Oval Office

From Free net encyclopedia

The Oval Office is the official office of the President of the United States. Located in the West Wing of the White House, it was originally constructed in 1909, during the Taft administration.

The office features three large south-facing windows behind the President's desk and a fireplace at the north end of the room. The Oval Office has four doors: the eastern door opens to the Rose Garden; the western door leads to the President's private study; the northwest door opens directly onto the main body of the West Wing; and the northeast door opens to a personal secretary's office.

The grand concept of an oval room had not figured in the original White House. An oval interior space is a Baroque concept that was adapted by Neoclassicism.

White House Oval Office

Long Axis: 35' 10" (10.9m)

Short Axis: 29' (8.8m)

Height: 18' 6" (5.6m)

Line of Rise: 16' 7" (5.0m) the point at which the ceiling starts to arch.

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History

Image:OvalOffice-1.jpg

Neoclassical oval rooms did not often feature in American classical architecture. The "elliptic salon" was the outstanding feature of James Hoban's original plan of the White House. At the president's temporary home in Philadelphia, Washington had two rooms each modified with an apsidal bowed end, which were used for hosting the formal receptions called levees. As his guests formed a circle around him, Washington could stand in the center with everyone an equal distance from the president. The apsidal end of a room was a traditional site of honor, for a host, a potentate, or the magistrate in a basilica.

President Taft intended the Oval Office to be the center of his administration, and by creating the Oval Office in the center of the West Wing, he was more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency than were his recent predecessors. In 1933, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president, he had a new Oval Office constructed; he disliked the original central location because it lacked windows, as a result being entirely reliant on skylights. The new office's location at the southeast corner of the West Wing also allowed presidents greater privacy, being able to slip back and forth between the main White House and the West Wing without being in full view of the West Wing staff, a problem with the two earlier offices. Image:OvalOfficeBlueRug.jpg

Through the years, the Oval Office has become a symbol of the Presidency. Over the years, Americans developed an attachment to the Oval Office through memorable images, such as a young John F. Kennedy, Jr. peering through the front panel of his father's desk or President Nixon talking on the phone with astronauts after a successful voyage. Television broadcasts, such as President Reagan's speech following the Challenger explosion, would leave lasting impressions in the minds of Americans of both the office and its occupant.

The Oval Office desk used by many presidents is called the Resolute Desk, so named because it was built from the timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute. The Resolute was part of a 4 ship squadron sent in the early 1850s to search for famed English explorer, Sir John Franklin, who was searching for a Northwest passage to the Orient. The Resolute and one of her sister ships became lodged in Arctic ice, and after two full seasons, remained stuck. Following the second summer, the commander of the expedition instructed the crews of the two ships to board the two ships that laid outside the ice and sailed back to England. After their return, the commander was court-martialed for abandoning a seaworthy vessel, as the Resolute broke loose of the ice the subsequent summer and was found by an American fishing vessel. The Resolute was towed into port and purchased by Congress for $40,000 and refitted. The Resolute was presented to Queen Victoria on December 17, 1856 as a token of peace. The Resolute served in the Royal Navy for over 20 years following its return, and upon its decommissioning, Queen Victoria had two desks made from its timbers -- one sits in Buckingham Palace, and one was presented to President Hayes in 1880. Every President since Hayes has used the desk except Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. President John F. Kennedy first placed it in the Oval Office in 1961. The desk has been modified only twice, once under President Truman, and once under President Reagan. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the panel made famous by JFK Jr., in order to hide his leg braces and wheelchair. The panel was commissioned in 1944, but was not delivered until 1945, following Roosevelt's death and Truman's assent to the Presidency. The panel features one of three Presidential seals in the White House that has the eagle's head turned towards the 13 arrows in the eagle's right talon as opposed to the more common eagle turned towards the olive branch in the left talon with the 13 leaves. One seal is over the entrance to the Diplomatic Reception Room on the first floor of the Mansion, and one is in the cornerstone of the East Wing, which was completed in 1942. The second modification to the Resolute Desk was made under President Reagan. President Reagan, already a tall man, brought his chair from the Capitol in California, which was tall enough that his knees bumped into the desk when he moved. As a result, the desk was raised 2" to accommodate Reagan and his chair.

Since its original construction in 1934 under President Roosevelt, there have been four floors in the Oval Office. The original floor was made of cork, however, President Eisenhower was an avid golfer, and destroyed the floor with his golf spikes. President Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-sixties with wood-grain linoleum. In 1982, fed up with the linoleum floor, President Reagan had the floor replaced by the same contractors who had put the floor into his ranch in California with white pine and oak in a wagon-wheel pattern. In August of 2005, the floor was replaced, though in almost exactly the same pattern as the Reagan floor.

Typically, each new administration redecorates the office to the President's liking by changing the rug, the curtains, the paintings on the walls, and some furniture.

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References

Portions of this article are based on public domain text from the White House.
The NASCAR trailer where the rules are enforced is nicknamed the "Oval Office" by driver/commentator Darrell Waltrip.

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