--- title: President Obama Africa Trip: See the First President to Visit Africa description: President Obama visits Kenya and Ethiopia this month. The first U.S. president to visit Africa did so in very different circumstances. canonical: https://time.com/3962496/obama-africa-trip-history-roosevelt/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-23T11:00:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:31.439Z article:section: History og:title: President Obama Africa Trip: See the First President to Visit Africa og:description: President Obama visits Kenya and Ethiopia this month og:url: https://time.com/3962496/obama-africa-trip-history-roosevelt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93257eb8d2d8fc73/69885b6c0b72e349da6e4f8d/fdr.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FDR Inspects The Troops og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Africa Trip: See the First President to Visit Africa twitter:description: President Obama visits Kenya and Ethiopia this month twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93257eb8d2d8fc73/69885b6c0b72e349da6e4f8d/fdr.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Was the First Time a Sitting U.S. President Visited Africa ## Video: Bremmer: What Does America Stand For? [Watch (HLS stream): Bremmer: What Does America Stand For?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LslU7mTn.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2015-05-03. As the world's only superpower, Bremmer argues that the United States must look towards the next stage of China's rise_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 23, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Franklin D. Roosevelt (in suit, seated in jeep at left) reviews US troops as military commander Lieutenant General George S. Patton (right), Casablanca, Morocco, Jan. 17, 1943. Franklin D. Roosevelt (in suit, seated in jeep at left) reviews US troops as military commander Lieutenant General George S. Patton (right), Casablanca, Morocco, Jan. 17, 1943.PhotoQuest / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 23, 2015 11:00 AM UTC President Obama [travels](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/30/statement-press-secretary-global-entrepreneurship-summit-and-president-s) to Kenya on Thursday to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and then continues his African trip with a visit to Ethiopia, the first time a sitting U.S. president will visit that country. He’ll be focused on global business and peaceful diplomacy—a far cry from what happened with the first sitting president to visit Africa. When Franklin D. Roosevelt landed on the continent 72 years ago amid World War II, it was the first time since the Civil War that a sitting president had visited an active war zone, as well as the first time ever that one had traveled by plane. The occasion was Roosevelt’s January 1943 visit to Casablanca to discuss the conflict with Winston Churchill. As TIME reported shortly after, the trip was a fruitful one. The air-travel part of the plan was kept secret—an important concern given that the president’s plane was flying over an ocean patrolled by Axis planes and ships—but, once he arrived safely and the meetings got underway, the world was looped in on what had happened: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story from 1943, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Appointment in Africa](http://time.com/vault/issue/1943-02-01/page/13/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3962496/obama-africa-trip-history-roosevelt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3962496/obama-africa-trip-history-roosevelt/"},"headline":"This Was the First Time a Sitting U.S. President Visited Africa","datePublished":"2015-07-23T11:00:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:31.439Z","description":"President Obama visits Kenya and Ethiopia this month. 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