Teddy Roosevelt was the first US president to travel abroad while in office. He and his wife went to Panama in November 1906 to inspect the Panama Canal. Between that time and 2010, 18 US presidents made almost 250 trips abroad, including Wilson, Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Nixon, among others.
More U.S. presidential firsts:
- James Garfield was the first — and still the only — president to serve as a preacher before entering office.
- Andrew Jackson, not Abraham Lincoln, was the first president to be born in a log cabin. Jackson also was the first president to ride on a train.
- Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. He also was the first person to grow tomatoes in the U.S.