The iconic ‘Resolute Desk’ on which many US Presidents signed some of the most important executive orders that shaped American history has been “temporarily” moved out from the Oval by Donald Trump and replaced with the C&O Desk.
US President Donald Trump announced on his social media group, Truth Social, that “A President, after election, gets a choice of 1 in 7 desks. This desk, the “C&O,” which is also very well-known and was used by President George H.W. Bush and others, has been temporarily installed in the White House while the Resolute Desk is being lightly refinished-a very important job. This is a beautiful, but temporary replacement!”
The C&O Desk was used by US President George HW Bush
The Resolute Desk was used by his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Before the C&O desk was used by George HW Bush, the desk was used elsewhere in the White House but the 145-year-old Resolute Desk has been central to American political history.
The Resolute Desk is the same piece of furniture on which Elon Musk’s four-year-old son picked his nose and rubbed it on the desk on live TV when his father was present inside the Oval Office along with President Donald Trump, addressing the media.
The Resolute Desk is made from the oak timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute. In 1880, Queen Victoria gifted the desk to President Rutherford B. Hayes. It has been used by nearly every president since, with the 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 before the construction of the West Wing in 1902. In 1945, the desk’s rear kneehole was fitted with a panel carved with the Presidential Coat-of-Arms, and President Harry S. Truman was the first to use this updated version.
The desk was first used in the Oval Office during the presidency of John F. Kennedy.