Donald Trump has actually briefly eliminated the renowned Resolute Desk utilized by his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama from the Oval Workplace and changed it with the C&O desk.
Crafted from the once-abandoned British arctic expedition ship the HMS Resolute and talented to President Rutherford Haye by Queen Victoria in 1880, the Resolute Desk has actually been utilized by practically every U.S. leader in West Wing.
The Resolute Desk marks among 6– together with the C&O, Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover, Johnson, and Wilson– that have actually been put in the Oval Workplace considering that the space’s building and construction in 1909 as a sign of one’s presidency, together with offering a useful work space.
Now, Trump has actually exposed that the Resolute Desk requires to be reconditioned, and has actually rather decided to generate a “lovely,” albeit “short-term,” replacement.
” A President, after election, gets an option of 1 in 7 desks,” Trump composed on Reality Social on Wednesday, appearing to alter his figures.
C&O means Chesapeake and Ohio Train since the desk was initially constructed for the business’s owners. It was initially utilized in the Oval Workplace Research Study in 1975 before formally being contributed by the GSX corporation, a mass rail transit business, to the White Home in 1987.
” This desk, the ‘C&O,’ which is likewise popular and was utilized by President George H.W. Bush and others, has actually been briefly set up in the White Home while the Resolute Desk is being gently refinished– a crucial task. This is a stunning, however short-term replacement!”
Given that 1977, the Resolute Desk has actually stayed a company component in the Oval Workplace and utilized by every president bar George H.W. Bush, who went with the C&O Desk. Bush Sr is the only president to utilize the C&O Desk, marking it as the shortest-serving desk to date.
Other incumbents, such as Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan utilized the C&O desk in the West Wing Research Study.
Just 3 presidents are thought not to have actually utilized the Resolute Desk at all in the West Wing: Lyndon B Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, according to the White Home Historic Association.
The Undaunted Desk was initially utilized in the Oval Workplace by John F Kennedy in 1961. After JFK’s assassination in 1963, which saw Johnson ascend to the Oval Workplace, he chose the Johnson Desk.
After being retired, the Resolute Desk was then shown in the Smithsonian in between 1966 and 1977, when Jimmy Carter returned the Resolute Desk to the Oval Workplace.
Most just recently, the Resolute Desk was utilized by Democratic previous presidents Biden in between 2021 and 2025 and Obama in between 2009 and 2017. Trump likewise utilized the desk in his very first term in between 2017 and 2021.
The Independent has actually gotten in touch with the White Home for additional information.