POTUS on the Road: International and Domestic Presidential Travel, 1977‐2005

Abstract

As a president's time is perhaps his scarcest resource, the strategic choices that determine its allocation are some of the most significant that a president and his aides will make. When and where a president chooses to travel, and what he does while he is there, can reveal a great deal about his priorities. This essay analyzes patterns of both international and domestic travel over the past five presidential administrations in order to provide the incoming president and his aides with information that will assist them as they decide when, where, and for what the next president should travel.

Presidents Abroad: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy

“…As noted by Putnam (1988), presidents traveling abroad are playing a two-level game in that they are communicating at once to both a foreign and domestic audience. Most of the research on presidential travel to date examines this latter audience by focusing on either purely domestic trips (Cohen and Powell 2005;Doherty 2007;Ellis 2008;Kernell 1997) or the domestic implications of foreign travel (Brace and Hinckley 1993;Charnock, McCann, and Tenpas 2009;Darcy and Richman 1988;Doherty 2009;Marra, Ostrom, and Simon 1990;Simon and Ostrom 1989). While studies of presidential travel abroad as foreign policy exist (Lebovic and Saunders 2016), questions remain as to how presidential travel abroad fits into the larger scope of presidential actions as well as how presidents prioritize such travel given domestic political contexts.…”

“…Foreign travel is now regarded as one of the most quintessentially presidential pursuits (Doherty 2009;Ellis 2008). President Nixon's trip to China as well as Presidents Kennedy and Reagan's speeches in Berlin are iconic examples of executive action on foreign policy.…”

“A Journey for Peace”: Spatial Metaphors in Nixon's 1972 “Opening to China”

“…This metaphorical shift, along with Nixon's travel to China, deepens our understanding of the relationship between foreign policy, rhetorical discourse, and the circulation of the presidential body. Nixon's linguistic choices created the potential for the public to grapple with new relations with China in their imaginations, and his travel to China provided concrete visual experiences to enhance those imaginative possibilities while also reinforcing his specific foreign policy (Cohen ; Doherty ; Ellis ).…”

“…Chilton () argues that presidential discourse establishes mental representations of places the public has not seen. These mental representations help the public develop a framework for understanding foreign policy decisions, and Nixon's trip to China demonstrates that presidential travel complements these discourses (Cohen ; Doherty ). Public broadcasts of Nixon's trip provided Americans (as well as international audiences) the opportunity to visually interact with China.…”

Being There: Why Leaders Should Not “Fiddle” While Rome Burns

“…The analysis of where leaders go or stay in times of crisis may offer insight into the personalities of leaders in terms of how they see the moral obligations of their job and their energy or willingness to move from one location to another. As Brendan J. Doherty observes, a president's time is his scarcest resource. “When and where a president chooses to travel, and what he does while he is there, can reveal a great deal about his priorities” (2009, 323).…”