In his first few months in office, US President Donald Trump has continuously broken with tradition and thrown convention to the wind.
His inaugural overseas visit will be no different.
When Trump touches down in Saudi Arabia
this weekend for the start of his first foreign trip, he'll become the
first-ever president to pick the Middle East for their maiden journey.
Trump -- who will also visit Israel,
Belgium and Italy during the trip -- will join a short list of
presidents who chose not to visit a US neighbor before traveling further
afield.
Teddy Roosevelt, the
first president to travel abroad, visited Panama City in November 1906.
Of the 19 presidents that followed, 14 have made their first official
trips to nearby nations, according to data from the State Department. One of them -- Herbert C. Hoover -- did not travel overseas as president.
In
fact, Trump is the first president since Jimmy Carter whose first
foreign destination wasn't Mexico or Canada. Carter visited the UK in
May 1977.
To date, Trump has left foreign travel to his top aides and Cabinet members,
including Vice President Mike Pence, who has twice traveled abroad,
national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson.
Trump's lack of foreign travel has even landed him with a nickname: the "Homebody President."
When
he takes off on Friday, Trump will be 119 days into his first term,
marking the latest first foreign trip in the past 50 years by a US
president.
The last president to
take longer before traveling abroad was Lyndon B. Johnson, who waited
more than 10 months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in
1963 before visiting Canada.
source:cnn
0 comments:
Post a Comment