Eight US presidents, 14 visits: 51 years of ties with Saudi Arabia

LAHORE: Eight American Presidents have visited Saudi Arabia some 14 times since June 14, 1974, with Barack Obama landing on the Kingdom’s soil on four occasions, research shows.

Here follows the chronology and timeline of US Presidential visits to Saudi Arabia during the last 51 years: According to the US Department of State, President Richard Nixon had met King Faisal in Jeddah on June 14, 1974.

Jimmy Carter called on King Khalid and Crown Prince Fahd in Riyadh on January 3, 1978.

On his first tour, George Bush Senior met King Fahd and the Amir of Kuwait in Jeddah and Dhahran. He also addressed the US and British military personnel during his November 21-22, 1990 tour.

During his second visit on December 31, 1992, President George Bush Senior held a meeting with King Fahd in Riyadh. Bill Clinton called on King Fahd at King Khalid Military City on October 28, 1994.

President George Bush Junior was King Abdullah’s guest in Riyadh between January 14 and 16, 2008 during his first visit. He again met the same Saudi monarch during his May 16 to 17, 2008 visit.

Barack Obama flew to Saudi Arabia four times, the only White House occupant to do so. He was there on June 3, 2009 (hosted by King Abdullah), again toured from March 28 to 29, 2014 (met King Abdullah), visited yet another time on January 27, 2015 (called on King Salman) and then undertook his last trip between April 20 and 21, 2016, when he met King Salman bin Abd-al Aziz Al Saud and attended the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit at Riyadh.

Donald Trump was first accorded a warm welcome in the Kingdom between May 20 and 22, 2017, when he paid a visit to King Salman in Riyadh and signed a military sales agreement. He also met leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council during this visit.

President Joe Biden saw King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman at the Jeddah Royal Palace on July 15, 2022. He also attended the Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

According to the “New York Times,” although President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not ever travel to Saudi soil, he met the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz al-Saud in 1945, on a U.S. warship in the Great Bitter Lake, part of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Roosevelt charmed the king, who struggled to walk, by presenting him with the gift of a wheelchair.

An excerpt from the March 3, 1945 US Diplomatic Papers reads: “The Saudi King spoke of being the “twin” brother of the US President, in years, in responsibility as Chief of State, and in physical disability.

The President said: “But you are fortunate to still have the use of your legs to take you wherever you choose to go.” The King replied, “It is you, Mr. President, who are fortunate. My legs grow feebler every year; with your more reliable wheel-chair you are assured that you will arrive.” The President then said, “I have two of these chairs, which are also twins. Would you accept one as a personal gift from me?” The King said, “Gratefully. I shall use it daily and always recall affectionately the giver, my great and good friend.”

Meanwhile, not fewer than 10 US Presidents have undertaken numerous Presidential visits to the Middle East in last 82 years, since Franklin Roosevelt’s tour to Cairo in November 1943.

To date, 18 visits have been made by American Presidents to Egypt, 14 to Saudi Arabia now, 11 to Israel, six to both Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, four to Iran, three to the Palestinian territories, two to both Kuwait and Syria, one to Bahrain, Georgia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.