[1] The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by the United States include: Dorado, Puerto Rico (1976), Williamsburg, Virginia (1983), and Houston, Texas (1990).

[3] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six (G6) in 1975.

As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.

'"[10] In 1997, the summit leaders proclaimed that forests "continue to be destroyed and degraded at alarming rates;" and the G-7 called for the elimination of "illegal logging," but there is little evidence of follow-up action.

President Bill Clinton’s state dinner was held at The Fort Restaurant[13] and offered buffalo, trout, and fried squash blossoms filled with wild mushrooms and rattlesnake meat.