What Presidents Have Done on the Fourth of July

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive as they host a barbecue for active-duty military families in honor of the Fourth of July on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON—Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation.

It’s also been a day for some presidents to insert themselves front and center in the fabric of it all.