Summertime for many Americans means escaping to sleep under starry skies at a favorite lake or summer camp.

For chief executives since Franklin Roosevelt, getting away begins with Camp David, the presidential retreat more than 60 miles north of the White House, a rustic refuge that has become a hideaway to recharge, a sanctuary to deliberate big decisions and a woodsy setting for global diplomacy.

“The president comes from a different world,” said Mike O’Connor, the camp’s commanding officer from 2001-03. “At Camp David, he can set some of that aside.”

The 125-acre compound was built in 1938 in western Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains as a campsite for federal employees and their families. After looking at several alternatives, Roosevelt came to the site, draped in the shade of oak, ash and hickory trees, and announced, “This is my Shangri-la.” Even after it was built up into a presidential retreat, it was rustic: The walls of the dozen cabins were left unpainted, a wagon wheel chandelier hung in the main dining room and the furniture was scavenged from military warehouses.

Roosevelt liked to sit on the porch of the presidential cabin, working on his stamp collection or enjoying a cocktail. (His Scottish terrier, Fala, had a doghouse next door.) But World War II was always as close as the telephone linked to the White House switchboard.

FDR began the tradition of inviting foreign leaders to join him, like British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose spring 1943 visit included war planning discussions.

As much as Roosevelt loved his getaway, its future wasn’t assured. Harry Truman preferred to unwind in Key West, Florida. Dwight Eisenhower was ready to shut the site down as a cost-saving measure.

But when Eisenhower’s attorney general sent him a “Petition for Executive Clemency” to spare the camp, the president relented, adding a helicopter landing pad − he was the first to use a helicopter as president − that shortened the trip from the White House to just half an hour. He installed a small golf course, grilled on a new patio and practiced his oil painting under the trees.

Eisenhower even renamed it “Camp David,” in honor of his 5-year-old grandson.

Planning a summer........

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