There have been six different desks used in the two iterations of the Oval Office – the executive office of the president of the United States since 1909.
The Resolute desk has spent the longest time in the office, having been used by eight presidents. It has been used by all U.S. presidents since 1977 with the exception of George H.W. Bush, who used the C&O desk for his one term, making it the shortest-serving desk to date. Other past presidents have used the Theodore Roosevelt desk, the Hoover desk, the Johnson desk, and the Wilson desk.
The Oval Office and its desks[edit]
HON desks help you stay in control at the office. Your desk bears witness to your task mastery every day. And a HON office desk is like your command center. The desk is one of two very important choices to make when selecting furniture for the home office. The other is the modern home office chair. Together they will determine not only your productivity but your comfort and well-being. A mid century modern office desk will. When sitting down, the desk should reach up to your elbows. You should be able to comfortably rest your arms on the surface in a roughly 90-degree angle. Underneath the desk, you should have roughly 35-40 cm from the top of your knees to the bottom of the desk. And from the bottom of the desk to the floor it should be roughly 60 cm.
The current oval-shaped Oval Office is the second iteration of this room and is the official office of the President of the United States. It is located in the West Wing of the White House complex. The Oval Office desk sits in front of the south wall which is composed of three large windows.
President William Howard Taft constructed the first permanent West Wing to the White House, intending it to be the hub of his administration.[1] Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth and completed in 1909, this wing included the first official Oval Office.[2] Taft elected to use the Theodore Roosevelt desk first used by his predecessor in the new office. The desk remained in use by subsequent presidents until, on December 24, 1929, a fire severely damaged the West Wing during President Herbert Hoover's administration. Hoover reconstructed the part of the White House affected, including the Oval Office, reopening them later in his presidency. With the repair, Hoover was gifted a new desk as part of a 17-piece office suite.
Desktop
Dissatisfied with the size and layout of the West Wing, President Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged New York architect Eric Gugler to redesign it in 1933. Gugler's most visible addition was the expansion of the building eastward for a new Cabinet Room and Oval Office.[3] The modern Oval Office was built at the West Wing's southeast corner, offering Roosevelt, who was physically disabled and used a wheelchair, more privacy and easier access to the residence. Roosevelt and Gugler devised a room architecturally grander than the previous room's two designs, with more robust Georgian details.[4] Construction of the modern Oval Office was completed in 1934 and the Hoover desk carried over into the new room at Roosevelt's direction. After Roosevelt's death, his successor Harry Truman elected to send the Hoover desk to what is now the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Truman had the Theodore Roosevelt desk brought into the new Oval Office for the first time where it was used by him and his successor Dwight D. Eisenhower.
When John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he brought the Resolute desk, which had been used elsewhere in the White House since it was gifted in 1880, to the Oval Office for the first time. Upon Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Resolute desk was sent on a national tour, and his successor Lyndon B. Johnson elected to use the desk he'd used as a senator and as Vice President. After his tenure, the desk left the White House and ultimately wound up in Johnson's presidential library, to that point, the shortest-served desk. Richard Nixon brought the Wilson desk, which he had used as Vice President, into the Oval Office when he commenced his administration, and it remained when Gerald Ford took over.
Jimmy Carter decided to return to the Resolute desk, and the desk has since been used by every president other than George H. W. Bush who elected to go with the C&O desk he had used as vice president for his four-year term, making that desk the shortest-served to date. As of Joe Biden, the Resolute desk has served eight presidents in the Oval Office over ten full terms (forty years) plus the nearly-three years of Kennedy's administration.
The desks[edit]
| Desk | Used as Oval Office Desk by | Notes | Current Location | Picture | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theodore Roosevelt desk | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover[a] Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower | This desk was created in 1903 for then President Theodore Roosevelt. It was first used in the Oval Office by William Howard Taft and remained there until the West Wing fire in 1929. It remained in storage until 1945 when Harry S. Truman placed it in the modern Oval Office. Richard Nixon used this desk in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution presumes, 'the Watergate tapes were made by an apparatus concealed in its drawer.'[5] It measures 90 by 30 inches (229 by 76 cm). | Vice President's Ceremonial Office, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C. | ||
| Hoover desk | Herbert Hoover[a] Franklin D. Roosevelt | A December 24, 1929, fire severely damaged the West Wing, including the Oval Office. President Herbert Hoover accepted the donation of a new desk from a group of Grand Rapids, Michigan, furniture-makers and used it as his Oval Office desk after the new office was completed. It measures 82 by 44 inches (210 by 110 cm).[6][7] | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York | ||
| Resolute desk | John F. Kennedy Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton George W. Bush Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden | This desk was created from wood salvaged from HMS Resolute and given to Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1879.[8] The desk resided in the White House in various rooms and had a hinged front panel added to it by Franklin D. Roosevelt, until Jacqueline Kennedy found it languishing in the 'White House broadcast room.'[8] She had it restored and moved into the Oval Office.[8] After Kennedy's death, the desk was removed for a traveling exhibition, returning to the Oval Office under Jimmy Carter in 1977. It has been the Oval Office desk ever since with the exception of the George H.W. Bush presidential years. It measures 72 by 32 inches (183 by 81 cm). | Oval Office, The White House, Washington, D.C. | [9] | |
| Johnson desk | Lyndon B. Johnson | This desk was used by Johnson from the time he was in the United States Senate up through his tenure in the Oval Office.[10] It is one of only two desks to date, along with the C&O desk, to serve only one president. It measures 75.5 by 45.5 inches (192 by 116 cm). | Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas | ||
| Wilson desk | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford | Nixon used this desk both as vice president and president as he believed it was used by Woodrow Wilson. Actually, the desk was not used by Woodrow Wilson or by former vice president of the United StatesHenry Wilson, as was later suggested. It measures 81 by 58 inches (210 by 150 cm). | Vice President's Room, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. | ||
| C&O desk | George H. W. Bush | George H. W. Bush used this desk during his tenure as both vice president and president of the United States. It was created for the owners of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway around 1920 and subsequently donated to the White House. Previously, Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan had used it in the West Wing Study.[5] | Unknown |
Chronology[edit]
| Presidency | President | Dates in office | Desk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | William Howard Taft | March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 | Theodore Roosevelt desk |
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson | March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921 | |
| 29 | Warren G. Harding | March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923 | |
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge | August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929 | |
| 31 | Herbert Hoover | March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | |
| Hoover desk | |||
| 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 | |
| 33 | Harry S. Truman | April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953 | Theodore Roosevelt desk |
| 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 | |
| 35 | John F. Kennedy | January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 | Resolute desk |
| 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969 | Johnson desk |
| 37 | Richard Nixon | January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 | Wilson desk |
| 38 | Gerald Ford | August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 | |
| 39 | Jimmy Carter | January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | Resolute desk |
| 40 | Ronald Reagan | January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 | |
| 41 | George H. W. Bush | January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | C&O desk |
| 42 | Bill Clinton | January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | Resolute desk |
| 43 | George W. Bush | January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 | |
| 44 | Barack Obama | January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | |
| 45 | Donald Trump | January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021 | |
| 46 | Joe Biden | January 20, 2021 – present[9] |
Notes[edit]
- ^ abHerbert Hoover used the Theodore Roosevelt desk until the 1929 West Wing fire. After the reconstruction of the Oval Office he switched to the Hoover desk.
Desktop
References[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oval Office desks. |
- ^Seale, The President's House, p. 895.
- ^'The White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home' – CSPAN Documentary
- ^Seale, The President's House, pp. 946–49.
- ^Seale, The President's House, p. 948.
- ^ abcHess, Stephen, What Now? The Oval Office. Brookings Institution. January 08, 2009.
- ^William Seale, The President's House (White House Historical Association, 1986), p. 918.
- ^President Hoover's Executive Office Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ abcThe President's Desk. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Accessed September 9, 2010
- ^ abLinskey, Annie. A look inside Biden’s Oval Office. The Philadelphia Inquirer. January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
- ^The White House. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. accessed September 10, 2010
Gaming Desk
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