Feet on the Antique Resolute Desk, Gum Chewing, Nose Touching: Barack Obama Demonstrates He’s “No Class Act” (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 6, 2012
Replica of the exquisite Resolute desk - this one is located at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, National Archives & Records Administration
About that old desk currently in the White House’s Oval Office… it is a remarkable historic treasure, the 19th-century “Resolute desk.” It was a gift from Britain’s Queen Victoria to Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes back in 1880. The desk was built from the timbers of a British barque-rigged ship, the HMS Resolute, hence the name of the desk. Queen Victoria had asked for several desks to be built from the timbers of the Resolute. Four desks were designed and made by William Evenden, of which one was given to Pres. Hayes.
From the John F. Kennedy Library, The President’s Desk:
President Hayes wrote the first note on it, a thank you to historian George Bancroft in which he wrote, “It gives me great pleasure to say that I do it in the first note written on the desk made from the timbers of the Resolute sent by Queen Victoria for the President.”
A plate on the front of the desk bears the following inscription:
H.M.S. RESOLUTE forming part of the expedition sent in search of SIR JOHN FRANKLIN IN 1852, was abandoned in latitude 74 degrees 41 minutes N longitude 101 degrees 22 minutes W on 15th May 1854. She was discovered and extricated in September 1855 in latitude 670 degrees N by Captain Buddington of the United States Whaler GEORGE HENRY.
The ship was purchased, fitted out and sent to England as a gift to HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA by the PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES as a token of goodwill & friendship. This table was made from her timbers when she was broken up, and is presented by the QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES as a memorial of the courtesy and loving kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the RESOLUTE.
The desk was used in the White House for many years, and was reportedly esteemed by President Roosevelt in particular. The desk apparently was moved during the alterations to the White House in 1952, and Mrs. Kennedy discovered it in the White House broadcast room and had it restored to the Oval Office.
Many presidents since Hayes have used the desk at various locations in the White House, but it was Jackie Kennedy who first brought the desk into the Oval Office in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy. It was removed from the White House for only one time, after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, when President Johnson allowed the desk to go on a traveling exhibition with the Kennedy Presidential Library. After this it was on display in the Smithsonian Institution. President Jimmy Carter brought the desk back to the Oval Office, where President Ronald Reagan, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush and now President Barack Obama have used it.
Knowing some of the history of the Resolute desk is of significance before viewing Granny Jan & Jihad Kitty’s latest video compilation — here, we can see how very reverently, how respectfully Pres. Obama treats such a priceless, 132-year-old antique desk that was a gift of goodwill and friendship from Britain to America. Included, too, in the video are Obama public gum-chewing and nose-touching occurrences. He even tells elementary school children that he has to “scoop the poop” of First Dog Bo — not the first time he’s shared that story. Classy…
Crikey, my mom wouldn’t let any of us put our feet on the furniture when we were kids — and none of the pieces in our house were priceless historical antiques.
Makes you wonder if Obama would use the back side of the Declaration of Independence to organize his March Madness picks…
Barack Obama Is a “No Class Act”
Video rewind of more POTUS “classiness”… This Obama nose-picking incident from the ObamaCare Blair House meetings in February 2010 wasn’t included in the “No Class Act” video.
About the author
Thanks. I even accidently left out one photo of his feet on the Resolute desk:
http://bit.ly/zU9hs3
It’s interesting to note that those were all White House photos. I can’t imagine what the photographer, Pete Souza, was thinking. I think I know what Obama was thinking.
With the campaign on now, these photos suddenly stopped. There haven’t been any new ones in months. Can you imagine what we’ll see if he is re-elected?
Janice