The Resolute Desk

The Resolute Desk

The Resolute Desk was made by William Evenden, at the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, England.

It was constructed from white oak and mahogany timbers, taken from the HMS Resolute.

The desk was presented to President Rutherford Hayes, by Queen Victoria in 1880.

In 1852, the ship ‘Resolute’ was part of a British arctic expedition to search for Sir John Franklin, who disappeared while trying to discover the Northwest Passage.

The ‘Resolute’ had been abandoned, after being trapped in ice.
American whaler George Henry recovered the ship in 1855 and Congress appropriated the funds to refit it.

It was sent to England as a gift in friendship, to Queen Victoria.
The Queen reaffirmed that friendship, with the construction of this desk after the ‘Resolute’ was decommissioned.

Original designs for the desk, featured portraits of Victoria and Hayes, along with side panels featuring arctic scenes, and British and American flags.

It has been used by nearly every president since, with the notable exceptions being Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford.

The desk was primarily used on the Second Floor of the White House, where the presidential offices were located prior to the construction of the West Wing in 1902.

President Franklin D Roosevelt, who used the desk in the Second Floor Oval Room of the private quarters, requested that the desk’s rear kneehole be fitted with a panel carved with the Presidential Coat-of-Arms, but he did not live to see it installed in 1945.

Following the Truman renovations of the White House, the desk seal was changed slightly, by having the eagle face to the right and it’s talon holding the olive branch.

Truman then had it relocated to the Broadcast Room on the Ground Floor.
It was used for a short time by President Dwight D Eisenhower, to conduct radio and television broadcasts.

The desk was first used in the Oval Office, during the presidency of John K Kennedy.

When President Lyndon B Johnson selected another desk for the Oval Office, the Resolute Desk became part of a traveling exhibition.

It then went on to the Smithsonian Museum, where it was displayed from 1966 to 1977.

In January 1977, President Jimmy Carter requested that the historic desk return to the Oval Office.

Since then, the Resolute Desk has been used by every president in the Oval Office, although President George H W Bush only used it for five months, before switching to a different desk.

It was returned back to The Oval Office, during the Bill Clinton administration, and has remained there ever since.