Resolute Desk
The desk in the Oval Office of the White House is known as the Resolute Desk because it is made of the wood that was left over after the dismantling of the British polar research vessel HMS Resolute in 1879. It was built by William Evenden, a carpenter at the Chatham Royal Shipyard .
The desk was a thank you gift from the British Queen Victoria and was given to US President Rutherford B. Hayes on November 23, 1880 . A second, smaller table was presented to Henry Grinnell's widow. Queen Victoria also had two desks made for herself from the planks of the Resolute : One that is identical to that of the President and a second for her private yacht, the HMY Victoria and Albert II . This table is in the collection of the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth .
The HMS Resolute was part of a formation under the command of Edward Belcher to search for Sir John Franklin , who was missing while trying to find the Northwest Passage to Asia. In 1855, American whalers recovered the HMS Resolute, which was stuck in the polar ice . The ship was then returned after the British crown had been repaired.
The piece of furniture has since been used by almost all subsequent Presidents, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson , Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford .
The Resolute Desk was located in the President's office on the first floor of the main building from 1880 to 1902, in what is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom and used as a bedroom for high-ranking guests. When the new west wing was built and the presidential office moved there in 1902, the desk remained in the president's private study on the first floor of the main building.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the front panel with the presidential state coat of arms placed between the two foot sections to hide the view of his greaves and wheelchair. Under President Truman , the White House underwent extensive renovations and the desk was moved to the broadcasting room on the first floor of the main building, from which radio and television broadcasts were frequently broadcast under Dwight D. Eisenhower .
Jacqueline Kennedy had the White House extensively renovated and largely restored to its historical state. In 1961 she had the Resolute Desk moved to the Oval Office in the west wing. He became world famous for a photograph showing John F. Kennedy at the desk while his son John F. Kennedy jr. plays underneath and looks out of an open flap on the front.
After President Lyndon B. Johnson opted for a different desk, the Resolute Desk was loaned to the Kennedy Library for a traveling exhibition from 1964 to 1965 and then to the Smithsonian Institution from 1966 to 1977 . President Jimmy Carter reassigned him to the Oval Office in 1977 . Even Ronald Reagan used it, but left it on a specially made socket set, so that he was higher a few centimeters.
George Bush preferred his usual desk in the Oval Office, which he had used as Vice President. He had the Resolute Desk moved into his private study in the main building. Bill Clinton , George W. Bush and Barack Obama used the Resolute Desk again in the Oval Office, as did Donald J. Trump .
There are numerous faithful replicas in libraries and museums, such as the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum ; you can order one from an American company or from the National Archives and Records Administration .
Trivia
- The Resolute Desk plays an important role in the film The Legacy of the Secret Book , where the code for the discovery of a secret treasure is said to be hidden in a hidden compartment on the table.
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 53 '50.4 " N , 77 ° 2' 14.7" W.