Here's how US presidents and first ladies have celebrated Valentine's Day
- February 14 is Valentines Day, and couples all around the world are celebrating love.
- Even presidents and first ladies have managed to make time for romance over the years.
- Here's how presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump have celebrated Valentine's Day.
Throughout their 67 year-long marriage, Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn have been heavily involved in public service.
This Valentine's Day, they're being honored by the Atlanta Hawks for their 50 years of service to the US and abroad.
Source: Atlanta-Journal Constitution
Ronald Reagan celebrated Valentine's Day by writing love letters to his wife Nancy.
One dated from 1960 reads, "February 14 may be the day they observe and call Valentine's Day, but that is for people of ordinary luck. I happen to have a Valentine’s Day which started on March 4, 1952," referring to their wedding day.
"Given the importance of this to me, will you be my Valentine forever?" he asked.
Source: Michael Bescheloss
Reagan made time to spend Valentine's Day with Nancy during his presidency, too. In this photo, he's deplaning from Air Force One on his way to celebrate at the couple's Santa Barbara ranch.
On Valentine's Day of 2011, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, who were married for 73 years before they both died in 2018, went on the TODAY show to share some of their love letters from decades prior.
Source: TODAY
“I love you, precious, with all my heart, and to know that you love me means my life,” George said in a letter to Barbara from the 1940s.
“Will you marry me? Oops, I forgot you did that 49 years ago today. I was very happy on that day in 1945. I’m even happier today,’” Bush wrote in a letter in 1994.
“You’ve given me joy that few men know. I’ve climbed perhaps the highest mountain in the world, but even that cannot hold a candle to being Barbara’s husband.”
Source: TODAY
Bill and Hillary Clinton reportedly spent their first Valentine's Day after coming into the White House in 1993 at the Red Sage in DC — an upscale restaurant which has since closed.
Source: Vanity Fair
And for Valentine's Day 2015, they spent a laid-back spa weekend at Glenmere Mansion in upstate New York.
“[The Clintons] were very low-key, and everyone left them alone to enjoy their romantic weekend,” a source told Page Six.
Source: Page Six
George W. Bush enlisted White House staff to make sure his wife Laura got flowers on Valentine's Day.
Laura described her husband as "not very good" at remembering Valentine's Day.
"There's a White House florist, so they always send up flowers and he signs the card," she told Rachael Ray in 2007.
"Last year, one of the gardeners at the White House — they're National Park employees — did a heart topiary for the president to give to me," she said. "But, of course, the president didn't think of it. The gardener did."
Source: NBC News
And when Laura was out of town for Valentine's Day last year, she left her husband a Valentine decorated with owls and the punny message "owl always love you."
Source: Washington Post
The Obamas spent their first Valentine's Day as first couple in 2009 at Table 52 restaurant in their hometown of Chicago.
Source: ABC News
More recently, the Obamas, both music lovers, have celebrated by making each other custom Spotify playlists.
Source: Vogue
Last year, Donald and Melania Trump spent Valentine's Day apart. The holiday fell weeks after reports that Trump had paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to not discuss an alleged affair she and Trump had in 2006.
Sources: Business Insider
For the second year in a row, Melania will be spending the holiday making Valentines and crafts with child patients at the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, her spokeswoman said.
Source: Elite Daily