--- title: President Obama in Greece: The History Behind the Trip description: The first visit to Greece by a sitting U.S. President took place in 1959 when Dwight D. Eisenhower made the journey to Athens canonical: https://time.com/4560783/obama-eisenhower-greece/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-14T14:00:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:59.149Z article:section: History og:title: Here's What Happened the First Time a U.S. President Went to Greece og:description: The first visit to Greece by a sitting U.S. President took place in 1959 og:url: https://time.com/4560783/obama-eisenhower-greece/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbea3048284cc426e/6988ad51cd1bba61a1703001/greece.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dwight Eisenhower King Paul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Happened the First Time a U.S. President Went to Greece twitter:description: The first visit to Greece by a sitting U.S. President took place in 1959 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbea3048284cc426e/6988ad51cd1bba61a1703001/greece.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Happened the First Time a U.S. President Went to Greece ## Video: A Desperate Crossing [Watch (HLS stream): A Desperate Crossing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Chck0kIJ.m3u8) (3:24)  _Published 2015-09-09. TIME gets exclusive access to the Greek coast guard as they search for, and rescue migrants_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 14, 2016 2:00 PM UTC  U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and King Paul of Greece Standing in Convertible Car, Athens, Greece, 1959. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and King Paul of Greece Standing in Convertible Car, Athens, Greece, 1959.Universal History Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 14, 2016 2:00 PM UTC On Monday, President Obama [travels to Greece](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/10/25/statement-press-secretary-presidents-travel-greece-germany-and-peru) at the start of a trip that will also bring him to Germany and Peru. The stop in Greece, per the White House, will be an opportunity for the U.S. “reaffirm our support for ongoing efforts to place the Greek economy on a path to sustainability and renewed prosperity.” That goal, reassuring the world about the U.S. commitment to the Greek economy, is a departure from the Cold War concerns that dominated when a sitting U.S. president visited that nation for the [first time,](https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/greece) in December of 1959, when Dwight Eisenhower paid an official visit. (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton would later do the same; President Obama is the fourth.) The voyage was part of a trip that was, at the time, the longest foreign voyage ever made by a sitting president, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-12-07/page/19/): “he will travel for 19 days through 19,600 miles by plane, 270 by helicopter, 1,500 by ship, 1,000 by train and car.” The trip was an attempt to show, while visiting 11 nations, that he supported “the goals that free nations share.” More specifically, however, Eisenhower had some things to talk about with Greece’s leadership, as TIME explained: --- > “” --- But, TIME noted, Eisenhower’s visit was not just about the Cold War: when he arrived in Athens, “cheering throngs” lined the streets as he passed in a Rolls-Royce with King Paul of Greece. “Ike could see the Parthenon glowing in light on the Acropolis, the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and a small obelisk monument to Americans who were killed in Greece’s 1821-29 war for independence from the Ottoman Empire,” the magazine continued, before he laid a wreath at that monument. As the crows cheered, he was seen to laugh in joy over the happy welcome he received. “I think he’s absolutely getting to love this,” a staffer told TIME’s reporter. “He doesn’t say so, but he’d have to be superhuman not to feel this way.” **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Pages of History](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-12-28/page/11/) President Obama in Greece: The History Behind the Trip ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4560783/obama-eisenhower-greece/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4560783/obama-eisenhower-greece/"},"headline":"Here's What Happened the First Time a U.S. President Went to Greece","datePublished":"2016-11-14T14:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:59.149Z","description":"The first visit to Greece by a sitting U.S. President took place in 1959 when Dwight D. 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