Presidents, soldiers, Confederate bullets: The history of Walter Reed hospital, where Trump is being treated for coronavirus

On Friday afternoon, President Trump boarded the Marine One helicopter for a short flight to the Walter Reed Medical Centre to be treated for coronavirus symptoms, writing the next major chapter in history for a medical facility that’s been at the heart of U.S. wars and politics for more than a century.  

"Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days,” Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

The president and First Lady had previously been quarantining following their positive tests.

The news of their condition has rocked Washington, the presidential election, and the country overnight; however, as the premier hospital treating American servicemembers and lawmakers, Walter Reed is no stranger to high stakes. 

The last time the president reportedly visited the facility, in July, was to visit wounded servicemembers, and to meet medical personnel who were helping to fight the COVID-19 crisis. It was the first time Mr. Trump, often skeptical of face-coverings, wore a mask in public, NPR reported.

“I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that in some cases just got off the operating table, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask,” Mr. Trump reportedly said at the time. “I’ve never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place.”

Walter Reed, which has since changed locations, first opened its doors in 1909 as an Army hospital, named for an Army doctor and scientist who helped show mosquitoes carry yellow fever. Since then, it has treated hundreds of thousands of America’s soldiers, as well as various presidents and other elected officials.  

Walter Reed is where President Calvin Coolidge’s teen soon was treated for an eventually fatal infection. Richard Nixon, who was then President Eisenhower’s Vice President, was treated for a staph infection at Walter Reed in 1960. He hadn’t fully recovered by the time of his famous first televised debate with John F. Kennedy, where many remarked he looked in ill health compared to the vibrant young Senator. Later, in 1968, Eisenhower himself entered Walter Reed, where he was treated for coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, and eventually died there in 1969.

Before the hospital was even built it had an outsized connection to national events; a Confederate bullet nearly struck President Abraham Lincoln on the site for the original hospital.

Its historical prominence has carried on into more recent decades, too. In 2007, the Washington Post reported a series of exposes about decrepit housing and poor treatment for soldiers at Walter Reed, many who were returning from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This isn’t Trump’s first newsworthy stay at Walter Reed either. Speculation ran rampant after Trump made an unannounced visit to the facility in November 2019 that the president might’ve experienced a stroke, though the White House denied that and said he was merely getting a regular checkup.  

Famed historian John Meacham recently warned that, generally speaking,  when trying to understand medical crises and presidents, it’s best to take information with a grain of salt.

“There is a very checkered history of American presidents even in the best of times sharing accurate medical information with the public.” he told MSNBC on Friday. “It’s far more the exception than the rule.”