June 8

The President was on Sea Island on this day 2004 for the annual Group of 8, or G-8 Summit.

President George W. Bush welcomed the leaders of the world’s industrial democracies– Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom — as they met for three days to discuss a host of issues.

The G-8 first met in 1975 in France as the G-6; Canada joined the next year, Russia in 1994. This was the fifth time the U.S. hosted the summit. The site was chosen for its remote location. Previous summits had attracted waves of often-violent protestors and the nearly inaccessible island was tightly secured. If you wanted to demonstrate, you did it in Savannah, 80 miles north. Governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency in six counties and the Department of Homeland Security designated the summit a National Special Security Event.

Many of the leaders stayed to attend President Reagan’s California funeral, after the Sea Island summit that began on June 8, 2004, Today in Georgia History.