Rapidan Camp the Interior Harold L. Ickes reported, "President Roosevelt is not able to make such use of the camp as President Hoover undoubtedly had in mind. Whether it is to continue to be a Presidential camp must, therefore, be left for future determination." FDR went on to establish his retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland at Camp Shangri-La, later renamed Camp David. While the Park Service pledged to maintain Rapidan Camp, in 1936, "The New York Times" described rust and dry rot at the camp, which was still protected by seven Marines. The "historic log" Hoover and MacDonald had conferred
Camp Beauregard in preparation for East-Asian war efforts. The camp, and several tens of thousands of acres of surrounding land, including Camp Claiborne, Camp Livingston, Camp Cook, Fort Polk and what is now Esler Regional Airport were used for the Louisiana Maneuvers, a training exercise involving almost 500,000 men, preparing for the battles of World War II. Two-thirds of the U.S. military rotated through these war games. A large part of the State of Louisiana, centered on these large camps, became almost an occupied territory. After World War II, the camp was returned to the state, which used it as a training