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1800, June

President John Adams

His Excellency John Adams arrived at this place [Alexandria, Virginia] yesterday. He was escorted by a troop of cavalry into town….The President is on a visit to Mount Vernon, from whence he will return on Wednesday, and partake of a public dinner to which he has been invited by the citizens of Alexandria.”

The Virginia Herald, June 10-11, 1800
1801, January 3

President Thomas Jefferson

Visited Mount Vernon to pay a condolence call on Martha Washington who was grieving the recent death of her husband.

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the death of george washington
1815, November

President Andrew Jackson

1845, June

President James Knox Polk

President Polk visited Mount Vernon with his wife, Sarah Childress Polk, and former First Lady, Dolley Payne Madison.

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1851, March

President Millard Fillmore

1860, October 5

President James Buchanan

President Buchanan was accompanied by Prince Albert, the future King Edward VII.

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famous visits to washington's tomb

Before this humble tomb the Prince, the President, and all the party stood uncovered. It is easy moralizing on this visit, for there is something grandly suggestive of historical retribution in the reverential awe of the Price of Wales, the great-grandson of George III, standing bare-headed at the foot of the coffin of Washington... the Prince then proceeded to plant a chestnut by the side of the tomb. It seemed when the Royal youth closed in the earth around the little germ, that he was burying the last faint trace of discord between us and our great brethren in the West.”

The Times of London, 1860
1862

President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln supposedly almost visited Mount Vernon. The President's steamboat apparently stopped by on a trip down the Potomac River in 1862, but was advised not to disembark the vessel. According to John Dahlgren of the Washington Navy Yard, "I advised the President not to land, and remained in the boat with him."

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the civil war years
1878, May 18

President Rutherford B. Hayes

1889, May

President Benjamin Harrison

1899, December 14

President William McKinley

Visited Mount Vernon, accompanied by his ailing wife, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Washington's death.

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It distressed all present to note the frail physique of Mrs. McKinley. We could not but admire her bravery and enthusiasm. She was actually carried from room to room, but withal was cheerfully intent on seeing everything of interest.”

Notes from MVLA Council of 1898
1906-1909

President Theodore Roosevelt

It would appear that no president enjoyed his trips to Mount Vernon more than Theodore Roosevelt. The longtime superintendent who hosted most of those visits, Colonel Harrison Dodge, recalled in his memoirs that President Roosevelt "took his visits to Mount Vernon in a holiday spirit and was usually in a characteristic good humor."

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...just before they arrived a heavy downpour of rain came on, practically without warning and the party arrived quite wet and very considerably bespattered with mud... I was surprised presently to hear the President calling loudly for me. “Come, Colonel,” he shouted. “I want you to see my Postmaster General in the tub taking a bath with his boots on”... When I entered the room in response to this extravagant announcement, I found Mr. Meyer standing in the tub in the process of washing the mud from his boots under the shower jet. This method of caring for the situation was canny and effective, but in view of the President’s Homeric enjoyment of the scene, the cabinet officer’s position in the tub was extremely ludicrous... At the luncheon-table Roosevelt...dwelt at length on it, magnifying and enlarging it with such keen enjoyment that the infection spread to all of us, and the meal proceeded with an extreme hilarity that bordered on hysterics...”

Colonel Harrison Dodge, 1907
1912

President William Howard Taft

1918, July 4

President Woodrow Wilson

President Woodrow Wilson several times honored Mount Vernon by his presence, but quite the most spectacular event in which he took part was on the Fourth of July, 1918, when he brought as his guests, on the Mayflower, fifty or more delegates representing the thousands of foreign-born citizens of the United States, wishing, by this public commemoration of our Declaration of Independence, to testify their loyalty to America. Each delegate bore a handsome wreath distinguished by his respective national colors, the collection quite filling the Tomb...It was estimated that nearly 20,000 persons were present on that notable day.”

Colonel Harrison Dodge, 1918
1925, November 8

President Calvin Coolidge

President Coolidge escorted the Prince Imperial and Princess Imperial of Japan, incognito as "Comte Asa" and "Comtesse Asa" during his visit.

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1932, February

President Herbert Hoover

President Hoover visited Mount Vernon on George Washington's 198th birthday in 1930, and again, two years later, on the 200th.

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1933-1945

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FDR visited Mount Vernon on many occasions. One especially notable occasion was on January 1st, 1942, in which the President brought British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to see Washington's Tomb in the midst of World War II.

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1947

President Harry Truman

1958

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

1961, July 11

President John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy entertained President Mohammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan and his daughter, Naseem Akhtar Aurangzeb, on the east lawn of Mount Vernon. It was Mrs. Kennedy's idea to host the dinner at Mount Vernon.

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Kennedy's State Dinner

Mr. President, we feel a special satisfaction because you are our guest tonight and because we feel that what Mount Vernon stands for is understood by you. Mount Vernon means to us not merely a beautiful home, but it also is, we hope, the symbol of the United States--in the past, the present, and we hope the future.”

John F. Kennedy's Toast to President Ayub Khan of Pakistan
1961

President Lyndon Baines Johnson

1976

President Gerald R. Ford

President Ford came to Mount Vernon at least twice, once as a Congressman in 1961, and again in 1976, during his presidency.

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1982, February 22

President Ronald Reagan

President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan visited Mount Vernon to commemorate the 250th birthday of George Washington.

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Proclamation 4900

Words alone cannot express how much we revere this giant for freedom... We are gathered on hallowed grounds to share a special moment in our history... We come filled with pride and gratitude, to honor George Washington, father of our country, knowing that because of what he did, we are free and we are Americans... Two hundred and fifty years after his birth, Washington's star shinesbrighter than ever... [his] pursuit of liberty and justice under God is still the most inspiring, the most successful, the most revolutionary idea the world has ever known.”

DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY 22, 1982 BY PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN AT MOUNT VERNON
1989, April 19

President H. W. Bush

President Bush landed the presidential helicopter on the Bowling Green at Mount Vernon and toured the Mansion with  and the Crown Prince Jordan, H. R. H. Prince Muhammed Big Talal.

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2007, February 19

President George W. Bush

President Bush traveled to Mount Vernon on the federal holiday commemorating Washington's 275th birthday. Like his father, he arrived at Mount Vernon via helicopter.

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With the advantage of hindsight, it is easy to take George Washington's successes for granted and to assume that all those events were destined to unfold as they did... Well, the truth is far different. America's path to freedom was long and it was hard. And the outcome was really never certain. Honoring George Washington's life requires us to remember the many challenges that he overcame, and the fact that American history would have turned out very differently without his steady leadership.”

President George W. Bush, February 19, 2007
2018, April 23

President Donald Trump

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association welcomed President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, and Emmanuel Macron, the President of the French Republic, and his wife, Brigitte, for a private tour and dinner at George Washington’s Mount Vernon on Monday, April 23, 2018.

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2022, January 30

President Joe Biden

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Mount Vernon on Sunday, January 30, 2022, to address the National Governors Association (NGA). They traveled to Mount Vernon by Marine One and landed on the 12-acre field overlooking the Mansion. The previous evening’s wintery mix provided a snowy ground cover, and George Washington’s iconic Mansion was illuminated for the occasion.

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Nearly every United States president has paid a visit to George Washington's home. But especially in recent years, Mount Vernon has welcomed many First Ladies, too-- including Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Trump.

First Ladies at Mount Vernon

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George Washington

John
Adams

Thomas Jefferson

James
Madison

James
Monroe

John Quincy Adams

Andrew Jackson

Martin Van Buren

William Henry Harrison

John
Tyler

James K. Polk

Zachary
Taylor

Millard Fillmore

Franklin
Pierce

James
Buchanan

Abraham Lincoln

Andrew Johnson

Ulysses S.
Grant

Rutherford B. Hayes

James A. Garfield

Chester A. Arthur

Grover Cleveland

Benjamin Harrison

Grover Cleveland

William McKinley

Theodore Roosevelt

William Howard Taft

Woodrow Wilson

Warren G. Harding

Calvin
Coolidge

Herbet Hoover

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harry S.
Truman

Dwight D. Eisenhower

John F.
Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard
Nixon

Gerald
Ford

Jimmy
Carter

Ronald
Reagan

George H. W. Bush

Bill
Clinton

George W. Bush

Barack Obama

Donald Trump

Joe Biden


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