Camp David has been used to host private diplomatic meetings with foreign leaders and heads of state since at least World War II.

[7] Dwight Eisenhower held his first cabinet meeting there on November 22, 1955, following hospitalization and convalescence he required after a heart attack suffered in Denver, Colorado, on September 24.

[13] Jimmy Carter initially favored closing Camp David in order to save money, but once he visited the retreat, he decided to keep it.

[14] Carter brokered the Camp David Accords there in September 1978 between Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.

[19] In July 2000, he hosted the 2000 Camp David Summit negotiations between Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat there.

[20][21] In February 2001, George W. Bush held his first meeting with a European leader, UK prime minister Tony Blair, at Camp David, to discuss missile defense, Iraq, and NATO.

[23] During his two terms in office, Bush visited Camp David 149 times, for a total of 487 days, for hosting foreign visitors as well as a personal retreat.

[32] Trump also planned to meet with the Taliban at Camp David to negotiate a peace agreement in 2019, but refrained after a suicide bombing in Kabul killed US troops.