From Eisenhower to Biden, Queen Elizabeth Met Every U.S. President but One

The bond the Queen had with the U.S.

Great Britain’s relationship with the United States is often called a special relationship. It could also be said that Queen Elizabeth II had a special relationship with the U.S., especially with its presidents.

Over her 70-year reign, the queen visited the United States six times, including three state visits. There were also many reciprocal visits to the U.K. by U.S. presidents where the bond between the two countries and between president and queen was strengthened. From Harry Truman to Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth II met every U.S. president during her reign except Lyndon B. Johnson.

Elizabeth’s first visit to the United States was as a 25-year-old princess in 1951. Along with Prince Philip, she met President Harry Truman. He described them as ‘a wonderful young couple who have so completely captured the hearts of all of us’.

Over the decades, numerous presidents would repeat similar sentiments of affection towards the queen. For example, Donald Trump said she was a very special person in 2018, and Barack Obama in 2016 said the queen was among his favorite people.

The first official state visit to the U.S. by Queen Elizabeth occurred in 1957, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. The fact that the queen had met Eisenhower when she was still a princess probably helped make this relatively new experience less daunting. The visit was also seen as an important, symbolic act of friendship between the two countries, taking place at the height of the Cold War.

Many meetings between queen and president marked significant occasions. Bill Clinton met the queen when he visited the U.K. to mark the 50th anniversary of D-day in 1994. Richard Nixon met the queen as president in 1970. However, his first meeting with the queen was in 1957 when he traveled to St Paul’s Cathedral in London to unveil a memorial chapel to the fallen American soldiers of the Second World War.

Another significant occasion was the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1976. Queen Elizabeth met President Gerard Ford and famously danced with him to the, perhaps inappropriate, tune of ‘The Lady is a Tramp.’

The Queen had a particularly warm relationship with President Reagan. In 1983, she stayed at his ranch in Santa Barbara, California, where they went horseback riding on several occasions. Their strong friendship went beyond formalities and lasted until the death of Reagan in 2004.

When the queen visited the U.S. in 1991, George H.W. Bush was president. She planted a linden tree on the grounds of the White House, replacing one planted by her father, George VI, which was destroyed in a storm.

The last time Queen Elizabeth visited the U.S. was in 2007, when she commemorated the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement in North America by visiting Jamestown, Virginia.

In a speech, then-president George W. Bush managed to age the Queen by 200 years when he declared that the queen had helped celebrate the U.S. independence celebrations in 1776 rather than 1976. The queen, showing her wicked sense of humor, then started her own speech with ‘When I was last here in 1776…’

It would fall to Joe Biden to be the sitting president when Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022. In his statement marking her passing, the president said the queen ‘deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States’.

The duty of maintaining that alliance has passed on to King Charles III and the current and future presidents of the United States. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, everyone would agree they have a hard act to follow.

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