Since the construction of the Oval Office in 1909, there have been six different desks used in the office by the president of the United States. The desk usually sits in front of the south wall of the Oval Office. The desk has an executive chair behind and usually has chairs for advisors placed to either side or in front. Each president uses the Oval Office, and the desk in it, differently. The desk is widely used ceremonially for photo opportunities and press announcements. Some presidents, such as Richard Nixon, used the desk only for these ceremonial purposes, while others, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, used it as their main workspace.
The first desk used in the Oval Office was the Theodore Roosevelt desk. The desk currently in use by Donald Trump is the Resolute desk.https://x.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1902516442966466763 Of the six desks that have occupied the Oval Office, the Resolute has spent the longest time in the room, having been used by eight presidents. The Resolute has been used by John F. Kennedy and by all U.S. presidents since 1977 with the exception of George H. W. Bush. Bush used the C&O desk for his one term, making it the shortest-serving desk to date. Other past presidents used the Hoover desk, the Johnson desk, and the Wilson desk.
The process for choosing a desk is not standardized and different presidents have chosen desks for different reasons. A few presidents have made public through interviews or papers in their presidential libraries how their choice was made. A 1974 memo explaining the desk options Gerald Ford could choose from is held at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Jimmy Carter wrote about choosing a desk as his first official presidential decision in his 1982 memoir Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President. In an interview with Chris Wallace, Donald Trump described that there are seven desks to choose from and that he chose the Resolute desk due to its history and beauty."Trump gives Chris Wallace a tour of the Oval Office". Fox News. At 1:18–1:35. November 18, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2021. Joe Biden explained in a 2023 interview with Architectural Digest that there is a suburban Maryland facility with a replica Oval Office where interior decorators can test the placement of furnishings before they are moved into the actual Oval Office on Inauguration Day.
History
The first Oval Office was constructed as part of the expansion of the West Wing to the White House in 1909 under President William Howard Taft. The room was designed by Nathan C. Wyeth. He chose the Theodore Roosevelt desk, designed by Charles Follen McKim and first used by President Theodore Roosevelt in the previous executive office, for the new office space. This 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."Fire Wrecks The White House Offices; Hoover Rushes from Party to Watch it; Aides Brave Smoke to save his papers". The New York Times. December 25, 1929. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
Hoover reconstructed the part of the White House affected, including the Oval Office, reopening them in 1930. With the repair, Hoover was gifted a suite of 17 furniture pieces including a new desk, known as the Hoover desk, by an association of Grand Rapids, Michigan furniture-makers.President Hoover's Executive Office Suite. Grand Rapids Historical Commission. Grand Rapids Spectator. June 28, 1930. Retrieved December 5, 2020 This new desk was used for the rest of Hoover's term in office and by Franklin D. Roosevelt for his presidency.Artifact Highlight: FDR's Oval Office Desk. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. May 27, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
Roosevelt had the West Wing expanded during his time in office, including the construction of a new Oval Office.Seale, William. The President's House. pp. 946–949. After Roosevelt died in office, the Hoover desk was given to his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1945, the Theodore Roosevelt desk was brought back to the newly rebuilt Oval Office by then President Harry S. Truman, and used by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
John F. Kennedy briefly used the Theodore Roosevelt desk, before it was switched out in 1961 for the Resolute desk. Jacqueline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's wife, thought the more ornately carved Resolute desk should be the most visible presidential desk.Mrs. Kennedy's decision to move the Resolute Desk into the Oval Office. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. March 27, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.McNamara, Robert. The Resolute Desk Elaborately Carved Presidential Desk Was a Gift From Queen Victoria. ThoughtCo. October 31, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
Upon Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Resolute desk was sent on a national tour. His successor Lyndon B. Johnson elected to use the desk he had used as a senator and as vice president."Artifacts in the Oval Office" . Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Retrieved December 1, 2020. When Johnson left office, his desk was sent to his presidential library. When Richard Nixon became president, he brought the Wilson desk, which he had used as vice president. It remained in the Oval Office when Gerald Ford took over after Nixon's resignation.The Vice President's Room. p. 6. U.S. Senate Commission on Art by the Office of Senate Curator. Senate Publication 106–7. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter returned the Resolute desk to the Oval Office."Treasures of the White House: "Resolute" desk". White House Historical Association. Retrieved December 18, 2020. The desk has since been used in that room by every president other than George H. W. Bush, who elected to use the C&O desk, which he had used as vice president.Nation : Bush Replaces Kennedy's Desk. Los Angeles Times. June 16, 1989. Accessed December 22, 2011. Doro Bush Koch, one of George Bush's children, suggests Bush's choice to use his vice presidential desk may have been due to a perceived tradition of vice presidents that ascend to the presidency using their vice presidential desks.Bush Koch, Doro.My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush. Grand Central Publishing. 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2020. The C&O Desk remained as part of the White House collection after Bush left office, according to Jay Patton, the supervisory curator of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.Patton, Jay, ed. The Oval Office in the Bush Era, College Station, Texas, George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, 2022. Artifact Collection
Joe Biden, the next vice president to become president, did not follow this perceived tradition and continued using the Resolute desk. Biden would have preferred to use the Hoover desk previously used by Franklin Roosevelt, but it could not be relocated from Roosevelt's presidential library in Hyde Park, New York.
Desks by president Below is a table noting each of the six desks ever used in the Oval Office, including the name they are most commonly known by, the presidents that used the desk, a description, and the desk's current location.
Desk Oval Office tenant Workspace dimensions Notes Current location Picture Theodore Roosevelt desk 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".Vice President's Ceremonial Office, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.The Vice President’s Residence & Office. whitehouse.gov. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Hoover desk Oval Office Desk Used by Franklin Roosevelt. Retrieved November 11, 2021. 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.Seale, William. The President's House. p. 918.Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York Resolute desk This desk was created from wood salvaged from and given to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1879. It had a hinged front panel added to it by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The desk resided in the White House in various rooms, until Jacqueline Kennedy found it languishing in the "White House broadcast room". She had it restored and moved into the Oval Office. 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.Oval Office, The White House, Washington, D.C. Johnson desk This desk was used by Johnson from the time he was in the United States Senate up through his tenure in the Oval Office.The White House. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. accessed September 10, 2010 Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum,Austin, Texas Wilson desk Nixon used this desk both as vice president and president, because he believed that it had been used by President Woodrow Wilson. Actually, the desk had not been used by Woodrow Wilson or by Vice President Henry Wilson.Vice President's Room, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.Desk, Flat-Top. United States Senate. Retrieved August 3, 2021. C&O desk Unknown 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 and 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. White House collection
Chronology
Below is a table of desks used for each presidency since the Oval Office was created in 1909.
+Chronology of Oval Office desks Presidency President Desk 27 William Howard TaftTheodore Roosevelt desk 28 Woodrow Wilson 29 Warren G. Harding 30 Calvin Coolidge31Herbert HooverHoover desk 32 Franklin D. Roosevelt 33 Harry S. TrumanTheodore Roosevelt desk 34 Dwight D. Eisenhower 35 John F. Kennedy Resolute desk 36 Lyndon B. Johnson Johnson desk 37 Richard Nixon Wilson desk 38 Gerald Ford 39 Jimmy Carter Resolute desk 40 Ronald Reagan 41 George H. W. Bush C&O desk 42 Bill Clinton Resolute desk 43 George W. Bush 44 Barack Obama 45/47 Donald Trump 46 Joe Biden
Pre-Oval Office executive desks The executive office of the president of the United States has moved multiple times before the Oval Office was created in 1909. George Washington first worked from Federal Hall, in New York City, following his inauguration in 1789. In 1790, Washington moved with the federal government to Philadelphia, where he worked out of a second floor office in President's House, the executive mansion at the time.Lawler. p. 27. Washington called this room his "study", Abigail Adams called it the "President's Room", and John Adams called it his "cabinet".
John Adams continued using President's House in the same way to 1800, when he moved into the White House in Washington, D.C.Lawler. p. 52. where he kept a small office next to his bedroom. Early space usage in the White House is hazy, but Thomas Jefferson kept an office in what is now the State Dining Room. An inventory of the White House shows that James Monroe had a room on the second floor with a desk, but it was not strictly used as an office. Every president from John Quincy Adams to William McKinley used a suite of rooms, centering on what is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom as their office.