May 7, 2026 • 43 mins
Camp David is awesome. But not all presidents have liked it. We'll dig into this historic property in today's episiode.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you should know a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's
Chuck and Jerry's here too, And this is stuff you
should know about Camp David.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right, it's about Camp David.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
But we're going to quickly mention that we are going
on a cruise, everybody, Virgin Cruise. The voyage is the
big Apple to Bermuda. Yeah, and it is an adults
only cruise wherein you can cruise with us, hear our
live podcast here stuff they don't want you to know,
and some of our other colleagues live podcast and hang
(00:44):
out with us and do there's like other events on board.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, it's gonna be a huge amount of fun. I
think you just go to Virgin Voyages dot com or
you search stuff at sea and it will take you
where you need to go to register for this cruise.
That's October second to seventh.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That is correct.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And I'm already working on my tan and trying to
drop a couple of pounds.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What else to make sure I'm seaworthy. That's about it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Are you practicing shuffle board?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Practicing shuffle board, uh and cards.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How many hats will you be bringing?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
In all seriousness, I will definitely bring my smaller kind
of cool straw hat and probably my big, big sunshade
straw hat.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, good, and maybe maybe a baseball cap.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Nice. Yeah, that big, that big floppy sunshade hat that
says do not disturb on it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
No, no, no, it says bikini inspector.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Federal bikini inspector.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, that's it. I couldn't remember what it was.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh man, oh man. Well, it's funny that you mentioned
federal anything, because we're talking about the federal government. And
this is the best segue we could come up with.
Camp Dave. It is this rustic retreat that the President
of the United States is able to use to get away,
(02:09):
ride horses, spend Christmas, try to broke her peace in
the Middle East, you know, the usual stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I requisitioned this from I think this is Libya. Oh
it's got to be because of the title. Yep, the
sleep away camp for very serious grown ups. And I
really love what she came up with. And I love
this episode already because I am a person that is.
I don't know where it came from, but I am
(02:38):
really interested in operations and like like operations, like how
things operate. Like if I go to like circ to Sola,
I'm wowed by the thing or Broadway show, but half
of my brain is obsessed with how it all works.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right, and how they do what they do.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And now I feel like I really understand not only
the history of Camp David, but kind of a little
behind the scenes of how it all goes down, and
I just for some reason I love that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, no, I know that about you. Although just now
I thought you were talking about operations like swapping an
arm in a leg or something because that is interesting,
or the game operation. Yeah, so, Chuck, these operations that
you're fascinated by take place in keddoctin Mountain Park. It's
in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's in western Maryland, and
(03:29):
we're not supposed to really get that much more specific,
although if you really look on a map, I'm pretty
sure you could find Camp David. But at least initially
when the first president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took over, it
was meant to be like a top secret place. Yeah,
but it wasn't always a presidential retreat. It started out
(03:49):
I guess under FDR as a New Deal project.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Initially, that's right, in the nineteen thirties, we kind of
were able to look around at things like that dust
bowl and say, hey, we've done a pretty bad job
with a lot of our agricultural practices, and there's been
you know, haven't treated our land as well as we should.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So the federal.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Government said, let me, let's buy up some what they
call sub marginal lands around the country and see if
we can rehabilitate them, see if we can do other
stuff with them.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And this was one of those areas.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It was in nineteen thirty six when they purchased about
ten thousand acres in the Katotkin Mountains. It's about fifty
five miles from DC, and the soil was pretty ruined there,
just like I said, from bad agricultural practices and industrial
purposes over the years.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
But it was in a nice area.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It was like lovely countryside, lovely forest, you know, creeks
and streams and ponds and all kinds of like great
stuff to recreate around.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, as long as you didn't look too close at
the three eyed fishes and stuff like that, you're like,
this place is amazing exactly. So the government took over.
They renamed the area Keddocton Recreational Demonstration Area, which is
a great name. It almost like this early part of
it sounds almost soviet does. The Works Progress Administration and
(05:13):
Civilian Conservation Corps built camps there. Some of the original
idea was that it was going to be a recreation
area for federal workers and their families. The only way
it could have gotten more Soviet is if, like it
had used brutalist architecture.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, which didn't really fit in those lovely green woods.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
No, But FDR he was like, that's great. I'm glad
you guys are doing that. I'm going to be out
here cruising on the presidential yacht, the USS Potomac, and
it was known as the Floating White House. There's another
one still today called the Sycamore that I think is
JFK's presidential yacht, you mean. And I looked into you
(05:53):
can rent it for events, and we were gonna have
our wedding on it, and oh wow, it holds like
a limited number of people and we could never get
the guest list down. So we're like, oh, we're just
going to go a lope.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, that's a good idea to a lope that is, thanks. Yeah,
they don't have things like that anymore because by the
time the Second World War rolled around, they were like,
maybe having all these important people like floating out in
the middle of the ocean isn't a great idea. And
FDR was looking also to get away to someplace that
(06:25):
was a little cooler in the summer, sure, because he
had bad sinus problems. And I don't think we mentioned
the name of this one particular camp inside this larger
area that would become Camp David was originally finished in
nineteen thirty eight. It was called Camp High Katatkin Hi
Dash Katatkin. And so by the time FDR is like,
(06:46):
all right, I can't be on that boat. I got
to go somewhere that's good for my sinuses. He said,
you know, let me see what do you got within
one hundred miles of DC. And in April nineteen forty
two they took him to Camp High Katakin and he's like, Eh,
this seems okay, he.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Said, this is fine.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
What's funny about that is apparently it was also a
secret site around the same time for the OSS, the
predecessor of the CIA, for training spies in like close
quarter pistol combat. There was something called the House of Horrors.
There's a cool little Atlas Obscure article about it, Wow,
(07:26):
where you would go into this like haunted house and
they like instead of ghosts, they would pop up cardboard
Nazis and scary sounds and conversation being played, and like
the hallways were angled in weird ways, and it was dark,
so it was very disorienting and you had to kill
every Nazi in the place or else they would kill
(07:48):
you because you knew too much by that time.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Probably, that's right. So that's just a weird coincidence, or
is it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
The obviously the presidential yacht was was run by the Navy,
and so they said, all right, why don't we just
let the navy run this new retreat since they're in
the sort of retreat business, even though it has nothing
to do with being on the water. And it was
launched at an installation called the Naval Support Facility Thermont
and Rmont is the name of the area.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
When they hatched the idea.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
For like Roosevelt to start going there, they would say,
all right, well, we're going to place one hundred marines
there we're going to put up a security fence with
an alarm on it.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
And he said, we also got to change this name.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No one knows what high Catatkin is and it's hard
to pronounce. So I read this book Lost Horizon by
James Hilton and he talked about the Himalayan utopia of
Shangri La, and that sounds really cool. So let's rename
it Shangri La. And they said, well, you're the president,
I guess we have to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
They're like, we think that's terrible, but okay, yeah. Yeah.
Apparently that book is where the like the name Shangri
La came from. It was like, super popular book. Have
you read it?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I have not, neither.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So it wasn't until I think nineteen forty two the
FDR started using the camp. Of course, he very frequently
used a wheelchair, so they basically made an eighty A
compliant before there was such a thing as ada. Yeah,
and he was like, all right, I came up with
Shangri La. Let's keep this role. I'm on going. I'm
(09:24):
going to call the presidential cabin the bears Den. And
everyone was like, you're president again, and they called it
the bears Den.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
They initially spent about close to nineteen grand fixing the
place up, and they had a little doghouse next door
for his dog, Falla, which is really cute, and so
he would go there and chill out at Shangri La.
I can't wait till they change that name, by the way,
and also started the practice of what would become a
thing of hosting foreign leaders there and kind of like
(09:56):
you know, getting away from the rat race in DC.
Legend has it that he and instant Churchill planned I
don't know if it's legend. I think that part is fact.
Planned some of the D Day invasion from one of
the cabin porches there. Yeah, and like would sit around
and drink bourbon and smoke cigars, do a little fishing.
I think this is the legend. Apparently on one of
the trips, they were driving back to DC and they
(10:18):
made a stop at a restaurant in Thermont called the
Cozy Restaurant because Churchill had heard of these jukeboxes and
he'd never seen a jukebox, So apparently they stopped there.
Churchill went in and got a beer and just marveled
at the jukebox.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Right, Yeah, and the Cozy restaurant was around till twenty fourteen.
It was legendary because I mean, if you were, you know,
not quite of high enough status to actually stay at
Camp David, you stayed in Thermont and you probably ate
at the Cozy restaurant. So it was around for years.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You could see Churchill there, apparently you could.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Can you just see him like just standing over the
jukebox me mesmriz.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Just like laughing, look at these things. It's flipping records.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So you want to take a break and then come
back and talk about I don't know, Camp David.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Sure, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So FDR was there, it was like a camp. Camp
rustic keeps getting batted around as a word to describe
Camp David, and today it's still used. But apparently back
in FDR's time, at the beginning of all this like
it was, it was rustic. And then when FDR died
(11:56):
in nineteen forty five, Harry Truman, whose taste did not
run to the rustic. Instead, he liked to hang out
at the little White House on Key West that, you know,
rather than in the woods outside of DC. Yeah, he's
still kind of he was a good custodian of it.
I guess he ordered like the brush to be cleared back,
(12:18):
and he ordered heating a heating system to be put
in so it could be used year round. Before it
had only been used during the nice, nice months out
of the year, but he didn't use it very much.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Now, you know, it seems reading through the history that.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
How you view Camp David if you are president, kind
of goes back to like what you're into, sure, and
the people that enjoyed it seemed like people that were like, yeah,
I love going, like people that are probably into like
being in the woods and that kind of scene. And
if you're not into that kind of scene, like you
said Truman, I guess he was a beach guy because
(12:56):
he like Key West. Yeah, and our current president very
famously kind of hates Camp David because we see his
taste and it's certainly not rustic cabin in the woods
kind of thing. And you've seen other presidents that go
there and like seem like they have a really really
great time. Oh yeah, and we're going to get into
some of that, but it's just interesting, like it's sort
(13:17):
of foisted upon you as president.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's like, all right, here's your.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Camp, and half of them seem they're like, I'm not
really into this kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, I think a significant number just keep their mouth
shut about it but don't really enjoy it very much.
But yes, it is expected of you to visit Camp
David at some point in time during your presidency. But yeah,
some of them definitely appreciated it more than others. Ike Eisenhower,
Dwight D. Eisenhower. When he took over in nineteen fifty three,
he was like, this is a needless luxury. Let's get
(13:48):
rid of it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, he seemed like he didn't maybe love it. But
his Attorney General, Herbert brownwell, he went there for an inspection,
and he's a guy who loves that kind of thing.
He loved it, and he came back and he sent
sort of a joke that seems like it was like,
but I'm kind of serious a petition for executive clemency.
And so Eisenhower's like, all right, fine, we'll keep Camp David.
(14:12):
We should mention that it's a part of a almost
fifty nine hundred acre area that Katotkin Mountain Park, but
it's only about one hundred and fifty acres of that.
Lyvia found other and I did too, some other sizes
potentially for the size of Camp David, like one forty three,
one eighty one, twenty five, two hundred. She said it
(14:34):
was oddly inconsistent, But I have a feeling that may
just be part of the sort of subterfuge of.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Not given away too much. Sure, sure, maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Not, but you know, it's somewhere between let's say, one
hundred and forty and two hundred acres.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
All right, I'll go along with that.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
All right, you're in for that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of you referenced that Eisenhower relented and didn't get rid
of what was still called Shangri Lat at the time. Yeah,
he said that the name shan Law was quote just
a little fancy for a Kansas farm boy. So he
renamed it Camp David. And we can stop saying Shangri
La now, chuck. Yeah, And he named it Camp David
after his five year old grandson, whose scholars now realize
(15:15):
was the one calling the shots during the Eisenhower administration.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Interesting, that's very funny, by the way, But interestingly, that guy,
the grandson, David, now runs the Institute for Public Service
at University of Pennsylvania School for Communications.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And teaches a course called Communication and the presidency. So
that's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And I bet you at the first day of class
he was like, yes, I'm that David.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm that David guy.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
One other thing about Eisenhower the president ike he was
the one that warned the country in his farewell address
about the growing threat of a military industrial complex. He
was actually a pretty sharp dude who had the shortage
the country heart.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean he was sharp enough to not wanted to
drive there the fifty five miles because he had a
helicopter pad built on the site. So now it's just
a half an hour to get there on I guess
Marine one.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And he said, we should also have some more fun
stuff to do here. So let's put in a screening room,
a little movie theater, Let's put in a bowling alley.
Let's put in a golf course. And they're like, we
can't put a whole golf course. He was like, just
one hole. And they said, sure, we'll put in a
golf hole. It'll have some different tea boxes to give
it a little variation. And he said, well, while I'm
(16:36):
naming renaming things this presidential cabin I don't like Bearsden,
I have a feeling you didn't like FDR, and he
changed it to Aspen in honor of Colorado, where his wife,
Mami grew up. And then that started the tradition of
naming all the camps cabins after trees.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yes, which still goes on today. It's a long standing tradition. Yeah,
it goes back to the fifty apparently. One of the
other things that I don't know if Eisenhower ordered it
or if they were just like this needs to happen,
there was a construction of a bomb shelter in case
of nuclear war, because again this is the fifties and
the Cold War was really heating up. I guess it
(17:16):
could accommodate fifty presidential employees. I saw as much as
one hundred and fifty defense staffers if a nuclear war
broke out and it was a bomb shelters. Under selling it,
it was a called the Presidential Relocation SPOT. I don't
remember the last word, but spot will do where you
could run the country like out of like underground essentially,
(17:40):
And it's still there today. And we'll talk a little
bit more about it later. But one of the things
that I found interesting is that when Richard Nixon came along.
He ordered a heated swimming pool to be built right
next to the presidential cabin and I guess the only
place to put it was whit smack dab on top
(18:01):
of the bomb shelter. Oh and it costs like two
hundred and sixty grand in early nineteen seventies money to
reinforce the bomb shelter, so the pool be put on
top of it. That's just so Nixon.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, it's it's kind of cool though. It's a cool
looking pool. It's like a little figure eight, and you know,
as we'll learn. I guess we're gonna learn it right now.
There aren't a ton of pictures of Camp David, Like
it's I wouldn't say it's veiled in secrecy, but they
don't put a ton of stuff out there. Like the
press has never really been allowed there. It's like a
true retreat. So the only pictures that have ever been
put out are like when an administration and it's like
(18:38):
Obama's like, hey, put out this picture of me doing
a water gun fight at the pool with my daughters
because because it's super cool, I know, look awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, he was looking over the photographer's shoulders as they
were skinning through him. He's like that one, that one
ill looked pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, He's like, can you do something about my elevens
and my crow's feet?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
He said, you need disport.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So Nixon put in the swimming pool. And then he
also is responsible for building the Laurel Lodge, which is
the biggest building there. It's where a lot of the
meetings are held, a lot of the bigger dinners are there.
And it replaced the previous Laurel Lodge, which is smaller, obviously,
and that one was renamed Holly the Holly Lodge. And
then Reagan came along as a as a religious guy.
(19:20):
He's like, we need a chapel here, we need a
non denominational chapel. Really, well, what really did he ask
for that or that they needed one?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You're not going to say it, like Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, okay, that's all I'm gonna say, all right, kidding.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
So that he got that going, but it didn't actually
open until hw Bush's administration. It's called the Evergreen Chapel.
Previous to that, if you were a religious president like
George's own Jimmy Carter, very famously religious, he would hold
Sunday services in Hickory Lodge.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, apparently there was only one wedding, which kind of
surprised me, and that was name HW Bush's daughter Doro.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I mean, you guys looked into it. You couldn't get
the guest list down.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
We couldn't find the place.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh yeah, that was a problem.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
W George H. W Bush's son. He spent a lot
of time. I think both HW and W Bush both
spent Christmases at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, they loved it.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, And as W's term was coming to an end,
he had the basketball court refurbished for his successor, Barack Obama,
because Barack Obama famously loved basketball.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What a what a class act.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Right, well, at a different time, you know, it's crazy. Yeah,
all right, moving on, So we mentioned earlier, like you know,
it's it's a retreat for sure, but it's also where
some very famous diplomatic meetings have taken place. And that
started in nineteen fifty nine when Ike, as Josh calls him,
(20:56):
because you're so friendly to each other, he invited Kruse
Chef there, Soviet premiere Kruse Chef to you know, do
what you do there, which is like get a little
more informal setting, get people out of the rat race
of DC and try and connect a little more personally.
And that's always sort of been the reason why they
take people there. And so kru Cheff sort of like
(21:18):
Churchill was just sat around and got at the at
the jukebox at the Cozy restaurant. Apparently kruse Chef was
just marveled at the bowling alley's automatic pin setter.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah. I call Khrushchef NICKI.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I think he just yeah, well, he says call me
nicky when he's bowling. But he just kept saying.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
He says on his bowling shirt, that's stitchy.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
He kept saying, knock knock Bin's down again. I would
like to see bin set very nice.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Did I send this to you? That little the little
extra stuff about the bomb shelter?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
No, so well, on top of the pool or under
the pool, wouldn't On top of the poo would be
a very bad place for a box shelter.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
They they were building this when Khrushchef came and visited. Yeah,
they didn't want doing that, so they built a deck over.
It was temporary, but didn't look temporary. Over the big
hole that they'd excavated. They hit all the excavated dirt,
and there's pictures of Khrushchef on the deck waving, clearly
(22:20):
doesn't know what he's standing on top of.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
He said, there's someone here. Echo. Every time I speak.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
In Soviet Russia, Echo.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Here's you. Oh man. That's a good fact.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I like that, the echo thing, hearing you built.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Just building the deck. It seems like something out of
like a Zany comedy or something.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
It totally does. I can see Peter Sellers like rushing around.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, I had a strange love vibe too.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, though,
some foreign dignitaries and leaders did not enjoy going to camp.
David Harold McMillan, who was Prime Minister of the UK
during Ike's term, he did not like going because apparently
Ike would make you watch westerns during movie nights. Yeah,
(23:08):
and McMillan, can I also call Harold McMillan mac mac
called them inconceivably banal movie nights. And I can imagine that,
like what, you gotta be kind of into westerns to
enjoy like a western anytime? You know?
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, Yeah, Emily didn't like westerns.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I like.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Like weird westerns, like the remake of True Grit or
Dead Man or you know, stuff like that. But like
the classics, I've never gotten into. Although I do like
The Wild Bunch. That's a great movie.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
No geez yeah, Sam Peck and Paul, But.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I've never I don't think I've ever seen all of
the Magnificent Seven. Like, I've just never really gotten into
good westerns, although I do love Sam Raimis The Quick
and the Dead too. See. I like weird westerns.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, there's a name for that. It's not a visionist.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
It's weird's westerns.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, but it's a weird different word. We'll just call
it weird westerns. But I know what you mean. Like
Australia puts out some cool westerns like that.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Oh yeah, like Nick Cave's one.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think you'd like Magnificent Seven by
the way. That's that's one that you probably would dig It.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Seems like you'd be right. Maybe I just need to
give it another shot.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, that's one. After the Bay of Pigs. JFK invited
would you call him jif he invited Ike back to
the camp to consult a little bit. I think, you know,
he just trusted his foreign policy experience, experience. And there
was a very famous photograph taken on that trip. Ap
photographer Paul Vathis won a Pulitzer Prize in nineteen sixty
(24:45):
two for his picture Serious Steps. It's this great black
and white of JFK and Eisenhower kind of from the
rear walking up a wooded path.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's very cool.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Picture, right with JFK saying we are screwed and I
saying you are screwed.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
That's right, I'm not president.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Probably the most famous thing that happened at Camp David
was the Camp David Accords that was between Monacham Began,
who was the Prime Minister of Israel at the time,
and the president of Egypt at the time, Awar Sadat,
and it was presided over by Jimmy Carter, and Carter
and his aides really did about the best job you
(25:28):
could possibly do in trying to get Israel and any
Arab country in this case Egypt, to strike some sort
of peace agreement. And it's still like it's revered, especially
in the United States, as like this great success. But
(25:48):
if you look at it further down the down the pike.
It didn't work out all that well, but still this
was about as good as you could expect. It's certainly
the best it's ever been done at camp day.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I mean, at the time, it was remarkable to
even get those guys in the same room, much less
go to camp for almost two weeks. I think they're
there for thirteen days. And again, you know, the reason
they do this is to get away from the media,
to have some real privacy, to connect as humans.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, a little foots the end of the tables here.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
They watched movies together apparently on our sadat hiked the
trails each morning. Carter very purposefully didn't even use the
larger room. He went to that that initial meeting room,
which was renamed Holly because he thought it was more
intimate and he loved it there. You know, Carter loved it,
but the guys found it kind of you know, they
were used to the wide open desert and so they
(26:43):
found it kind of dark and gloomy. But you know,
one of the pluses of being isolated like that is
if things start going south, they just they can't run
and like jump in their car and be at the
airport in ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, and the press isn't there to provoke hostility in
order to like get a great quote or to stir
things up for better, better press or whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I also saw that Jimmy Carter watched Star Wars with
anwar sadat and that is not a joke.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Oh wow, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Watched at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
That that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So Ronald Reagan, I think, aside from the Camp David accords,
I associate Camp David with Ronald Reagan more than anybody.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
He loved it, man.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
He loved going and playing cowboy when he was during
when he was president.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, he loved it very famously, loved riding horses. Nancy
loved it. They would go there like a lot on
the weekends, like their little weekend retreat. Because again, it's
a thirty minute helicopter ride and all of a sudden,
you're at this, You're I think being away from the
press is a really big deal.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah. I think that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, just to go check out. So he would host
World Leaders there, He recorded his weekly radio addresses there.
The Bushes loved it too, like you said, they spent
Christmases there, both you know, father and son, and apparently
w used it for some post nine to eleven strategy
sessions and Obama liked it a lot too.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, no word on what Biden did with it. He's
apparently being erased from history.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Well, Obama moved the G eight summit there.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I think it was supposed to be in Chicago, and
you know, he gave the reasons that usually give was
to get away from everyone and kind of have a
more free flowing discussion. But other people are like, I
think you're probably also trying to avoid protesters, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Because if the press can't get there, I can tell
you protesters can't. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And I mentioned Donald Trump not really liking it very much.
I think in twenty seventeen he said it was quote
very rustic and then said, you know how long you'd
like it for about thirty minutes. So it's not his scene,
and I think no one is surprised about that. But
he has used it, I think kind of when he
has to. I think last year he used it for
(29:00):
a retreat regarding Middle East strategy. So more Middle East
strategy taking place at Camp David.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Okay, Chuck, I say that we take a second break
and when we come back, we're going to really get
into your favorite part how this place operates.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
All right, so we're back to talk about operations. I'm
so excited.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Its official name is the Naval Support Facility Thermont, obviously
still operated by the Navy, like I said, and most
of the work there are members of the Civil Engineer
Corps who are known as the CBS. And if you're
Taylor in your station to Camp David, first of all, congratulations,
I imagine that's pretty awesome as an assignment. But it's
(30:07):
a thirty six month tour, so you're there for about
three years. And you may be a cook, or you
may be may be a hairdresser, or you may be
able to ride horses and teach people to ride horses,
or you may be a licensed lifeguard.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, you're not a guard though. A guard guard though,
that's the Marines, as we'll see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
There are other organizations or other departments that handle different
parts of it. The public Works department they handle maintenance
of the building, the grounds, the electrical systems, the vehicles,
anything that starts to break down. Public Works is probably
on top of it. The Operations department they handle arrivals
(30:49):
and departures of aircraft. That would include marine one. Chuck,
that's aircraft too, that's right. They handle electronics, they handle firefighting, yeah, which.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Means to think about that.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
They're in charge of the VCRs and VCR fires there
at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Oh man, you know that VCR has got some hours
log too, so it's a it's a fire waiting to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I think it's got a big trouble and little China
stuck in it right now.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I love that movie.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's so great. That might be my favorite movie. Man,
that is such a good movie.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh it's classic.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I keep trying to get Ruby to watch it and
she hasn't yet, but I know she's gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
She will love it. Yep.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Supply department deals with finances, accommodations, and food service is
a big part of it there obviously, and that is
an extension of the Navy's Presidential Food Service Department. This
is the stuff I love, Like you never think about like, yeah,
somebody buys groceries for these meals for the White House
and elsewhere. But it's got to be like a rigorous
(31:53):
thing as far as the chain of command and like
as far as poisoning and stuff goes like, it's not
just somebody shopping for food. So they handle all that
stuff and all the catering and all the dining services.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I've got something for you since you like how all
of this are. Oh yeah, I read about that when
they buy groceries. The first family pays for their own groceries.
Did you know that? Wow, everything else is essentially free.
They have to pay for the food they eat, aside
from like state dinners and stuff like that. But the
family eats groceries that they pay for. They get a
monthly bill every month. And I think it was Michelle
(32:27):
Obama who said that they learned the hard way that
you should ask how much different things that you're putting
on your grocery list costs, because oh yeah, you can
get sticker shock from the monthly bill.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah. I guess that's how Trump was well versed on
the price of eggs.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I guess so he.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Probably went over that bill at the end of every
month and it was like, this is how much eggs are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I wonder if they jack the price is up, or
if they're fair or they get a discount or something.
But I would like to know that. But yes, I'm
fascinated by that to somebody buying groceries in that situation.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yeah, And I bet how it goes down is either
there it's a very specific like place that they shop,
or it's like just totally secret and no one has
any idea that it's that's what they're shopping for.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Good point. It could yeah, it could definitely be. Maybe
there's two. There's like a decoy shopper too, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They have a shirt on that says, you know, Presidential grocery.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
List, Federal Body Inspector.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
It's like when, uh, well, on that note, it's like
when Michael Keaton wore the FBI shirt in uh oh,
what was it?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
No, I can't think of it out of sight.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Hmm. I don't remember that.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
The great Steven Soderberg movie with j Lo and George Clooney.
I think I think he wore like an FBI T
shirt like while doing FBI raids and stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I didn't even know he was in that movie. I
haven't seen that one either.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
He's got oh boy out of side his guh rape
capital like that a great, great one.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
All right, I'll tick it out that in the Magnificent seven,
basically the same movie.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I'm sure, yeah, Chuck.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I also said that if you were on a hitch
in the Navy assigned to Camp David, you probably weren't
a guard, and that's because the Marines guard it. Specifically
the Marines from the eighth and I Street Barracks, which
is a barracks in DC. They've pretty much from the
outset been responsible for guarding the camp.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think when it was first built in nineteen fifty seven,
they only went there when the president was there. But
then Ike Josh's buddy said, you know what, we should
probably just have people there all the time guarding the place.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And I think seventy one to seventy.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Two is when the Marine's forum Marine Security Company as
a permanent company, and I think they are on about
an eighteen month tour when they're stationed.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
There, right, And everyone there has Yankee White Clearance, which
is very frequently referred to as a security clearance level.
It's not it's a specific type of background check. I
think it's the deepest background check that they perform, and
everyone who works near the president has that kind of
background check done.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, it involves a surgical glove, if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
There was one other thing too that Livia pointed out
that I hadn't thought about, But I'm sure it's quite
true for the people who just work there, Like during
times when the president's not there, there's probably not that
much to do, and then all of a sudden, there's
everything in the world to do right now when these
like the president does come and there's like a summit
(35:32):
or something like that.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, yeah, I mean they're feeding themselves in the staff,
and they're keeping up with the grounds and all that,
keeping the grass mode and everything clean. Sure, but yeah,
when the dignitaries come around and the president comes around,
it's I imagine a high stress situation because a lot
of these people that come, like we mentioned with you know,
these leaders in the Middle East are coming to a
(35:55):
completely different scene that they're used to, and a lot
of them are have very pacific religious accommodations that need
to be made and meal accommodations that need to be made,
whether it's like kosher food or like getting alcohol removed
from a cabin or putting prayer rugs in the proper spot.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
So yeah, there's a lot of hoops.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
You got to jump through to make sure everyone feels
good about being there, and also like that the accommodations
are kind of on par with one another, and like
got he got the better room, right, Well, you don't
want that happening.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I mean, some of the cabins are nicer. There's obviously
ones that are closer to Aspen, the presidential cabin than others.
So figuring out who stays where is like a huge,
hugely important part of all this. I mean, like we're
talking about some of the most fragile egos in the
entire world.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Plus, I mean, if you're a foreign leader, you want
to be close to the president's cabin so you don't
have to go far for the middle of the night
sneak out, makeout, sessh.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It's right, skinny dipping in the pond behind Aspin, that's right.
So if you are a hiker in this area, you
can actually get accidentally close to Camp David. And the
way that you will find out that you accidentally got
close to Camp David is because a marine's going to
(37:16):
suddenly emerge from the woods until you to turn around.
Right now, It's like rao pretty much.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, yeah, hiding at the ground as a pile of leaves, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Or like he's covered in mud and he suddenly opens
his eyes.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh god, I remember that one. That was a good one.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So yes. And the reason why you could accidentally stumble
into this chuck is because intentionally there's no sign in
saying like welcome to Camp David or stay away from
Camp David. Like it's still meant to be semi secret.
And it's those marines on patrol that are essentially the
first line of defense perimeter wise.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, Like, you know you're getting close if you're on
your lovely hike and you see a sign that maybe
says no photography out here in the middle of the woods,
no loitering, and then you're like, oh, I bet you
I'm getting close to Camp David. And then you know,
the eye and the mud comes out, and you know
you're done for.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Also, if you're a plane and you get too close,
you're probably going to have a fighter jet suddenly come
out of nowhere and say, hey, follow me to Reggan
National Airport.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I think airspace is restricted to five thousand feet above
sea level and at three mile zone when the president
isn't there. When the president is there, it's ten miles.
And what else we got, Well, should we talk just
a little bit of about some of the lodgings.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Sure, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Well, there's about twenty cabins and obviously other buildings. You
got that presidential cabin, which is four bedroom with a
kitchen and an office in a patio. And that swimming
pool is right there. So if you see that picture
of Obama playing with his kids at the pool, the
cabin in the background that is the one.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
That's Aspen Baby the former bears Dan. Yep, there's Laul Lodge.
We talked about that. It's a huge conference rooms, dining room,
all it's like the official it's the most official, probably
of all the congregational areas. Right Hickory Lodge. When you
want to blow off some steam and just watch the
pin setters in action, that's where you're going to hang out.
(39:18):
There's also a bar there so you can.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Get soused, and maybe a hookah pipe.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Sure. Oh yeah, there's definitely a hukah lounge and a
kava bar as well. There's a gift shop in Hickory
Large Lodge. Like do they actually charge foreign leaders for
like a postcard or something, and are the foreign leaders
buying a postcard at Camp David.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Oh, well, I know that Kruschef very famously bought a
shot class Camp David shot class and a little license
plate with he couldn't find his name, but.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
He just found one that said Nick Yeah, and he's
like close.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Enough, and on the shot class that said I got
nuked at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Oh man, I want to.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Go there so bad it us did see a picture
of the actual Camp David's sign, and it looks like
a like, you know, teenager like Camp in the Woods
camp sign.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
It's awesome, right, Like it's yeah, I can imagine exactly
what it looks like. Yeah, it's kind of chiseled in
the yellow lions.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's the one.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Uh what else you got, horseshoes, skeet shooting. Oh, there's
the last thing I think we should put in there, Chuck,
is that they all ride golf carts there. Apparently it's
one of the funnest aspects of Camp David, which I
think says a lot about Camp David, is that there's
a fleet of golf carts and the president's is called
(40:42):
golf Cart one.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, that was George W.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Busher came up with that.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
That's right, and they've called it that ever since. Uh so,
you can, you know, shoot the skeet.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I think there's a second swimming pool for the staff
and you play a little tennis if you want.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Have you ever shot skeet?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Oh? Yeah, it's funny. I was driving from Chicago to
Akron and I was passing by fields that my dad
used to take my sister and I out to to
shoot skeet.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh did you have one of the flingers?
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, I have only done it once and it was
at a skeet shooting facility in Wine Country in California.
It's funn and I was. I loved it and.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I was pretty good at it.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Oh yeah, I had never shot shotguns like that before,
and like I was hitting them Paul, Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah, it is fun. Like we go out with a
big old box of those clay pigeons and shoot them up.
I don't remember whether I was good or not, but
I mean I was probably ten years old holding a
twelve gage shotgun.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Yeah, I mean I loved it so much. I was like,
oh man, I found online. There's like a club south
of Atlanta, and I'm going to buy a shotgun and
like become a member. And of course I never did
any of that, but I am looking forward to going
again one day.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Somebody is Christmas coming up?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Okay, Well, I think we're done with David for.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Now, right, Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Until you go there and you can report back.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Well, since Chuck said that's right about going to Camp
David and reporting back, it's time, of course for listener mail.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
This one is a follow up on Roar.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Hey, guys, just wanted to write in about a brief
thing Josh said in the Roar episode. I'm summarizing, but
he mentioned at one point that a movie shouldn't have
the same writer director in star because they needed to
keep one another in check, sort of like the branches
of government. This really isn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Josh Chuck was on the spot.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Came up with a good example in Clint Eastwood, but
I couldn't think of any others, so I will mention
Spike Lee, Woody, Allen, John Cassavettis mel Brooks, Kevin Costner,
a guy named Orson Wells. More modern examples include Ben Affleck,
Bradley Cooper and Billy Bob Thornton. Some even act as
editors and camera operators, sometimes under fake names for reasons
(42:57):
I think have to do with unions, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Anyway, I hope young.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Filmmakers hear this, because encouraging students to write, direct, and
star and their own short films is a great way
to learn the craft and get things done.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
And that is Sylvi, not Sylvie Sylvie.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
I appreciate that. Thank you for setting me straight eight
ways till Sunday. If you want to be like Sylvie
and set me straight and give all sorts of great
examples to back your point up, that's fantastic. You can
put it in email and send it off to stuff
podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff you should know a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's
Chuck and Jerry's here too, And this is stuff you
should know about Camp David.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right, it's about Camp David.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
But we're going to quickly mention that we are going
on a cruise, everybody, Virgin Cruise. The voyage is the
big Apple to Bermuda. Yeah, and it is an adults
only cruise wherein you can cruise with us, hear our
live podcast here stuff they don't want you to know,
and some of our other colleagues live podcast and hang
(00:44):
out with us and do there's like other events on board.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, it's gonna be a huge amount of fun. I
think you just go to Virgin Voyages dot com or
you search stuff at sea and it will take you
where you need to go to register for this cruise.
That's October second to seventh.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That is correct.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And I'm already working on my tan and trying to
drop a couple of pounds.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What else to make sure I'm seaworthy. That's about it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Are you practicing shuffle board?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Practicing shuffle board, uh and cards.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How many hats will you be bringing?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
In all seriousness, I will definitely bring my smaller kind
of cool straw hat and probably my big, big sunshade
straw hat.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, good, and maybe maybe a baseball cap.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Nice. Yeah, that big, that big floppy sunshade hat that
says do not disturb on it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
No, no, no, it says bikini inspector.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Federal bikini inspector.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, that's it. I couldn't remember what it was.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh man, oh man. Well, it's funny that you mentioned
federal anything, because we're talking about the federal government. And
this is the best segue we could come up with.
Camp Dave. It is this rustic retreat that the President
of the United States is able to use to get away,
(02:09):
ride horses, spend Christmas, try to broke her peace in
the Middle East, you know, the usual stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I requisitioned this from I think this is Libya. Oh
it's got to be because of the title. Yep, the
sleep away camp for very serious grown ups. And I
really love what she came up with. And I love
this episode already because I am a person that is.
I don't know where it came from, but I am
(02:38):
really interested in operations and like like operations, like how
things operate. Like if I go to like circ to Sola,
I'm wowed by the thing or Broadway show, but half
of my brain is obsessed with how it all works.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right, and how they do what they do.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And now I feel like I really understand not only
the history of Camp David, but kind of a little
behind the scenes of how it all goes down, and
I just for some reason I love that stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, no, I know that about you. Although just now
I thought you were talking about operations like swapping an
arm in a leg or something because that is interesting,
or the game operation. Yeah, so, Chuck, these operations that
you're fascinated by take place in keddoctin Mountain Park. It's
in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's in western Maryland, and
(03:29):
we're not supposed to really get that much more specific,
although if you really look on a map, I'm pretty
sure you could find Camp David. But at least initially
when the first president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took over, it
was meant to be like a top secret place. Yeah,
but it wasn't always a presidential retreat. It started out
(03:49):
I guess under FDR as a New Deal project.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Initially, that's right, in the nineteen thirties, we kind of
were able to look around at things like that dust
bowl and say, hey, we've done a pretty bad job
with a lot of our agricultural practices, and there's been
you know, haven't treated our land as well as we should.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So the federal.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Government said, let me, let's buy up some what they
call sub marginal lands around the country and see if
we can rehabilitate them, see if we can do other
stuff with them.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And this was one of those areas.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It was in nineteen thirty six when they purchased about
ten thousand acres in the Katotkin Mountains. It's about fifty
five miles from DC, and the soil was pretty ruined there,
just like I said, from bad agricultural practices and industrial
purposes over the years.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
But it was in a nice area.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It was like lovely countryside, lovely forest, you know, creeks
and streams and ponds and all kinds of like great
stuff to recreate around.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, as long as you didn't look too close at
the three eyed fishes and stuff like that, you're like,
this place is amazing exactly. So the government took over.
They renamed the area Keddocton Recreational Demonstration Area, which is
a great name. It almost like this early part of
it sounds almost soviet does. The Works Progress Administration and
(05:13):
Civilian Conservation Corps built camps there. Some of the original
idea was that it was going to be a recreation
area for federal workers and their families. The only way
it could have gotten more Soviet is if, like it
had used brutalist architecture.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, which didn't really fit in those lovely green woods.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
No, But FDR he was like, that's great. I'm glad
you guys are doing that. I'm going to be out
here cruising on the presidential yacht, the USS Potomac, and
it was known as the Floating White House. There's another
one still today called the Sycamore that I think is
JFK's presidential yacht, you mean. And I looked into you
(05:53):
can rent it for events, and we were gonna have
our wedding on it, and oh wow, it holds like
a limited number of people and we could never get
the guest list down. So we're like, oh, we're just
going to go a lope.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, that's a good idea to a lope that is, thanks. Yeah,
they don't have things like that anymore because by the
time the Second World War rolled around, they were like,
maybe having all these important people like floating out in
the middle of the ocean isn't a great idea. And
FDR was looking also to get away to someplace that
(06:25):
was a little cooler in the summer, sure, because he
had bad sinus problems. And I don't think we mentioned
the name of this one particular camp inside this larger
area that would become Camp David was originally finished in
nineteen thirty eight. It was called Camp High Katatkin Hi
Dash Katatkin. And so by the time FDR is like,
(06:46):
all right, I can't be on that boat. I got
to go somewhere that's good for my sinuses. He said,
you know, let me see what do you got within
one hundred miles of DC. And in April nineteen forty
two they took him to Camp High Katakin and he's like, Eh,
this seems okay, he.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Said, this is fine.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
What's funny about that is apparently it was also a
secret site around the same time for the OSS, the
predecessor of the CIA, for training spies in like close
quarter pistol combat. There was something called the House of Horrors.
There's a cool little Atlas Obscure article about it, Wow,
(07:26):
where you would go into this like haunted house and
they like instead of ghosts, they would pop up cardboard
Nazis and scary sounds and conversation being played, and like
the hallways were angled in weird ways, and it was dark,
so it was very disorienting and you had to kill
every Nazi in the place or else they would kill
(07:48):
you because you knew too much by that time.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Probably, that's right. So that's just a weird coincidence, or
is it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
The obviously the presidential yacht was was run by the Navy,
and so they said, all right, why don't we just
let the navy run this new retreat since they're in
the sort of retreat business, even though it has nothing
to do with being on the water. And it was
launched at an installation called the Naval Support Facility Thermont
and Rmont is the name of the area.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
When they hatched the idea.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
For like Roosevelt to start going there, they would say,
all right, well, we're going to place one hundred marines
there we're going to put up a security fence with
an alarm on it.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
And he said, we also got to change this name.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No one knows what high Catatkin is and it's hard
to pronounce. So I read this book Lost Horizon by
James Hilton and he talked about the Himalayan utopia of
Shangri La, and that sounds really cool. So let's rename
it Shangri La. And they said, well, you're the president,
I guess we have to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
They're like, we think that's terrible, but okay, yeah. Yeah.
Apparently that book is where the like the name Shangri
La came from. It was like, super popular book. Have
you read it?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I have not, neither.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So it wasn't until I think nineteen forty two the
FDR started using the camp. Of course, he very frequently
used a wheelchair, so they basically made an eighty A
compliant before there was such a thing as ada. Yeah,
and he was like, all right, I came up with
Shangri La. Let's keep this role. I'm on going. I'm
(09:24):
going to call the presidential cabin the bears Den. And
everyone was like, you're president again, and they called it
the bears Den.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
They initially spent about close to nineteen grand fixing the
place up, and they had a little doghouse next door
for his dog, Falla, which is really cute, and so
he would go there and chill out at Shangri La.
I can't wait till they change that name, by the way,
and also started the practice of what would become a
thing of hosting foreign leaders there and kind of like
(09:56):
you know, getting away from the rat race in DC.
Legend has it that he and instant Churchill planned I
don't know if it's legend. I think that part is fact.
Planned some of the D Day invasion from one of
the cabin porches there. Yeah, and like would sit around
and drink bourbon and smoke cigars, do a little fishing.
I think this is the legend. Apparently on one of
the trips, they were driving back to DC and they
(10:18):
made a stop at a restaurant in Thermont called the
Cozy Restaurant because Churchill had heard of these jukeboxes and
he'd never seen a jukebox, So apparently they stopped there.
Churchill went in and got a beer and just marveled
at the jukebox.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Right, Yeah, and the Cozy restaurant was around till twenty fourteen.
It was legendary because I mean, if you were, you know,
not quite of high enough status to actually stay at
Camp David, you stayed in Thermont and you probably ate
at the Cozy restaurant. So it was around for years.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
You could see Churchill there, apparently you could.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Can you just see him like just standing over the
jukebox me mesmriz.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Just like laughing, look at these things. It's flipping records.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So you want to take a break and then come
back and talk about I don't know, Camp David.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Sure, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So FDR was there, it was like a camp. Camp
rustic keeps getting batted around as a word to describe
Camp David, and today it's still used. But apparently back
in FDR's time, at the beginning of all this like
it was, it was rustic. And then when FDR died
(11:56):
in nineteen forty five, Harry Truman, whose taste did not
run to the rustic. Instead, he liked to hang out
at the little White House on Key West that, you know,
rather than in the woods outside of DC. Yeah, he's
still kind of he was a good custodian of it.
I guess he ordered like the brush to be cleared back,
(12:18):
and he ordered heating a heating system to be put
in so it could be used year round. Before it
had only been used during the nice, nice months out
of the year, but he didn't use it very much.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Now, you know, it seems reading through the history that.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
How you view Camp David if you are president, kind
of goes back to like what you're into, sure, and
the people that enjoyed it seemed like people that were like, yeah,
I love going, like people that are probably into like
being in the woods and that kind of scene. And
if you're not into that kind of scene, like you
said Truman, I guess he was a beach guy because
(12:56):
he like Key West. Yeah, and our current president very
famously kind of hates Camp David because we see his
taste and it's certainly not rustic cabin in the woods
kind of thing. And you've seen other presidents that go
there and like seem like they have a really really
great time. Oh yeah, and we're going to get into
some of that, but it's just interesting, like it's sort
(13:17):
of foisted upon you as president.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's like, all right, here's your.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Camp, and half of them seem they're like, I'm not
really into this kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Yeah, I think a significant number just keep their mouth
shut about it but don't really enjoy it very much.
But yes, it is expected of you to visit Camp
David at some point in time during your presidency. But yeah,
some of them definitely appreciated it more than others. Ike Eisenhower,
Dwight D. Eisenhower. When he took over in nineteen fifty three,
he was like, this is a needless luxury. Let's get
(13:48):
rid of it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, he seemed like he didn't maybe love it. But
his Attorney General, Herbert brownwell, he went there for an inspection,
and he's a guy who loves that kind of thing.
He loved it, and he came back and he sent
sort of a joke that seems like it was like,
but I'm kind of serious a petition for executive clemency.
And so Eisenhower's like, all right, fine, we'll keep Camp David.
(14:12):
We should mention that it's a part of a almost
fifty nine hundred acre area that Katotkin Mountain Park, but
it's only about one hundred and fifty acres of that.
Lyvia found other and I did too, some other sizes
potentially for the size of Camp David, like one forty three,
one eighty one, twenty five, two hundred. She said it
(14:34):
was oddly inconsistent, But I have a feeling that may
just be part of the sort of subterfuge of.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Not given away too much. Sure, sure, maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Not, but you know, it's somewhere between let's say, one
hundred and forty and two hundred acres.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
All right, I'll go along with that.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
All right, you're in for that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of you referenced that Eisenhower relented and didn't get rid
of what was still called Shangri Lat at the time. Yeah,
he said that the name shan Law was quote just
a little fancy for a Kansas farm boy. So he
renamed it Camp David. And we can stop saying Shangri
La now, chuck. Yeah, And he named it Camp David
after his five year old grandson, whose scholars now realize
(15:15):
was the one calling the shots during the Eisenhower administration.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Interesting, that's very funny, by the way, But interestingly, that guy,
the grandson, David, now runs the Institute for Public Service
at University of Pennsylvania School for Communications.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And teaches a course called Communication and the presidency. So
that's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And I bet you at the first day of class
he was like, yes, I'm that David.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm that David guy.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
One other thing about Eisenhower the president ike he was
the one that warned the country in his farewell address
about the growing threat of a military industrial complex. He
was actually a pretty sharp dude who had the shortage
the country heart.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean he was sharp enough to not wanted to
drive there the fifty five miles because he had a
helicopter pad built on the site. So now it's just
a half an hour to get there on I guess
Marine one.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And he said, we should also have some more fun
stuff to do here. So let's put in a screening room,
a little movie theater, Let's put in a bowling alley.
Let's put in a golf course. And they're like, we
can't put a whole golf course. He was like, just
one hole. And they said, sure, we'll put in a
golf hole. It'll have some different tea boxes to give
it a little variation. And he said, well, while I'm
(16:36):
naming renaming things this presidential cabin I don't like Bearsden,
I have a feeling you didn't like FDR, and he
changed it to Aspen in honor of Colorado, where his wife,
Mami grew up. And then that started the tradition of
naming all the camps cabins after trees.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yes, which still goes on today. It's a long standing tradition. Yeah,
it goes back to the fifty apparently. One of the
other things that I don't know if Eisenhower ordered it
or if they were just like this needs to happen,
there was a construction of a bomb shelter in case
of nuclear war, because again this is the fifties and
the Cold War was really heating up. I guess it
(17:16):
could accommodate fifty presidential employees. I saw as much as
one hundred and fifty defense staffers if a nuclear war
broke out and it was a bomb shelters. Under selling it,
it was a called the Presidential Relocation SPOT. I don't
remember the last word, but spot will do where you
could run the country like out of like underground essentially,
(17:40):
And it's still there today. And we'll talk a little
bit more about it later. But one of the things
that I found interesting is that when Richard Nixon came along.
He ordered a heated swimming pool to be built right
next to the presidential cabin and I guess the only
place to put it was whit smack dab on top
(18:01):
of the bomb shelter. Oh and it costs like two
hundred and sixty grand in early nineteen seventies money to
reinforce the bomb shelter, so the pool be put on
top of it. That's just so Nixon.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, it's it's kind of cool though. It's a cool
looking pool. It's like a little figure eight, and you know,
as we'll learn. I guess we're gonna learn it right now.
There aren't a ton of pictures of Camp David, Like
it's I wouldn't say it's veiled in secrecy, but they
don't put a ton of stuff out there. Like the
press has never really been allowed there. It's like a
true retreat. So the only pictures that have ever been
put out are like when an administration and it's like
(18:38):
Obama's like, hey, put out this picture of me doing
a water gun fight at the pool with my daughters
because because it's super cool, I know, look awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, he was looking over the photographer's shoulders as they
were skinning through him. He's like that one, that one
ill looked pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, He's like, can you do something about my elevens
and my crow's feet?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
He said, you need disport.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So Nixon put in the swimming pool. And then he
also is responsible for building the Laurel Lodge, which is
the biggest building there. It's where a lot of the
meetings are held, a lot of the bigger dinners are there.
And it replaced the previous Laurel Lodge, which is smaller, obviously,
and that one was renamed Holly the Holly Lodge. And
then Reagan came along as a as a religious guy.
(19:20):
He's like, we need a chapel here, we need a
non denominational chapel. Really, well, what really did he ask
for that or that they needed one?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
You're not going to say it, like Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, okay, that's all I'm gonna say, all right, kidding.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
So that he got that going, but it didn't actually
open until hw Bush's administration. It's called the Evergreen Chapel.
Previous to that, if you were a religious president like
George's own Jimmy Carter, very famously religious, he would hold
Sunday services in Hickory Lodge.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, apparently there was only one wedding, which kind of
surprised me, and that was name HW Bush's daughter Doro.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I mean, you guys looked into it. You couldn't get
the guest list down.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
We couldn't find the place.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh yeah, that was a problem.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
W George H. W Bush's son. He spent a lot
of time. I think both HW and W Bush both
spent Christmases at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, they loved it.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, And as W's term was coming to an end,
he had the basketball court refurbished for his successor, Barack Obama,
because Barack Obama famously loved basketball.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Man.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What a what a class act.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Right, well, at a different time, you know, it's crazy. Yeah,
all right, moving on, So we mentioned earlier, like you know,
it's it's a retreat for sure, but it's also where
some very famous diplomatic meetings have taken place. And that
started in nineteen fifty nine when Ike, as Josh calls him,
(20:56):
because you're so friendly to each other, he invited Kruse
Chef there, Soviet premiere Kruse Chef to you know, do
what you do there, which is like get a little
more informal setting, get people out of the rat race
of DC and try and connect a little more personally.
And that's always sort of been the reason why they
take people there. And so kru Cheff sort of like
(21:18):
Churchill was just sat around and got at the at
the jukebox at the Cozy restaurant. Apparently kruse Chef was
just marveled at the bowling alley's automatic pin setter.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah. I call Khrushchef NICKI.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I think he just yeah, well, he says call me
nicky when he's bowling. But he just kept saying.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
He says on his bowling shirt, that's stitchy.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
He kept saying, knock knock Bin's down again. I would
like to see bin set very nice.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Did I send this to you? That little the little
extra stuff about the bomb shelter?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
No, so well, on top of the pool or under
the pool, wouldn't On top of the poo would be
a very bad place for a box shelter.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
They they were building this when Khrushchef came and visited. Yeah,
they didn't want doing that, so they built a deck over.
It was temporary, but didn't look temporary. Over the big
hole that they'd excavated. They hit all the excavated dirt,
and there's pictures of Khrushchef on the deck waving, clearly
(22:20):
doesn't know what he's standing on top of.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
He said, there's someone here. Echo. Every time I speak.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
In Soviet Russia, Echo.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Here's you. Oh man. That's a good fact.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I like that, the echo thing, hearing you built.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Just building the deck. It seems like something out of
like a Zany comedy or something.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
It totally does. I can see Peter Sellers like rushing around.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, I had a strange love vibe too.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, though,
some foreign dignitaries and leaders did not enjoy going to camp.
David Harold McMillan, who was Prime Minister of the UK
during Ike's term, he did not like going because apparently
Ike would make you watch westerns during movie nights. Yeah,
(23:08):
and McMillan, can I also call Harold McMillan mac mac
called them inconceivably banal movie nights. And I can imagine that,
like what, you gotta be kind of into westerns to
enjoy like a western anytime? You know?
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, Yeah, Emily didn't like westerns.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I like.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Like weird westerns, like the remake of True Grit or
Dead Man or you know, stuff like that. But like
the classics, I've never gotten into. Although I do like
The Wild Bunch. That's a great movie.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
No geez yeah, Sam Peck and Paul, But.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I've never I don't think I've ever seen all of
the Magnificent Seven. Like, I've just never really gotten into
good westerns, although I do love Sam Raimis The Quick
and the Dead too. See. I like weird westerns.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, there's a name for that. It's not a visionist.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
It's weird's westerns.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, but it's a weird different word. We'll just call
it weird westerns. But I know what you mean. Like
Australia puts out some cool westerns like that.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Oh yeah, like Nick Cave's one.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think you'd like Magnificent Seven by
the way. That's that's one that you probably would dig It.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Seems like you'd be right. Maybe I just need to
give it another shot.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, that's one. After the Bay of Pigs. JFK invited
would you call him jif he invited Ike back to
the camp to consult a little bit. I think, you know,
he just trusted his foreign policy experience, experience. And there
was a very famous photograph taken on that trip. Ap
photographer Paul Vathis won a Pulitzer Prize in nineteen sixty
(24:45):
two for his picture Serious Steps. It's this great black
and white of JFK and Eisenhower kind of from the
rear walking up a wooded path.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's very cool.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Picture, right with JFK saying we are screwed and I
saying you are screwed.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
That's right, I'm not president.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Probably the most famous thing that happened at Camp David
was the Camp David Accords that was between Monacham Began,
who was the Prime Minister of Israel at the time,
and the president of Egypt at the time, Awar Sadat,
and it was presided over by Jimmy Carter, and Carter
and his aides really did about the best job you
(25:28):
could possibly do in trying to get Israel and any
Arab country in this case Egypt, to strike some sort
of peace agreement. And it's still like it's revered, especially
in the United States, as like this great success. But
(25:48):
if you look at it further down the down the pike.
It didn't work out all that well, but still this
was about as good as you could expect. It's certainly
the best it's ever been done at camp day.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I mean, at the time, it was remarkable to
even get those guys in the same room, much less
go to camp for almost two weeks. I think they're
there for thirteen days. And again, you know, the reason
they do this is to get away from the media,
to have some real privacy, to connect as humans.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, a little foots the end of the tables here.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
They watched movies together apparently on our sadat hiked the
trails each morning. Carter very purposefully didn't even use the
larger room. He went to that that initial meeting room,
which was renamed Holly because he thought it was more
intimate and he loved it there. You know, Carter loved it,
but the guys found it kind of you know, they
were used to the wide open desert and so they
(26:43):
found it kind of dark and gloomy. But you know,
one of the pluses of being isolated like that is
if things start going south, they just they can't run
and like jump in their car and be at the
airport in ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, and the press isn't there to provoke hostility in
order to like get a great quote or to stir
things up for better, better press or whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I also saw that Jimmy Carter watched Star Wars with
anwar sadat and that is not a joke.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Oh wow, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Watched at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
That that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So Ronald Reagan, I think, aside from the Camp David accords,
I associate Camp David with Ronald Reagan more than anybody.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
He loved it, man.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
He loved going and playing cowboy when he was during
when he was president.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, he loved it very famously, loved riding horses. Nancy
loved it. They would go there like a lot on
the weekends, like their little weekend retreat. Because again, it's
a thirty minute helicopter ride and all of a sudden,
you're at this, You're I think being away from the
press is a really big deal.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah. I think that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, just to go check out. So he would host
World Leaders there, He recorded his weekly radio addresses there.
The Bushes loved it too, like you said, they spent
Christmases there, both you know, father and son, and apparently
w used it for some post nine to eleven strategy
sessions and Obama liked it a lot too.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, no word on what Biden did with it. He's
apparently being erased from history.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Well, Obama moved the G eight summit there.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I think it was supposed to be in Chicago, and
you know, he gave the reasons that usually give was
to get away from everyone and kind of have a
more free flowing discussion. But other people are like, I
think you're probably also trying to avoid protesters, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Because if the press can't get there, I can tell
you protesters can't. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And I mentioned Donald Trump not really liking it very much.
I think in twenty seventeen he said it was quote
very rustic and then said, you know how long you'd
like it for about thirty minutes. So it's not his scene,
and I think no one is surprised about that. But
he has used it, I think kind of when he
has to. I think last year he used it for
(29:00):
a retreat regarding Middle East strategy. So more Middle East
strategy taking place at Camp David.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Okay, Chuck, I say that we take a second break
and when we come back, we're going to really get
into your favorite part how this place operates.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
All right, so we're back to talk about operations. I'm
so excited.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Its official name is the Naval Support Facility Thermont, obviously
still operated by the Navy, like I said, and most
of the work there are members of the Civil Engineer
Corps who are known as the CBS. And if you're
Taylor in your station to Camp David, first of all, congratulations,
I imagine that's pretty awesome as an assignment. But it's
(30:07):
a thirty six month tour, so you're there for about
three years. And you may be a cook, or you
may be may be a hairdresser, or you may be
able to ride horses and teach people to ride horses,
or you may be a licensed lifeguard.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, you're not a guard though. A guard guard though,
that's the Marines, as we'll see.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
There are other organizations or other departments that handle different
parts of it. The public Works department they handle maintenance
of the building, the grounds, the electrical systems, the vehicles,
anything that starts to break down. Public Works is probably
on top of it. The Operations department they handle arrivals
(30:49):
and departures of aircraft. That would include marine one. Chuck,
that's aircraft too, that's right. They handle electronics, they handle firefighting, yeah, which.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Means to think about that.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
They're in charge of the VCRs and VCR fires there
at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Oh man, you know that VCR has got some hours
log too, so it's a it's a fire waiting to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I think it's got a big trouble and little China
stuck in it right now.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I love that movie.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's so great. That might be my favorite movie. Man,
that is such a good movie.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh it's classic.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I keep trying to get Ruby to watch it and
she hasn't yet, but I know she's gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
She will love it. Yep.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Supply department deals with finances, accommodations, and food service is
a big part of it there obviously, and that is
an extension of the Navy's Presidential Food Service Department. This
is the stuff I love, Like you never think about like, yeah,
somebody buys groceries for these meals for the White House
and elsewhere. But it's got to be like a rigorous
(31:53):
thing as far as the chain of command and like
as far as poisoning and stuff goes like, it's not
just somebody shopping for food. So they handle all that
stuff and all the catering and all the dining services.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I've got something for you since you like how all
of this are. Oh yeah, I read about that when
they buy groceries. The first family pays for their own groceries.
Did you know that? Wow, everything else is essentially free.
They have to pay for the food they eat, aside
from like state dinners and stuff like that. But the
family eats groceries that they pay for. They get a
monthly bill every month. And I think it was Michelle
(32:27):
Obama who said that they learned the hard way that
you should ask how much different things that you're putting
on your grocery list costs, because oh yeah, you can
get sticker shock from the monthly bill.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah. I guess that's how Trump was well versed on
the price of eggs.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I guess so he.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Probably went over that bill at the end of every
month and it was like, this is how much eggs are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I wonder if they jack the price is up, or
if they're fair or they get a discount or something.
But I would like to know that. But yes, I'm
fascinated by that to somebody buying groceries in that situation.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yeah, And I bet how it goes down is either
there it's a very specific like place that they shop,
or it's like just totally secret and no one has
any idea that it's that's what they're shopping for.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Good point. It could yeah, it could definitely be. Maybe
there's two. There's like a decoy shopper too, all right.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They have a shirt on that says, you know, Presidential grocery.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
List, Federal Body Inspector.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
It's like when, uh, well, on that note, it's like
when Michael Keaton wore the FBI shirt in uh oh,
what was it?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
No, I can't think of it out of sight.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Hmm. I don't remember that.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
The great Steven Soderberg movie with j Lo and George Clooney.
I think I think he wore like an FBI T
shirt like while doing FBI raids and stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I didn't even know he was in that movie. I
haven't seen that one either.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
He's got oh boy out of side his guh rape
capital like that a great, great one.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
All right, I'll tick it out that in the Magnificent seven,
basically the same movie.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I'm sure, yeah, Chuck.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I also said that if you were on a hitch
in the Navy assigned to Camp David, you probably weren't
a guard, and that's because the Marines guard it. Specifically
the Marines from the eighth and I Street Barracks, which
is a barracks in DC. They've pretty much from the
outset been responsible for guarding the camp.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think when it was first built in nineteen fifty seven,
they only went there when the president was there. But
then Ike Josh's buddy said, you know what, we should
probably just have people there all the time guarding the place.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And I think seventy one to seventy.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Two is when the Marine's forum Marine Security Company as
a permanent company, and I think they are on about
an eighteen month tour when they're stationed.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
There, right, And everyone there has Yankee White Clearance, which
is very frequently referred to as a security clearance level.
It's not it's a specific type of background check. I
think it's the deepest background check that they perform, and
everyone who works near the president has that kind of
background check done.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, it involves a surgical glove, if you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
There was one other thing too that Livia pointed out
that I hadn't thought about, But I'm sure it's quite
true for the people who just work there, Like during
times when the president's not there, there's probably not that
much to do, and then all of a sudden, there's
everything in the world to do right now when these
like the president does come and there's like a summit
(35:32):
or something like that.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, yeah, I mean they're feeding themselves in the staff,
and they're keeping up with the grounds and all that,
keeping the grass mode and everything clean. Sure, but yeah,
when the dignitaries come around and the president comes around,
it's I imagine a high stress situation because a lot
of these people that come, like we mentioned with you know,
these leaders in the Middle East are coming to a
(35:55):
completely different scene that they're used to, and a lot
of them are have very pacific religious accommodations that need
to be made and meal accommodations that need to be made,
whether it's like kosher food or like getting alcohol removed
from a cabin or putting prayer rugs in the proper spot.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
So yeah, there's a lot of hoops.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
You got to jump through to make sure everyone feels
good about being there, and also like that the accommodations
are kind of on par with one another, and like
got he got the better room, right, Well, you don't
want that happening.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I mean, some of the cabins are nicer. There's obviously
ones that are closer to Aspen, the presidential cabin than others.
So figuring out who stays where is like a huge,
hugely important part of all this. I mean, like we're
talking about some of the most fragile egos in the
entire world.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Plus, I mean, if you're a foreign leader, you want
to be close to the president's cabin so you don't
have to go far for the middle of the night
sneak out, makeout, sessh.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It's right, skinny dipping in the pond behind Aspin, that's right.
So if you are a hiker in this area, you
can actually get accidentally close to Camp David. And the
way that you will find out that you accidentally got
close to Camp David is because a marine's going to
(37:16):
suddenly emerge from the woods until you to turn around.
Right now, It's like rao pretty much.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, yeah, hiding at the ground as a pile of leaves, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Or like he's covered in mud and he suddenly opens
his eyes.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh god, I remember that one. That was a good one.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So yes. And the reason why you could accidentally stumble
into this chuck is because intentionally there's no sign in
saying like welcome to Camp David or stay away from
Camp David. Like it's still meant to be semi secret.
And it's those marines on patrol that are essentially the
first line of defense perimeter wise.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, Like, you know you're getting close if you're on
your lovely hike and you see a sign that maybe
says no photography out here in the middle of the woods,
no loitering, and then you're like, oh, I bet you
I'm getting close to Camp David. And then you know,
the eye and the mud comes out, and you know
you're done for.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Also, if you're a plane and you get too close,
you're probably going to have a fighter jet suddenly come
out of nowhere and say, hey, follow me to Reggan
National Airport.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I think airspace is restricted to five thousand feet above
sea level and at three mile zone when the president
isn't there. When the president is there, it's ten miles.
And what else we got, Well, should we talk just
a little bit of about some of the lodgings.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Sure, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Well, there's about twenty cabins and obviously other buildings. You
got that presidential cabin, which is four bedroom with a
kitchen and an office in a patio. And that swimming
pool is right there. So if you see that picture
of Obama playing with his kids at the pool, the
cabin in the background that is the one.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
That's Aspen Baby the former bears Dan. Yep, there's Laul Lodge.
We talked about that. It's a huge conference rooms, dining room,
all it's like the official it's the most official, probably
of all the congregational areas. Right Hickory Lodge. When you
want to blow off some steam and just watch the
pin setters in action, that's where you're going to hang out.
(39:18):
There's also a bar there so you can.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Get soused, and maybe a hookah pipe.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Sure. Oh yeah, there's definitely a hukah lounge and a
kava bar as well. There's a gift shop in Hickory
Large Lodge. Like do they actually charge foreign leaders for
like a postcard or something, and are the foreign leaders
buying a postcard at Camp David.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Oh, well, I know that Kruschef very famously bought a
shot class Camp David shot class and a little license
plate with he couldn't find his name, but.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
He just found one that said Nick Yeah, and he's
like close.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Enough, and on the shot class that said I got
nuked at Camp David.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Oh man, I want to.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Go there so bad it us did see a picture
of the actual Camp David's sign, and it looks like
a like, you know, teenager like Camp in the Woods
camp sign.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
It's awesome, right, Like it's yeah, I can imagine exactly
what it looks like. Yeah, it's kind of chiseled in
the yellow lions.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's the one.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Uh what else you got, horseshoes, skeet shooting. Oh, there's
the last thing I think we should put in there, Chuck,
is that they all ride golf carts there. Apparently it's
one of the funnest aspects of Camp David, which I
think says a lot about Camp David, is that there's
a fleet of golf carts and the president's is called
(40:42):
golf Cart one.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, that was George W.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Busher came up with that.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
That's right, and they've called it that ever since. Uh so,
you can, you know, shoot the skeet.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I think there's a second swimming pool for the staff
and you play a little tennis if you want.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Have you ever shot skeet?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Oh? Yeah, it's funny. I was driving from Chicago to
Akron and I was passing by fields that my dad
used to take my sister and I out to to
shoot skeet.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh did you have one of the flingers?
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, I have only done it once and it was
at a skeet shooting facility in Wine Country in California.
It's funn and I was. I loved it and.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I was pretty good at it.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Oh yeah, I had never shot shotguns like that before,
and like I was hitting them Paul, Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah, it is fun. Like we go out with a
big old box of those clay pigeons and shoot them up.
I don't remember whether I was good or not, but
I mean I was probably ten years old holding a
twelve gage shotgun.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Yeah, I mean I loved it so much. I was like,
oh man, I found online. There's like a club south
of Atlanta, and I'm going to buy a shotgun and
like become a member. And of course I never did
any of that, but I am looking forward to going
again one day.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Somebody is Christmas coming up?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Okay, Well, I think we're done with David for.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Now, right, Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Until you go there and you can report back.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Well, since Chuck said that's right about going to Camp
David and reporting back, it's time, of course for listener mail.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
This one is a follow up on Roar.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Hey, guys, just wanted to write in about a brief
thing Josh said in the Roar episode. I'm summarizing, but
he mentioned at one point that a movie shouldn't have
the same writer director in star because they needed to
keep one another in check, sort of like the branches
of government. This really isn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Josh Chuck was on the spot.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Came up with a good example in Clint Eastwood, but
I couldn't think of any others, so I will mention
Spike Lee, Woody, Allen, John Cassavettis mel Brooks, Kevin Costner,
a guy named Orson Wells. More modern examples include Ben Affleck,
Bradley Cooper and Billy Bob Thornton. Some even act as
editors and camera operators, sometimes under fake names for reasons
(42:57):
I think have to do with unions, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Anyway, I hope young.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Filmmakers hear this, because encouraging students to write, direct, and
star and their own short films is a great way
to learn the craft and get things done.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
And that is Sylvi, not Sylvie Sylvie.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
I appreciate that. Thank you for setting me straight eight
ways till Sunday. If you want to be like Sylvie
and set me straight and give all sorts of great
examples to back your point up, that's fantastic. You can
put it in email and send it off to stuff
podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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