All the President's pens: The secrets behind the six desks that have served the Oval Office since it was completed at the turn of the 20th century

[superbeets]

[h=1]All the President's pens: The secrets behind the six desks that have served the Oval Office since it was completed at the turn of the 20th century[/h]

• Only six desks have served the Oval Office since the room was completed early in the 20th century
• The most popular one was favored by seven presidents - Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower
• Lyndon B Johnson brought his own, the only Oval Office desk topped with green leather
• Barack Obama's current desk came from a British naval ship once abandoned in Arctic ice

By CLEMENCE MICHALLON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 07:17, 11 May 2016 | UPDATED: 15:06, 11 May 2016

 

[superbeets]

Only six desks have graced the Oval Office since the room was completed early in the 20th century.
Some served for several decades, while others became dear to one president only.
The next president will have to choose between keeping Barack Obama's current choice, the venerable Resolute desk that first arrived in America in 1879 and once hid Franklin D. Roosevelt's leg braces during his polio, or ditching it for a new model.
With six months to spare before the next general election, Slate has dug up some of the fascinating secrets that make up the history of the Oval Office desks.
The desk that came from the sea, hid Roosevelt's polio and stole Jackie Kennedy's heart

+11


The current presidential desk (pictured as Barack Obama places a phone call), called the Resolute Desk, came from a doomed British naval ship

+11


Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a panel added to it to shield his legs from view, as the polio-stricken president had to wear braces. Pictured, Caroline and Kerry Kennedy play behind the panel's doors

The current presidential desk, called the Resolute Desk, came from a doomed British naval ship.
The HMS Resolute was abandoned in unnavigable waters in the mid-19th century and remained trapped in Arctic ice.
An American vessel discovered it later on when the ice thawed and released the HMS Resolute, Slate reported.

 

[superbeets]

The United States gave it back to its original land after fixing it up, but the ship was taken apart in 1879.
Queen Victoria asked that the wood be used to build a desk, which was then sent back to America and placed inside the White House.
The Resolute Desk first remained in the president's study. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a panel added to it to shield his legs from view, as the polio-stricken president had to wear braces.
The panel features a presidential seal in which the eagle faces the arrows instead of the olive branches - a rarity in the White House according to Slate.
Jacqueline Kennedy was the one who saved the Resolute Desk from oblivion and had it move into the Oval Office after it was found in a broadcasting room.
But Lyndon B Johnson had it removed to make room for his own desk, and the Resolute Desk returned after Jimmy Carter's election.
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Obama have all used it.

 

[superbeets]

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+11


Ronald Reagan (pictured at the Resolute Desk), Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Obama have all used it, after Jacqueline Kennedy had it brought out of a broadcasting room

 

[superbeets]

The most popular desk of them all

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+11


Seven POTUS have used the Theodore Roosevelt Desk (pictured), which was built for its namesake president in 1903, in the Oval

The first desk to ever grace the walls of the Oval Office is also the one that has been favored by the most presidents.
Seven POTUS have used the Theodore Roosevelt Desk, which was built for its namesake president in 1903, in the Oval.
William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover all used it, later followed by Harry S Truman and Dwight D Eisenhower.
Truman even started an ongoing tradition by signing the inside of the desk's top drawer.
Although the Theodore Roosevelt Desk no longer decorates the Oval, it has been used by the country's vice-presidents ever since John F Kennedy had it moved to Johnson's office in 1961.
The top drawer still gets a new signature each time a new vice-president gets picked.

 

[superbeets]

+11


Harry Truman even started an ongoing tradition by signing the inside of the desk's top drawer. Pictured, Vice-President Cheney signing the drawer in 2009




The desk that eavesdropped - and had a secret identity

+11


Richard Nixon thought the Wilson Desk (pictured as the then-president talks to advisers), made out of mahogany, had belonged to former president Woodrow Wilson

Richard Nixon thought the Wilson Desk, made out of mahogany, had belonged to former president Woodrow Wilson.
Nixon even referenced his predecessor during his famous 1969 speech on the Vietnam War.
'Fifty years ago, in this room and at this very desk,President Woodrow Wilson spoke words which caught the imagination of a war-weary world,' Nixon said in his address.
'He said: "This is the war to end war." His dream for peace after World War I was shattered on the hard realities of great power politics and Woodrow Wilson died a broken man.'
But the desk had actually belonged to Henry Wilson, the country's vice-president from 1873 to 1875.
Nixon kept using the desk regardless and had five microphones hidden in it to record conversations.
Gerald Ford kept it in the Oval Office after Nixon's resignation following the Watergate scandal.

 

[superbeets]

The green leather desk that only Lyndon B Johnson liked

+11


The Johnson Desk (pictured), which followed Lyndon B Johnson during his time as a senator, vice-president and president, is the only desk in the history of the Oval Office to have been topped with green leather

President Johnson brought in his own desk when he took over after Kennedy's assassination.
The Johnson Desk, which had been built specifically for government work, had followed him during his time as a senator and then as vice-president.
It is the only desk in the history of the Oval Office to have been topped with green leather.
Only Johnson used it and the desk eventually went into his presidential library in Austin.
'I am reliably told the retired president sometimes sat at the desk to surprise unsuspecting museum visitors,' former staffer of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations wrote in 2009 in a post for the Brookings Institution.

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+11


Only Johnson (pictured) used the desk, which eventually went into his presidential library in Austin. A former staffer of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations said Johnson sometimes sat at the desk there

 

[superbeets]

The desk that declared war

+11


FDR used the Hoover desk (pictured) during his 12 years as president and on its surface signed declarations of war with Japan and Germany in 1941, during World War II

The Hoover Desk made its Oval Office debut in 1930, during the year that followed a fire that tore through the West Wing.
Its predecessor, the Theodore Roosevelt Desk, made it out of the blaze, but Hoover accepted the new desk and placed it in the Oval after it was rebuilt.
FDR kept using the Hoover desk during his 12 years as president.
On its surface, FDR signed declarations of war with Japan and Germany in 1941, during World War II.
Truman preferred the Theodore Roosevelt desk and had it brought back to the Oval when he took over after FDR.



The desk that followed George H W Bush - and only him

+11


George H W Bush took the C&O desk (pictured is a replica) with him when he became president in 1989, and kept the classic desk made out of walnut for the duration of his term

The C&O desk, named after its manufacturer, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, belonged to George H W Bush and only spent one term in the Oval Office.
The company donated it to the White House and Bush had it moved to his office from the Oval Office study while he was vice-president.
He took it with him when he became president in 1989, and kept the classic desk made out of walnut for the duration of his term.
Bill Clinton traded the C&O desk for the Resolute Desk in 1993, making the C&O desk the only one-term desk of the nation.

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+11


Only Bush (pictured at the desk) used the C&O desk. Bill Clinton traded it for the Resolute Desk in 1993, making the C&O desk the only one-term desk of the nation

 

[ScottL]

Speaking of the White House I finally got around to watching 'The Butler' with Forest Whitaker. Great movie. Would say 4**** but unfortunately Obama got elected near the end ;-)

 

[superbeets]

Speaking of the White House I finally got around to watching 'The Butler' with Forest Whitaker. Great movie. Would say 4**** but unfortunately Obama got elected near the end ;-)

Yes agree a great movie. Did watch it at the movie theatre x2 when it was first released.