Oval Office
When was the Oval Office as it is known today established?
Why is the Oval Office oval-shaped?
What are some personal touches presidents have added to the Oval Office?
What Oval Office tradition did Ronald Reagan start?
News •
Arguably the most famous office in the world, the Oval Office has become synonymous with the White House and the U.S. presidency. The reality is that the Oval Office as currently configured dates to the 1930s and has been the working home for just 15 of the country’s 45 leaders. The creation of the room and its evolution offer insight into the modern American presidency.
The White House before the Oval Office
The first president to call the White House home was John Adams in 1800. (At that time, though, it wasn’t officially the White House; it would pick up that moniker a century later when Theodore Roosevelt authorized presidential documents to bear the name White House, instead of Executive Mansion.)
During its first century as the presidential home and workplace, the White House was sorely lacking a dedicated workspace, with presidents working out of various rooms. Thomas Jefferson worked from a space that is now the State Dining Room, and most others created administrative space on the east side of the residence’s second floor in what is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom. It was Theodore Roosevelt who decided that the president of the United States needed a dedicated office. In 1902 he began the construction of what was intended to be a temporary structure on the west side of the residence. It housed the first official presidential office—rectangular in shape—which is now known as the Roosevelt Room.
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It was Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard Taft, who in 1909 undertook a further expansion of the White House, making the West Wing a permanent fixture and situating an oval-shaped office at its center, likely inspired by the existing Blue Room of the White House and reflective of the importance of the space. But Taft’s office is not the one people have become accustomed to seeing in photos of presidents greeting other world leaders. It would undergo another renovation, this time by Franklin D. Roosevelt, to create the Oval Office much as it is today.
Why is it oval?
Although George Washington never lived or worked in the White House, his design aesthetic played a key role in the shaping of its famous office. In 1790 Washington wanted changes made to the President’s House in Philadelphia. Specifically, he ordered that the straight walls at the rear of the home be removed and replaced with a curved structure. Washington believed that the semicircular shape would better accommodate formal gatherings where he could move around the room greeting his guests.
In 1792 James Hoban was selected as the architect to create the presidential residence in the new country’s permanent capital, Washington, D.C. (The national capital had previously been located in New York City and Philadelphia.) Hoban and Washington knew each other, and Washington’s favoring of circular rooms may have inspired Hoban’s design of the Blue Room, leading ultimately to the Oval Office.
The modern Oval Office
When FDR became president, he hated the location of Taft’s Oval Office, which had been rebuilt by Herbert Hoover after a 1929 fire destroyed parts of the West Wing. So, as part of yet another renovation, in 1933–34 he moved the Oval Office to a more private corner of the West Wing, in a space that had previously been used for hanging laundry. The location made it easier for FDR to navigate in his wheelchair. That spot, with a view of the White House’s South Lawn and a closer proximity to the living quarters, has been the workplace of the U.S. president ever since.
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The Oval Office is spacious, at 35 feet 10 inches (10.9 meters) in length and 29 feet (8.8 meters) in width. The ceiling, decorated with a medallion depicting the presidential seal, is 18 feet 6 inches (5.6 meters) high. The presidential desk—most frequently in modern times the Resolute Desk—sits in front of three tall windows, while a fireplace and seating area grace the opposite end of the room.
Like most office workers, presidents add unique touches to reflect their personalities. Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk that declared “The buck stops here.” Ronald Reagan kept a jar of jelly beans in the Oval Office. Beyond such novelties, presidents choose the artwork, draperies, and rugs that are featured in the office. Some examples of these choices include the following:
- John F. Kennedy reflected his love of the water with seascapes and naval paintings as well as model ships.
- Bill Clinton picked busts of his favorite presidents, including FDR and Abraham Lincoln.
- George W. Bush chose artwork reflecting his Texas roots.
- Barack Obama included two Edward Hopper paintings in his Oval Office.
Historic moments in the Oval Office
The Oval Office has become synonymous with the grandeur and importance of the presidency. When the president addresses the country from the Oval, it is almost always a serious, even historic, occasion. Here are a few such moments:
- In October 1962 President Kennedy tells the country that Soviet missiles have been detected in Cuba and their presence poses a risk to U.S. security. The standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union would become known as the Cuban missile crisis.
- In March 1968 an embattled Lyndon B. Johnson stuns the country by announcing, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”
- Six years later, in August 1974, Richard Nixon becomes the first president to resign the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal in a speech from the Oval Office.
- In January 1986, in the wake of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, Ronald Reagan consoles a grieving country and honors the astronauts: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’ ”
- On the evening of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush addresses a stunned and grieving country in the wake of that morning’s terrorist attacks.
- In July 2024, after an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, Joe Biden addresses the country on “the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics.”
Not all moments in the Oval Office are so serious, however. During the Kennedy presidency, pictures of Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr., dancing in the Oval Office or playing hide-and-seek in the Resolute Desk delighted the country. And in 1970, when Elvis Presley showed up at the White House with a six-page letter for President Nixon, the result was a hastily arranged meeting between the two and one of the most requested images from the National Archives.
The most routine of presidential duties resulted in one of the most touching (literally) photographs from the Oval Office. In 2009 President Obama met with the family of Carlton Philadelphia, who was leaving the White House after having worked on the National Security Council. As the family prepared to leave the office, five-year-old Jacob, in a white shirt and tie, had a question for the president. “I want to know if my hair is just like yours,” the child asked quietly. “Why don’t you touch it and see for yourself?” Obama answered, lowering his head to a height where the boy could reach it. When Jacob hesitated, the president encouraged him, “Touch it, dude!” White House photographer Pete Souza snapped a picture that touched people around the world. “I think people are struck by the fact that the president of the United States was willing to bend down and let a little boy feel his head,” Souza told The New York Times.
The tradition of the presidential letter
Being president of the United States is akin to being a member of the world’s most elite club. As with most clubs, there are traditions, including one involving the Oval Office that was started by Ronald Reagan in 1989 and continues to this day.
As Reagan prepared to leave office, he left a note in the Oval Office for his successor, his vice president George H.W. Bush. On stationery featuring a cartoon elephant covered by turkeys with the phrase “Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” Reagan scrawled:
Dear George
You’ll have moments when you want to use this particular stationery. Well go to it.…
Ron
The tradition of the letter has continued through administrations of different parties and during times of political upheaval and rancor. Most letters are short, expressing the shared mission and weight of the role. Most are familiar, using first names, although Obama’s letter to Trump was addressed “Dear Mr. President.” The historical cycle of the presidency plays out in the letters: Bill Clinton received one from George H.W. Bush and wrote one for George W. Bush. And even as Donald Trump has eschewed so many Washington traditions, this was one he adhered to. When Joe Biden entered the Oval Office on January 20, 2021, he found a note from his predecessor. Four years later, when Trump returned to the Oval, he found a note from Biden.