Sainte-Mère-Église,
Colleville 		Met with President Jacques Chirac. Delivered a Memorial Day address in Normandy.
June 1–2, 2003 Evian-les-Bains Attended the 29th G8 summit. Met with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
June 5–6, 2004 Paris,
Colleville,
Caen,
Arromanches 		Met with President Jacques Chirac. Attended the 60th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies.
February 20–23, 2005  Belgium Brussels Attended the NATO and EU Summit Meetings.
February 23, 2005  Germany Mainz,
Wiesbaden 		Met with Chancellor Schröder and visited U.S. military personnel.
May 7–8, 2005  Netherlands Maastricht,
Valkenburg,
Margraten 		Met with Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Delivered address at the Netherlands American Cemetery, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.[15]
June 20–21, 2006  Austria Vienna Attended the U.S.–EU summit meeting.
July 12–14, 2006  Germany Stralsund,
Trinwillershagen 		Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
June 5–8, 2007 Heiligendamm Attended the 33rd G8 summit. Also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
June 10–11, 2008 Meseberg Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
June 13–15, 2008  France Paris Met with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Addressed the OECD. Attended wreath-laying ceremonies at the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial and Mémorial de la France combattante.
Barack Obama[16] April 3–4, 2009  Germany Baden-Baden, Kehl Attended the NATO Summit Meeting.
 France Strasbourg
June 4–5, 2009  Germany Dresden,
Weimar,
Landstuhl 		Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, visited the Buchenwald concentration camp and visited wounded U.S. military personnel
June 5–7, 2009  France Paris,
Caen,
Normandy 		Met with President Nicolas Sarkozy and dedicated the new visitor center at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Normandy.
May 26–27, 2011 Deauville,
Paris 		Attended the 37th G8 summit.
November 3–4, 2011 Cannes Attended the G20 summit.
June 18–19, 2013  Germany Berlin Met with President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel.[citation needed]
March 24–25, 2014  Netherlands Amsterdam,
The Hague 		Attended the Nuclear Security Summit. Also attended the G7 summit on the crisis in Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea. Met with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Also met with King Willem-Alexander at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.
March 26–27, 2014  Belgium Waregem,
Brussels 		EU Summit meeting with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission. While in Belgium, the President also held bilateral events with Belgian Federal Government officials and with the NATO Secretary General.[17] Laid wreath and toured the Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial with King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo. Delivered a speech at the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR).[18]
June 4–5, 2014 Brussels Met with King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo. Attended meetings of the G-7 leaders.[19]
June 5–6, 2014  France Paris,
Omaha Beach,
Benouville,
Ouistreham 		Met with President François Hollande. Attended the 70th anniversary of D-Day memorial ceremonies.
June 7–8, 2015  Germany Schloss Elmau Attended the 41st G7 summit.[20] He also met with Chancellor Merkel for a traditional Frühschoppen breakfast with the village locals in Krün.[21]
November 29 –
December 1, 2015 		 France Paris Attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Joined President François Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in paying respects to the victims of the Paris attacks by laying flowers in front of the Bataclan.[22]
April 24–25, 2016  Germany Hanover Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Toured Hannover Messe.
November 16–18, 2016 Berlin Met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Donald Trump May 24–25, 2017  Belgium Brussels Attended the NATO summit.
July 6–8, 2017  Germany Hamburg Attended the G-20 summit.
July 13–14, 2017  France Paris Met with President Emmanuel Macron. Participated in the Bastille Day celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Entry of the United States into World War I.
January 25–26, 2018   Switzerland Davos Attended the World Economic Forum.
July 10–12, 2018  Belgium Brussels Attended the NATO summit.
November 9–11, 2018  France Paris Met with President Emmanuel Macron. Participated in the Armistice Day celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Armistice with Germany that brought major hostilities of World War I to an end. Visited the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial.
December 26, 2018  Germany Ramstein Air Base Visited service members at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on his way back from Iraq.
June 6, 2019  France Colleville,
Caen 		Met with President Emmanuel Macron. Attended the 75th anniversary of D-Day memorial ceremonies. Visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
August 24–26, 2019 Biarritz Attended the 45th G7 summit.
January 21–22, 2020   Switzerland Davos Attended the World Economic Forum.
Joe Biden June 13–15, 2021  Belgium Brussels Attended the NATO summit.
June 15–16, 2021   Switzerland Geneva Attended a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also met with Swiss President Guy Parmelin.
March 23–24, 2022  Belgium Brussels Attended the 2022 Brussels extraordinary NATO summit.
June 25–28, 2022  Germany Schloss Elmau Attended the 48th G7 summit.

Visits by former presidents[edit]

  • Ulysses S. Grant visited France and the Netherlands in 1877, during a post-presidency world tour.[23]
  • Jimmy Carter, along with Carter Center personnel, met with the minister of foreign assistance in the Netherlands, and also with potential private corporate donors in The Hague, Netherlands, in September 1999, prior to visiting Bamako, Mali, for an assessment of the Center's health and agriculture programs in Africa.[24]
  • Bill Clinton visited the Netherlands in 2007 and 2011 for speaking engagements.[25][26]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The United Nations Statistics Division developed a selection of geographical regions and groupings of countries and areas, which are or may be used in compilation of statistics. In this selection, the following nine countries are classified as comprising Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, and Switzerland. The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49)".
  2. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1919". nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  3. ^ "Travels of President Woodrow Wilson". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  4. ^ "Travels of President Harry S. Truman". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  5. ^ "Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  6. ^ "Travels of President John F. Kennedy". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  7. ^ "Travels of President Lyndon B. Johnson". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  8. ^ "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  9. ^ "Travels of President Gerald R. Ford". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  10. ^ "Travels of President Jimmy Carter". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  11. ^ "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  12. ^ "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  13. ^ "Travels of President William J. Clinton". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-10-16. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  14. ^ "Travels of President George W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  15. ^ "Bush honors WWII dead on Netherlands stop: Marking V-E Day, president reflects on 'terribler price'". May 8, 2005. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  16. ^ "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  17. ^ "Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy in March 2014." whitehouse.gov. January 21, 2014.
  18. ^ Kuhnhenn, Jim (March 26, 2014). "Obama Plays up US-Europe bond amid Russian tension". Associated Press.
  19. ^ "G7 leaders warn Russia of fresh sanctions over Ukraine". 5 June 2014.
  20. ^ Hjelmgaard, Kim (June 7, 2015). "Obama attends G-7 summit in Germany". USA Today.
  21. ^ Connolly, Kate (June 7, 2015). "Merkel welcomes Obama with beer and sausage breakfast before G7 summit". The Guardian. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  22. ^ "Obama, Hollande pay respects to Paris attack victims". The Times of Israel. Agence France-Presse. November 30, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  23. ^ McFeely, William S. (1981). Grant: A Biography. Norton. p. 468. ISBN 0-393-01372-3.
  24. ^ "Switzerland, England, Norway, The Netherlands, Mali". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  25. ^ "Bill Clinton to visit Rotterdam". Expatica Communications. September 18, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  26. ^ "Insurer Achmea paid Bill Clinton $600,000 to make a speech". Dutch News. June 30, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
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