And don’t say you have to sit in an airplane?
oops, meant this to go in general
I reported it for you.
So moved.
According to this site:
Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to drive a car and became the first President to ride in an airplane on October 11, 1910.
(Andrew Jackson was the first President to ride on a train.)
FDR.
TR was no longer president when he first flew.
nm.
It was either FDR or Herbert Hoover. I found a reference to Coolidge being the last president to not fly and FDR flew often. Hoover did a lot to promote air transportation back when he was Commerce Secretary, but I have not found an actual reference to him on an airplane between 1929 and 1933.
Isn’t it true that by 1933, flying on an airplane, albeit as a passenger, was still considered somewhat of a daredevil stunt? Definitely not an activity a respectable middle-aged gentleman, let alone the President, would indulge in?
It might have been considered risky for a president who is supposed to get maximum protection, but it wasn’t daredevil by 33. We seem to have it narrowed to Hoover or FDR. My money is on Hoover but the question is still unanswered.
William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill “The Last Lion Defender of the Realm” in talking about the Allied conference in Casablanca in January 1943 says FDR was the first.It’s five day flight by Boeing flying boat to Miami, Trinidad, Brazil, to Bathurst (Gambia river, west Africa). From there by an army C-54 to Casablanca. It was considered dangerous as FDR’s doctors feared the cruising altitude of 8,000 might trigger an angina attack. No President had ever been in a plane, visited Africa, left the U.S. in wartime and none since Lincoln had visited a battle theater. Manchester footnotes are Sherwood’s “Roosevelt and Hopkins” and “Time” magazine 2/1/42 (I wonder if the latter year is a misprint).
According to History.com, FDR was the first president to fly on official U.S. business while in office.
This fact sheet from the National Museum of the US Air Force also confirms it. That museum includes in its collection the first military aircraft that a U.S. President flew in, i.e., the first “Air Force One”, which was specially built for FDR in 1945.
“Daredevil stunt” is putting it too strongly. Established airlines had routine and regularly scheduled passenger service by the late 1920’s, and wealthy businessmen were among their customers.
It’s true, however, that flying was still considered more novel, ambitious, and daring than train travel. FDR flew an airplane from New York to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1932, and this was considered an exciting break with tradition for two reasons–first, because he delivered his acceptance speech to the convention in person, and second because he flew.
As noted his first airplane trip as incumbent president was not until 11 years later.
It is interesting to note that FDR’s counterpart, Winston Churchill, took his first airplane flight in 1911…almost 30 years before he was Prime minister.
It seems strange that it took 40 years for a sitting president to fly. On the other hand, manned space flight is 50 years old and no President has been in a rocket yet.
No President, but John Glenn returned to space in 1998 while serving as a Senator from Ohio.
Of course, Glenn had previous space experience, being the first American astronaut to orbit the earth in 1962.
It’s interesting to note that Adolf Hitler made heavy use of airplanes when he was on the campaign trail in 1932 (i. e. before he became the German dictator).
He was able to attend election rallies in 3 cities in different parts of the country in one day which was very unusual at that time.
So some kid’s dream of being the first Billionaire Astronaut Cowboy Rockstar President is still alive, is what you’re saying.
He wasn’t the first, however. Congressman Jake Garn did it fourteen years earlier.
Ok, so since Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to drive a car, and Franklin Roosevelt was the first to fly on a plane, can we conclude that there won’t be a president who flies in space until there’s another Roosevelt in the oval office? 
You are correct, of course. I had forgotten all about him. Glenn had more publicity because he had already been in space before.