Bushes’ Camp David: Living Is Easy

It’s horseshoes instead of horseback riding, the movies are newer and the guest list is longer as President Bush settles in at Camp David, the weekend White House in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland.

In the first 37 weekends of Bush’s presidency, he went to “the camp” 20 times. Six weekends were spent at his oceanfront home in Maine.

His stays at Camp David usually begin with a jog, aides say.

Saturdays will typically include more athletic pursuits--jogging, tennis, swimming, horseshoe pitching and “wally ball,” a form of volleyball played on a squash court--and work in his office.

On Sundays, he attends interdenominational church services along with personnel from the camp, which is operated by the Navy.

Barbara Bush routinely accompanies her husband to the retreat.

“She reads a lot, does her mail, takes work with her up there,” said Anna Perez, the First Lady’s press secretary. “If her husband is having guests and they bring the spouses along, which happens quite a bit, she’ll maybe go bowling with the spouses. She always goes swimming when she’s up there. They play tennis. It’s a quiet time for her.”

As was the case when Ronald and Nancy Reagan used the camp, Friday and Saturday nights are often devoted to films in the camp’s movie theater. The Reagans, with backgrounds in the golden age of Hollywood, preferred old movies. The Bushes’ taste runs to newer offerings.

On a recent weekend, they watched “Sea of Love” and “Shirley Valentine.”

Reagan used Camp David 187 times--more than any other President since Franklin D. Roosevelt had it built in 1942. Weekends for the Reagans were usually quiet times spent without family or other visitors.

“It was a place that the Reagans enjoyed to be alone together and to unwind and to be away from the pressures of the gilded cage of the White House,” said Mark Weinberg, a spokesman for the former President in Los Angeles.

The Reagans’ son, Ron, who visited the camp several times with his wife, Doria, said that the routine was to “sleep late, depending on the weather, take a swim, have a ride, come back, hang out and probably see a movie in the evening after dinner.”

Reagan’s daughter Maureen has said that she visited the camp only once. His other daughter, Patti, was estranged from her parents for much of the Administration.

Michael Reagan and his wife, Colleen, parents of the Reagans’ only grandchildren, were living in California and did not visit the camp.

For the Bushes, in contrast, weekends at Camp David often bring gatherings of family and friends.

The First Family’s newest grandchild, Ashley, went to Camp David on Easter, less than two months after she was born in Denver to Neil Bush and his wife, Sharon. The older grandchildren enjoy riding around the camp in golf carts.

“You see grandkids putting around all the time,” said one aide who has accompanied the Bushes to the retreat 65 miles northwest of Washington.

On one weekend, the President invited Pam Shriver, a tennis professional, and a group for a weekend of tennis.

Even foreign dignitaries have spent the night. Britain’s Prince Charles was there in February, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke visited in June and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was there earlier this month.

One more thing: There is now a Nintendo game at Camp David.