Eleven United States presidents have made presidential visits to Puerto Rico since the islands became a U.S. territory in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War of 1898, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
The eleventh and most recent visit was by President Joe Biden on 3 October 2022, after Hurricane Fiona devastated center and southern and western parts of the island.
[1] Nine presidents are honored by life-sized bronze statues commissioned and placed in a linear park, called Paseo de los Presidentes, on the south side of the Puerto Rico Capitol in San Juan.
A bronze statue and plaque commemorating his visit is on public view at the Paseo de los Presidentes on the south side of the Capitol of Puerto Rico.
The statue, the bronze depiction of the dog and a plaque were subsequently installed by Senate President Rivera-Schatz and Speaker González-Colón at the Paseo de los Presidentes.
Upon the completion of the South American tour, they flew from Colombia to Ramey AFB for a refuel stop on 18 December and continued to Palm Beach, Florida.
Then-Senator Kennedy had previously visited Puerto Rico while on the presidential campaign trail, even though he had not yet announced his candidacy, giving a speech titled "A New Attitude on Latin America" at a Democratic-fundraising dinner in San Juan on 15 December 1958.
Arriving on Air Force One a VC-25A (Boeing 747) 92–8000 with then-Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, he was greeted at Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, Puerto Rico, by Governor Luis Fortuño, visited La Fortaleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, had lunch at a local eatery with then-Senator Alejandro García Padilla, gave exclusive interviews to Univision local TV affiliate reporter Cyd Marie Fleming and El Nuevo Día newspaper, and attended a Democratic National Committee event that added nearly $1 million[5] to his campaign coffers, before flying to Washington, D.C., with Pierluisi.
A bronze statue of him commemorating the visit was commissioned by, and installed at the Paseo de los Presidentes by then-Senate President Thomas Rivera-Schatz and House Speaker Jenniffer González-Colón.
A life-sized bronze statue and plaque commemorating his visit was unveiled by Senate President McClintock and House Speaker Aponte-Hernández is exhibited on the south side of the Puerto Rico Capitol building.
[citation needed] President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla on 2–4 March 1968 in a private trip that began in Beaumont, Texas, and a layover in Marietta, Georgia to inaugurate the first C-5A military aircraft before flying to Puerto Rico.
During his trip he remained on-base during his entire stay and had no contact with Puerto Rican officials, except for a brief welcoming call from former Governor Luis Muñoz Marín on 3 March.