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Oval Office: Difference between revisions
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==Cultural history== | ==Cultural history== | ||
The Oval Office has become associated in Americans' minds with the presidency itself through memorable images, such as a young [[John F. Kennedy, Jr.]] peering through the front panel of his father's desk, President [[Richard Nixon]] speaking by telephone with the [[Apollo 11]] astronauts during their moonwalk, and [[Amy Carter]] bringing her [[Siamese cat]] Misty Malarky Ying Yang to brighten her father President [[Jimmy Carter]]'s day. Several presidents have [[Oval Office address|addressed the nation]] from the Oval Office on occasion. Examples include Kennedy presenting news of the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] (1962), Nixon [[SP 3-125: Richard Nixon's address announcing his intention to resign the presidency|announcing his resignation from office]] (1974),<ref>{{cite news|last1=Herbers|first1=John|title=The 37th President Is First to Quit Post|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/990808onthisday_big.html#article|access-date=6 February 2017|work=The New York Times|issue=9 August 1974}}</ref> [[Ronald Reagan]] following the [[Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]] (1986),<ref>{{cite web|title=Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/address-nation-explosion-space-shuttle-challenger|website=reaganlibrary.gov|access-date=11 October 2020}}</ref> and | The Oval Office has become associated in Americans' minds with the presidency itself through memorable images, such as a young [[John F. Kennedy, Jr.]] peering through the front panel of his father's desk, President [[Richard Nixon]] speaking by telephone with the [[Apollo 11]] astronauts during their moonwalk, and [[Amy Carter]] bringing her [[Siamese cat]] Misty Malarky Ying Yang to brighten her father President [[Jimmy Carter]]'s day. Several presidents have [[Oval Office address|addressed the nation]] from the Oval Office on occasion. Examples include Kennedy presenting news of the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] (1962), Nixon [[SP 3-125: Richard Nixon's address announcing his intention to resign the presidency|announcing his resignation from office]] (1974),<ref>{{cite news|last1=Herbers|first1=John|title=The 37th President Is First to Quit Post|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/990808onthisday_big.html#article|access-date=6 February 2017|work=The New York Times|issue=9 August 1974}}</ref> [[Ronald Reagan]] following the [[Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]] (1986),<ref>{{cite web|title=Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/address-nation-explosion-space-shuttle-challenger|website=reaganlibrary.gov|access-date=11 October 2020}}</ref> and George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11 attacks (2001).<ref>{{cite web|author=Michael E. Eidenmuller |url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm |title=The Rhetoric of 9/11: President George W. Bush – Address to the Nation on 9-11-01 |publisher=Americanrhetoric.com |access-date=2017-02-06}}</ref> | ||
==History, 1789–1909 == | ==History, 1789–1909 == | ||
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===Alterations=== | ===Alterations=== | ||
[[Image:OvalFloor.jpg|thumb|The Oval Office floor has been replaced several times, most recently during the administration of | [[Image:OvalFloor.jpg|thumb|The Oval Office floor has been replaced several times, most recently during the administration of George W. Bush. The 2005 installation, based on the original 1933 design by Eric Gugler, features a contrasting cross pattern of [[quarter sawn]] oak and walnut.]] | ||
Since the present Oval Office's construction in 1934 during the administration of President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] the room has remained mostly unchanged architecturally.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} More than any president, Roosevelt left an impression on the room and its use. Doors and window frames have been modified slightly.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} A screen door on the east wall was removed after the installation of air conditioning. President Lyndon B. Johnson's row of wire service Teletype machines on the southeast wall required cutting plaster and flooring to accommodate wiring.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} The Georgian style plaster ornament has been cleaned to remove accumulated paint, and a series of electrified wall [[sconce (light fixture)|sconces]] have come and gone.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} | Since the present Oval Office's construction in 1934 during the administration of President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] the room has remained mostly unchanged architecturally.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} More than any president, Roosevelt left an impression on the room and its use. Doors and window frames have been modified slightly.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} A screen door on the east wall was removed after the installation of air conditioning. President Lyndon B. Johnson's row of wire service Teletype machines on the southeast wall required cutting plaster and flooring to accommodate wiring.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} The Georgian style plaster ornament has been cleaned to remove accumulated paint, and a series of electrified wall [[sconce (light fixture)|sconces]] have come and gone.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} | ||
Though some presidents have chosen to do day-to-day work in a smaller study just west of the Oval Office, most use the actual Oval Office for work and meetings. Traffic from the large numbers of staff, visitors, and pets over time takes its toll. There have been four sets of flooring in the Oval Office. The original floor was made of [[cork (material)|cork]] installed over softwood; however, President Eisenhower was an avid [[golf]]er and damaged the floor with his golf spikes. Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-1960s with wood-grain [[linoleum]]. In 1982, President [[Ronald Reagan]] had the floor replaced with [[Quarter sawing|quarter sawn]] oak and walnut, in a cross parquet pattern similar in design to a 1933 Eric Gugler sketch, which had never been executed. In August 2005, the floor was replaced again under President | Though some presidents have chosen to do day-to-day work in a smaller study just west of the Oval Office, most use the actual Oval Office for work and meetings. Traffic from the large numbers of staff, visitors, and pets over time takes its toll. There have been four sets of flooring in the Oval Office. The original floor was made of [[cork (material)|cork]] installed over softwood; however, President Eisenhower was an avid [[golf]]er and damaged the floor with his golf spikes. Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-1960s with wood-grain [[linoleum]]. In 1982, President [[Ronald Reagan]] had the floor replaced with [[Quarter sawing|quarter sawn]] oak and walnut, in a cross parquet pattern similar in design to a 1933 Eric Gugler sketch, which had never been executed. In August 2005, the floor was replaced again under President George W. Bush, in exactly the same pattern as the Reagan floor. | ||
===Conservation=== | ===Conservation=== | ||
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File:Kennedy children visit the Oval Office, October 1962.jpg|[[John F. Kennedy]]'s children visit the Oval Office. | File:Kennedy children visit the Oval Office, October 1962.jpg|[[John F. Kennedy]]'s children visit the Oval Office. | ||
File:Richard M. Nixon and Bob Hope in the oval office. Bob Hope is putting into an ashtray held by the President. - NARA - 194433.tif|President [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[Bob Hope]] play golf in the Oval Office. | File:Richard M. Nixon and Bob Hope in the oval office. Bob Hope is putting into an ashtray held by the President. - NARA - 194433.tif|President [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[Bob Hope]] play golf in the Oval Office. | ||
File:Oval Office from above.jpg|View from above: President | File:Oval Office from above.jpg|View from above: President George W. Bush seated at lower left holds meeting. | ||
Image:Paul Kagame with George Bush March 4, 2003.jpg|Traditional hand-shake photo seated in front of the fireplace. President G. W. Bush at right, the guest ([[Paul Kagame]], President of Rwanda) to the left. One of the rare images where there is fire in the fireplace. | Image:Paul Kagame with George Bush March 4, 2003.jpg|Traditional hand-shake photo seated in front of the fireplace. President G. W. Bush at right, the guest ([[Paul Kagame]], President of Rwanda) to the left. One of the rare images where there is fire in the fireplace. | ||
File:P082914PS-0000 (15379615486).jpg|View from fireplace mantel: President [[Barack Obama]] from the back sitting near the fireplace with view toward desk, Rose Garden doorway at left, private study door ajar at right, and door to his secretary's office ajar at far left. | File:P082914PS-0000 (15379615486).jpg|View from fireplace mantel: President [[Barack Obama]] from the back sitting near the fireplace with view toward desk, Rose Garden doorway at left, private study door ajar at right, and door to his secretary's office ajar at far left. | ||
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| [[File:Clinton exhibit Presidential Library Little Rock AR 2013-06-07 023.jpg|100px|right]] Oval Office replica at [[William J. Clinton Presidential Library]]. | | [[File:Clinton exhibit Presidential Library Little Rock AR 2013-06-07 023.jpg|100px|right]] Oval Office replica at [[William J. Clinton Presidential Library]]. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | | George W. Bush<br />2001–2009 | ||
| [[File:OvalOffice.whitehouse.jpg|100px]]<br />[[File:President George W. Bush meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Oval Office.jpg|100px]] | | [[File:OvalOffice.whitehouse.jpg|100px]]<br />[[File:President George W. Bush meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Oval Office.jpg|100px]] | ||
| Ken Blasingame, 2001 | | Ken Blasingame, 2001 | ||