Resolute desk
Encyclopedia
The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk
often chosen by presidents
of the United States
for use in the White House
Oval Office
as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes
in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British Arctic Exploration ship . Many presidents since Hayes have used the desk at various locations in the White House, but it was Jackie Kennedy who first brought the desk into the Oval Office in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy
. It was removed from the White House for only one time, after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, when President Johnson allowed the desk to go on a traveling exhibition with the Kennedy Presidential Library. After this it was on display in the Smithsonian Institution
. President Jimmy Carter
brought the desk back to the Oval Office, where President Ronald Reagan
, President Bill Clinton
, President George W. Bush
and now President Barack Obama
have used it in this, its most famous location.
sent from Britain in April 1852 to search for the missing British explorer Sir John Franklin, who had left Britain in 1845 in search of the fabled Northwest Passage
through the Canadian Arctic. The Western Division of the squadron, consisting of HMS Resolute and HMS Intrepid under Captain Kellett
's command, sailed West and wintered at Dealy Island off Melville Island. The Eastern Division, consisting of HMS Assistance
and Pioneer under Sir Edward Belcher's command, sailed North up the Wellington Channel
and wintered near Northumberland Sound. The men spent the autumn of 1852, and the spring and summer of 1853 sledging across the Arctic in search of the Franklin Expedition, as well as the men on HMS Investigator
(Captain Robert McClure
), and HMS Enterprise
(Captain Richard Collinson
). After finding and rescuing McClure and the crew of the Investigator, Resolute and Intrepid sailed east, but had to winter in the pack ice, gradually moving East all winter. Belcher's two ships moved south in the Wellington Channel before being frozen in again near Disaster Bay. In the spring of 1854 Belcher ordered the abandonment of four of his five ships, and the men gathered at Beechey Island
. Ironically, by the time they were ready to leave, both Assistance and Pioneer had broken free and had traveled 45 miles South in the Wellington Channel until they were only a few miles from Beechey Island. This made no difference to Belcher who was simply desperate to go home. Since he had made his two ships "hells afloat" as he always did, his men were also desperate to leave. However, Kellett only abandoned Resolute and Intrepid under protest. The officers and men returned home on HMS North Star and the relief ships HMS Phoenix
and HMS Talbot.
As a matter of course, all captains who lose ships are tried by Court-Martial
. And so Belcher was tried by court-martial for abandoning the four seaworthy vessels, as were Resolutes captain, Henry Kellett; Intrepid 's commander, Francis McClintock
; and Pioneer 's commander, Sherard Osborn
. All were acquitted. Belcher, however, never received another commission, and was scorned by the officers of his Court-Martial when they returned his sword to him in complete silence. Resolute continued to move slowly eastward in the pack ice, and one year later in the autumn of 1855 she was 1200 miles away from the place where she had been abandoned. In September 1855 an American whaler named James Buddington, from New London, CT
saw the Resolute adrift in the pack ice off Cape Walsingham in the Davis Strait
. He split his crew and sailed her back to New London, arriving home on Christmas Eve. This was a welcomed Christmas gift for the families of the men who helped bring Resolute to her new home: Buddington's ship, the George Henry had preceded the Resolute and many were beginning to wonder if Buddington was still alive. The British government waived all claims to the ship upon learning of its arrival in New London.
The relationship between Britain and America was at a breaking point when Buddington salvaged Resolute. They were on the brink of their third war. President Franklin Pierce
addressed Congress to say he had ceased to have diplomatic relations with Britain. He closed the British embassies and sent the ambassadors home. Tensions continued to mount. Suddenly one of the most vocal war-mongers, Senator James Murray Mason, from Virginia, proposed a bill in Congress for the government to buy Resolute, refurbish her, and sail her back to Britain as a present. The bill passed, authorizing more than $40,000 for the work, and President Pierce signed it into law. The Resolute was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
, where she underwent a complete refit, and Commander Henry Hartstene USN, sailed her back to Britain, arriving at Spithead
on December 12, 1856. After Resolute was towed to Cowes
so that the Queen and Prince Albert could tour her, Captain Harstene presented the ship to Queen Victoria as a gesture of peace and good-will on December 17, 1856. Soon the talk of war ceased, and the gift of Resolute was seen as instrumental in the easing of these tensions. Henry Grinnell
, a New York merchant and shipowner who had grown up in New Bedford, had supported the purchase of Resolute to be used as the gift, and both he and Lady Franklin had hoped the Navy would use the ship for a new search for Sir John Franklin's expedition. However, by 1856 the Royal Navy was no longer willing to spend money on what they now believed would be a fruitless search. It was impossible to believe that any of the Franklin men could still be alive eleven years after they entered the Arctic. Belcher's abandonment of four seaworthy ships was the last straw. Nor was the Navy willing to let Lady Franklin use the Resolute for a privately funded search. Britain could not risk losing Resolute after the important role the ship had played in smoothing the turbulent waters between her and America. Resolute stayed in home waters until she was taken to the breaker's dock at Chatham Dockyard
in 1879.
was presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes
on 23 November 1880, while a smaller lady's desk was presented to the widow of Henry Grinnell
; this desk is now in the New Bedford Whaling Museum
. Finally, the queen had two desks made for herself: a twin to the one given to the president and people of the United States, currently in Windsor Castle
; and a writing table, which she had made for her private yacht, the HMY Victoria and Albert II
. This writing table is in the collection of the Royal Naval Museum
, Portsmouth.
A plate on the front of the desk presented to President Hayes bears the following inscription:
President John F. Kennedy
first placed it in the Oval Office in 1961. Some presidents, such as George H. W. Bush
, have used the desk in their private study rather than the Oval Office. The desk left the White House from 1963 until President Carter brought it back to the Oval Office. Since then, former presidents Ronald Reagan
, Bill Clinton
, George W. Bush
, and the current president Barack Obama
have used it in the Oval Office.
ordered a hinged front panel for the key hole opening in order to hide his leg braces. The panel was commissioned in 1944 but President Roosevelt did not live to use it: it was not delivered until 1945, following the president's death on April 12. President Harry S. Truman
had the panel installed anyway to honor Roosevelt's memory. The panel features the presidential seal
—one of only four in the White House that have the eagle's head turned towards the 13 arrow
s in the eagle's left talon
, as opposed to the now-official arrangement with the eagle turned towards the olive branch
in the right talon with the 13 leaves.
The second modification to the desk was made under Ronald Reagan
. President Reagan used a chair he had brought from the capital in California; it was tall enough that his knees bumped into the desk when he moved. As a result, the desk was raised two inches to accommodate Reagan and his chair; this was achieved by adding a separate, uniform base to the desk.
took office in 1963, he found he was too large for the desk, and instead commissioned a plainer replacement which was built for him by the Senate cabinet shop. Richard Nixon
, who succeeded Johnson in 1969, used the desk from the Vice President's Room
, which he believed to be that of former president Woodrow Wilson
. Gerald Ford
, who succeeded to the presidency in 1974 following the resignation of Nixon, followed Nixon's precedent. Jimmy Carter
, Ford's successor, brought the Resolute desk back to the Oval Office, where it remained until George H. W. Bush
had it removed, preferring the one (different from the Wilson desk) he used while serving as Vice President
during the Ronald Reagan
Administration. Bill Clinton
subsequently brought the Resolute desk back again to Oval office, where it has remained since.
, visited President Barack Obama and gave him an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of HMS Gannet
. HMS Gannet was not a sister ship to the Resolute, as has been widely reported. Her only connection with Resolute was that the Gannet was launched from the Chatham Dockyard, which was the same dockyard where Resolute was decommissioned. Gannet was launched in 1878 long after the cross Atlantic slave trade was made illegal, and also many years after the American Civil War
. Therefore, she was not used in anti-slavery work in connection to these markets. She did, however, patrol the Mediterranean Sea
and prevented slave trade there. Mr. Brown also gave President Obama the original framed commissioning papers for Resolute.
There are exact replicas of the Resolute desk on display in at least five presidential libraries. The desk at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library was recreated by Robert Whitley. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
in Simi Valley, California
, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California
and Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
in Atlanta, Georgia
, include replicas of the Resolute desk. The desks at both the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park
in Little Rock, Arkansas
and the George and Barbara Bush Center at the University of New England, Maine
were produced by History Company of Ithaca, New York
at the Kittinger Company of Buffalo, New York
. A video clip
of the desk in production can be viewed at History Company
A few independent museums also display replicas, including The Quality West Wing Foundation Museum in Corona, CA , a children's educational program focusing on U.S. government, history and the Presidency;http://www.qualitywestwing.org the Treehouse Children's Museum, in Ogden, Utah, which features a small-scale Oval Office; and a full-scale replica of the Oval Office open to the public at the American Village in Montevallo, Alabama
.
which was made for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
.
Partners desk
A partners desk is an antique desk form which is basically two pedestal desks constructed from the start as one large desk joined at the front, for two users working while facing each other...
often chosen by presidents
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for use in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British Arctic Exploration ship . Many presidents since Hayes have used the desk at various locations in the White House, but it was Jackie Kennedy who first brought the desk into the Oval Office in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. It was removed from the White House for only one time, after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, when President Johnson allowed the desk to go on a traveling exhibition with the Kennedy Presidential Library. After this it was on display in the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
brought the desk back to the Oval Office, where President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and now President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
have used it in this, its most famous location.
A gift to the Queen
was part of a five-ship squadron under Edward BelcherEdward Belcher
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, KCB , was a British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. His wife, Diana Jolliffe, was the stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood.-Early life:...
sent from Britain in April 1852 to search for the missing British explorer Sir John Franklin, who had left Britain in 1845 in search of the fabled Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
through the Canadian Arctic. The Western Division of the squadron, consisting of HMS Resolute and HMS Intrepid under Captain Kellett
Henry Kellett
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett KCB was a British naval officer and explorer.-Naval career:Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822...
's command, sailed West and wintered at Dealy Island off Melville Island. The Eastern Division, consisting of HMS Assistance
HMS Assistance (1850)
HMS Assistance was an Arctic discovery barque of the Royal Navy, and the sixth vessel to carry the name. She began her life in 1835 as an Indian-built merchant vessel, was purchased in 1850 and participated in two Arctic expeditions before being abandoned in the ice in 1854.-Merchant Navy...
and Pioneer under Sir Edward Belcher's command, sailed North up the Wellington Channel
Wellington Channel
The Wellington Channel is a natural waterway through the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It runs north/south, separating Cornwallis Island and Devon Island....
and wintered near Northumberland Sound. The men spent the autumn of 1852, and the spring and summer of 1853 sledging across the Arctic in search of the Franklin Expedition, as well as the men on HMS Investigator
HMS Investigator (1848)
HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice. Her wreckage was found in July 2010 on Banks Island, in the Beaufort Sea...
(Captain Robert McClure
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure was an Irish explorer of the Arctic.In 1854, he was the first to transit the Northwest Passage , as well as the first to circumnavigate the Americas.-Early life and career:He was born at Wexford, in Ireland, the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains,...
), and HMS Enterprise
HMS Enterprise (1848)
HMS Enterprise was an Arctic discovery ship laid down as a merchant vessel and purchased in 1848 before launch to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two Arctic voyages before becoming a coal depot, and was finally sold in 1903...
(Captain Richard Collinson
Richard Collinson
Sir Richard Collinson was an English naval officer and explorer of the Arctic.He was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, then part of County Durham...
). After finding and rescuing McClure and the crew of the Investigator, Resolute and Intrepid sailed east, but had to winter in the pack ice, gradually moving East all winter. Belcher's two ships moved south in the Wellington Channel before being frozen in again near Disaster Bay. In the spring of 1854 Belcher ordered the abandonment of four of his five ships, and the men gathered at Beechey Island
Beechey Island
Beechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada, in Wellington Channel. It is separated from the southwest corner of Devon Island by Barrow Strait...
. Ironically, by the time they were ready to leave, both Assistance and Pioneer had broken free and had traveled 45 miles South in the Wellington Channel until they were only a few miles from Beechey Island. This made no difference to Belcher who was simply desperate to go home. Since he had made his two ships "hells afloat" as he always did, his men were also desperate to leave. However, Kellett only abandoned Resolute and Intrepid under protest. The officers and men returned home on HMS North Star and the relief ships HMS Phoenix
HMS Phoenix (1832)
HMS Phoenix was a 6-gun steam paddle vessel of the Royal Navy, built in a dry dock at Chatham in 1832. She was reclassified as a second-class paddle sloop before bring rebuilt as a 10-gun screw sloop in 1844-45...
and HMS Talbot.
As a matter of course, all captains who lose ships are tried by Court-Martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
. And so Belcher was tried by court-martial for abandoning the four seaworthy vessels, as were Resolutes captain, Henry Kellett; Intrepid 's commander, Francis McClintock
Francis Leopold McClintock
Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock or Francis Leopold M'Clintock KCB, FRS was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.-Biography:...
; and Pioneer 's commander, Sherard Osborn
Sherard Osborn
Sherard Osborn , was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer.-Early life:Born in Madras, he was the son of an Indian army officer...
. All were acquitted. Belcher, however, never received another commission, and was scorned by the officers of his Court-Martial when they returned his sword to him in complete silence. Resolute continued to move slowly eastward in the pack ice, and one year later in the autumn of 1855 she was 1200 miles away from the place where she had been abandoned. In September 1855 an American whaler named James Buddington, from New London, CT
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
saw the Resolute adrift in the pack ice off Cape Walsingham in the Davis Strait
Davis Strait
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canada's Baffin Island. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis , who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage....
. He split his crew and sailed her back to New London, arriving home on Christmas Eve. This was a welcomed Christmas gift for the families of the men who helped bring Resolute to her new home: Buddington's ship, the George Henry had preceded the Resolute and many were beginning to wonder if Buddington was still alive. The British government waived all claims to the ship upon learning of its arrival in New London.
The relationship between Britain and America was at a breaking point when Buddington salvaged Resolute. They were on the brink of their third war. President Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...
addressed Congress to say he had ceased to have diplomatic relations with Britain. He closed the British embassies and sent the ambassadors home. Tensions continued to mount. Suddenly one of the most vocal war-mongers, Senator James Murray Mason, from Virginia, proposed a bill in Congress for the government to buy Resolute, refurbish her, and sail her back to Britain as a present. The bill passed, authorizing more than $40,000 for the work, and President Pierce signed it into law. The Resolute was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...
, where she underwent a complete refit, and Commander Henry Hartstene USN, sailed her back to Britain, arriving at Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
on December 12, 1856. After Resolute was towed to Cowes
Cowes
Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
so that the Queen and Prince Albert could tour her, Captain Harstene presented the ship to Queen Victoria as a gesture of peace and good-will on December 17, 1856. Soon the talk of war ceased, and the gift of Resolute was seen as instrumental in the easing of these tensions. Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell was an American merchant and philanthropist.-Career:In 1818, Grinnell moved to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. He married Sarah Minturn in 1822. In 1825, Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell in Fish, Grinnell & Company...
, a New York merchant and shipowner who had grown up in New Bedford, had supported the purchase of Resolute to be used as the gift, and both he and Lady Franklin had hoped the Navy would use the ship for a new search for Sir John Franklin's expedition. However, by 1856 the Royal Navy was no longer willing to spend money on what they now believed would be a fruitless search. It was impossible to believe that any of the Franklin men could still be alive eleven years after they entered the Arctic. Belcher's abandonment of four seaworthy ships was the last straw. Nor was the Navy willing to let Lady Franklin use the Resolute for a privately funded search. Britain could not risk losing Resolute after the important role the ship had played in smoothing the turbulent waters between her and America. Resolute stayed in home waters until she was taken to the breaker's dock at Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
in 1879.
A gift in return
After the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria asked for several desks to be built from her timbers. Four desks were designed and made by William Evenden. A large partners deskPartners desk
A partners desk is an antique desk form which is basically two pedestal desks constructed from the start as one large desk joined at the front, for two users working while facing each other...
was presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
on 23 November 1880, while a smaller lady's desk was presented to the widow of Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell was an American merchant and philanthropist.-Career:In 1818, Grinnell moved to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. He married Sarah Minturn in 1822. In 1825, Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell in Fish, Grinnell & Company...
; this desk is now in the New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The museum, through its collections and exhibitions, tells the story of the international whaling industry and the history more generally of the "Old Dartmouth" area, the Southcoast of Massachusetts...
. Finally, the queen had two desks made for herself: a twin to the one given to the president and people of the United States, currently in Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
; and a writing table, which she had made for her private yacht, the HMY Victoria and Albert II
HMY Victoria and Albert II
HMY Victoria and Albert, a 360 foot steamer launched 16 January 1855, was a Royal Yacht of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom until 1900, owned and operated by the Royal Navy. She displaced 2,470 tons, and could make 15 knots on her paddles...
. This writing table is in the collection of the Royal Naval Museum
Royal Naval Museum
The Royal Naval Museum is the museum of the history of the Royal Navy in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Defence. Its current Acting Director is Graham Dobbin....
, Portsmouth.
A plate on the front of the desk presented to President Hayes bears the following inscription:
H.M.S. RESOLUTE forming part of the expedition sent in search of SIR JOHN FRANKLIN IN 1852, was abandoned (74°N 101.367°W ′scale:10000000") in latitude 74 degrees 41 minutes N longitude 101 degrees 22 minutes W on 15th May 1854. She was discovered and extricated in September 1855 in latitude 67 degrees N67th parallel northThe 67th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 67 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, about 50km north of the Arctic Circle. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia and North America....
(67°N 58.7°W ′scale:10000000") by Captain Buddington of the United States Whaler GEORGE HENRY.
The ship was purchased, fitted out and sent to England as a gift to HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA by the PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES as a token of goodwill & friendship. This table was made from her timbers when she was broken up, and is presented by the QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES as a memorial of the courtesy and loving kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the RESOLUTE.
President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
first placed it in the Oval Office in 1961. Some presidents, such as George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, have used the desk in their private study rather than the Oval Office. The desk left the White House from 1963 until President Carter brought it back to the Oval Office. Since then, former presidents Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, and the current president Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
have used it in the Oval Office.
Modifications
The desk has been modified twice. President Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
ordered a hinged front panel for the key hole opening in order to hide his leg braces. The panel was commissioned in 1944 but President Roosevelt did not live to use it: it was not delivered until 1945, following the president's death on April 12. President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
had the panel installed anyway to honor Roosevelt's memory. The panel features the presidential seal
Seal of the President of the United States
The Seal of the President of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the U.S. president to the United States Congress, and is also used as a symbol of the presidency. The central design, based on the Great Seal of the United States, is the official coat of arms of the U.S...
—one of only four in the White House that have the eagle's head turned towards the 13 arrow
Arrow
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...
s in the eagle's left talon
Talon
A talon is a sharp claw of an animal, especially a bird of prey, such as the eagle, hawk, falcon, owl, or buzzard. It may also refer to:Places:* Talon, Nièvre, a commune in the Nièvre département in France...
, as opposed to the now-official arrangement with the eagle turned towards the olive branch
Olive branch
The olive branch in Western culture, derived from the customs of Ancient Greece, symbolizes peace or victory and was worn by brides.-Ancient Greece and Rome:...
in the right talon with the 13 leaves.
The second modification to the desk was made under Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. President Reagan used a chair he had brought from the capital in California; it was tall enough that his knees bumped into the desk when he moved. As a result, the desk was raised two inches to accommodate Reagan and his chair; this was achieved by adding a separate, uniform base to the desk.
Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter
When president Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
took office in 1963, he found he was too large for the desk, and instead commissioned a plainer replacement which was built for him by the Senate cabinet shop. Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, who succeeded Johnson in 1969, used the desk from the Vice President's Room
Wilson desk
The misnamed Wilson desk is one of only five desks ever used by a President of the United States in the Oval Office. This Oval Office desk was used by only Richard Nixon and subsequently Gerald Ford after Nixon's resignation. The desk was ordered by Garret Augustus Hobart, 24th Vice President of...
, which he believed to be that of former president Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, who succeeded to the presidency in 1974 following the resignation of Nixon, followed Nixon's precedent. Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Ford's successor, brought the Resolute desk back to the Oval Office, where it remained until George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
had it removed, preferring the one (different from the Wilson desk) he used while serving as Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
during the Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
Administration. Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
subsequently brought the Resolute desk back again to Oval office, where it has remained since.
Obama
In 2009, the British Prime Minister, Gordon BrownGordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, visited President Barack Obama and gave him an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of HMS Gannet
HMS Gannet (1878)
HMS Gannet was a Royal Navy screw sloop launched on 31 August 1878. She became a training ship in the Thames in 1903, and was then lent as a training ship for boys in the Hamble from 1913...
. HMS Gannet was not a sister ship to the Resolute, as has been widely reported. Her only connection with Resolute was that the Gannet was launched from the Chatham Dockyard, which was the same dockyard where Resolute was decommissioned. Gannet was launched in 1878 long after the cross Atlantic slave trade was made illegal, and also many years after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Therefore, she was not used in anti-slavery work in connection to these markets. She did, however, patrol the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and prevented slave trade there. Mr. Brown also gave President Obama the original framed commissioning papers for Resolute.
Replicas
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs is the presidential library and final resting place of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. Designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates, the library is located in Simi Valley, California, about northwest of...
in Simi Valley, California
Simi Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Simi Valley had a population of 124,237. The population density was 2,940.8 people per square mile...
, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....
and Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia houses U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, include replicas of the Resolute desk. The desks at both the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park
William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park
The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park is the presidential library of Bill Clinton. The center was established by Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, is located in Little Rock, Arkansas and includes the Clinton Presidential Library, the offices of the Clinton Foundation,...
in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
and the George and Barbara Bush Center at the University of New England, Maine
University of New England, Maine
The University of New England is an independent, coeducational university with two campuses in Maine: the main campus in Biddeford and another in Portland.- History :...
were produced by History Company of Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
at the Kittinger Company of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. A video clip
Video clip
Video clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer recording. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...
of the desk in production can be viewed at History Company
A few independent museums also display replicas, including The Quality West Wing Foundation Museum in Corona, CA , a children's educational program focusing on U.S. government, history and the Presidency;http://www.qualitywestwing.org the Treehouse Children's Museum, in Ogden, Utah, which features a small-scale Oval Office; and a full-scale replica of the Oval Office open to the public at the American Village in Montevallo, Alabama
Montevallo, Alabama
Montevallo is a city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. A college town, it is the home of the University of Montevallo, a public liberal arts university with around 3000 students. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city of Montevallo is 4,825....
.
Popular culture
Replicas of the Resolute desk have appeared in many movies. The desk was a key plot device in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, in which a secret compartment in the desk contained pieces of a clue to the location of treasure. The film also features another desk made from HMS Resolute situated in Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
which was made for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
.
See also
- Bureau du RoiBureau du RoiThe Bureau du Roi , also known as Louis XV's roll-top secretary , is the richly ornamented royal Cylinder desk whose construction was done at the end of Louis XV reign....
- Henry VIII's writing deskHenry VIII's writing deskHenry VIII's writing desk was made in about 1525-6, it is a product of the royal workshops and is lavishly embellished with ornamental motifs introduced to Britain by continental artists...
- List of Oval Office desks
- United Kingdom–United States relations
External links
- John F. Kennedy, Jr. peeking out of "secret door" in Resolute desk
- Online White House Museum page on the Resolute desk
- The Resolute desk is at 38.89734°N 77.03742°W