.jpg) The C&O desk in the Oval Office duringGeorge H. W. Bush's presidency | |
| Designer | Rorimer-Brooks |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1920 |
| Materials | Walnut |
| Style / tradition | Partners desk |
TheC&O desk is one ofsix desks ever used in theOval Office by a sittingPresident of the United States. It is the shortest-serving Oval Office desk to date, used during PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush's term. Prior to his use, the desk had been used elsewhere in the White House.
Built around 1920, the C&O desk is one of four desks built for the owners of theChesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) byRorimer-Brooks. Following a series of railway mergers,Clement Conger convinced Hays T. Watkins of theChessie System to loan the desk to theDiplomatic Reception Rooms at theUnited States Department of State at some point between 1969 and 1974. Conger later becameWhite House Curator. In March 1975, he had the desk moved to theOval Office Study. It was used in this room by PresidentsGerald Ford,Jimmy Carter, andRonald Reagan. In 1987, the C&O desk was donated by Chessie System's successorCSX Corporation to theWhite House, making it a part of the White House collection.
George H. W. Bush first had the C&O desk moved to his office in the White House, then theExecutive Residence, and finally the Oval Office. All presidents since then have used theResolute desk, thoughDonald Trump temporarily used the C&O desk from February to March 2025 while theResolute desk was refurbished.
TheGeorge H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, inCollege Station, Texas, houses a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, including a replica of the C&O desk.
The C&O desk, constructed around 1920, is awalnut reproduction of an eighteenth-centuryChippendale doublepedestal desk, also known as apartners desk.[1] The desk features an inverted breakfront form and each of the two pedestals isveneered withburlwood and contains three graduated drawers on each of the two faces.[1][2] The narrow desktop consists of a narrowfrieze tier of drawers recessed back from the rest of the furniture piece, and the whole desk sits on bracket feet.[1] The top of the desk is inlaid with burledmaple.[3]
In 1930, theVan Sweringen brothers, Oris Paxton (O.P.) Van Sweringen and Mantis James (M.J.) Van Sweringen, completed construction ofTerminal Tower, a 52-story, 708-foot tall skyscraper built overUnion Terminal inCleveland, Ohio. The tower, built at virtually the same time as theChrysler Building and theEmpire State Building, was designed in a much more conservative,Beaux-Arts style than other towers of the time period. It took a decade to complete. This conservative styling extended to the interiors of the building with the Van Sweringen brothers constructing lavish offices on the 36th floor of the building in an old-world English style.[4]
Featuring suites paneled inoak imported fromSherwood Forest, the rooms were filled with furniture pieces designed and built in a variety of historic English styles by Rorimer-Brooks.Louis Rorimer, the sole head of Rorimer-Brooks, was a Cleveland-based interior designer known for his knowledge of art and architectural history.[5] In 1957, Rorimer-Brooks's records were destroyed by Irvin and Co. who had acquired the company.[6]
Rorimer-Brooks designed and built matching walnut partners desks for the offices on the 36th floor of Terminal Tower, the Van Sweringen's executive offices.[5] Around 1920, four matching desks were made for this floor of the tower, one for each office.[7][8][9] The four offices, and the four matching desks, originally were used by O.P. Van Sweringen, M.J. Van Sweringen, C. L. Bradley, and D. S. Barret Jr.[4]
The Van Sweringen brothers built a vast tangle of real estate andrailroad holdings, including theChesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). This all came crashing down with the onset of theGreat Depression. In May 1935, the Van Sweringen empire collapsed when they had to use all of their cash and equity to pay off creditors. Both of the brothers died shortly after, with M.J. dying on December 12, 1935, and O.P. dying on November 23, 1936.[4] After the deaths of the brothers, the C&O offices remained in Terminal Tower.[10] The desks remained in the four rooms and were used by C&O ChairmanCyrus Eaton, the railroad president, the president's key associate, and one was set aside for visiting dignitaries.[7]
During the 1950s the new headquarters of theUnited States Department of State were planned and constructed at what is now called theHarry S Truman Building.Clement Conger, then an Assistant Chief of Protocol, recommended that a large area of the building be set aside forDiplomatic Reception Rooms as hotels and clubs had to be used for entertaining and receptions by the Vice President and Cabinet members as they could not use the spaces in the White House.[11]
Funds were appropriated by Congress to build these sixteen rooms but no funds were set aside for furnishings or interior decoration. Opening with their first official event in January 1961, the rooms "looked like a 1950s motel: exterior walls made of floor-to-ceiling plate glass with exposed steel beams, openings without doors, support beams encased in fire-proofing material set out three feet from the walls, wall-to-wall carpeting on concrete floors, and acoustical-tile ceilings throughout" according to Conger.[11]
After Conger gave a tour of the space to Mary Caroline Pratt Herter, wife of then-Secretary of StateChristian Herter, who was hosting the first event in the rooms, Mrs. Herter began to cry due to the quality of the rooms. Conger explained that, after this interaction, he, "offered then to run a public campaign to furnish the rooms in a manner befitting America's heritage."[11] Conger founded theOffice of Fine Arts in the State Department and after their first meeting on March 22, 1961, began acquiring furniture and objects to decorate the Diplomatic Rooms purely through donations. The only government funds were spent on salaries and office expenses.[11]
Because no federal funds were used to decorate the spaces Conger was creative in how he acquired pieces for the collection. Conger explains, "Early on, I learned that collectors overcollect and that the Diplomatic Reception Rooms are attractive homes for a family's superabundance of objects. One of my best methods for acquiring needed pieces has been to ask for them on loan. Once people see such pieces in place, they want to demonstrate their commitment to the nation and to international diplomacy by donating their possessions or by making a purchase possible at a reasonable price."[11] One of the objects collected in this manner was what we now call the C&O desk.
In 1963, the C&O acquired the Baltimore and Ohio forming a conglomerate called theChessie System.[10] According to a document listing objects loaned to the White House between 1969 and 1974, Hays T. Watkins of the Chessie System loaned the C&O desk to the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.[8] Watkins recalled Conger's attempt to get the desk in his memoir,Just call me Hays. Watkins recalls,[7]
... Clement Conger, curator of the White House at the time, was in Cleveland and saw our offices. He spotted my desk and said, "I've been looking for a desk for the President's private study just like that. Would you give it to us?" I said, "No." Then he asked if we would sell it to them? Again, I declined. "Well," he said, "would you loan it to us so we could use it for a while?" I said, "For how long?" He said, "Indefinitely." After talking with the board, we agreed.
The desk was subsequently loaned to the White House at some point between 1969 and 1974.[8]
(Gerald_Ford_Library)_(cropped)2.jpg)
In March 1975, Conger, who had by then become theWhite House Curator, placed the C&O desk in theOval Office Study. He wrote a memo toGerald Ford noting the new historic items recently placed in the room including the desk, which was still on loan.[12] Presidents Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter, andRonald Reagan all used the desk in this room just next to theOval Office.[2]
After a series of mergers, the newly named Chessie System merged withSeaboard Coast Line Industries in November 1980, to form the newCSX Corporation.[13] CSX kept the Van Sweringen brothers' offices in Terminal Tower until vacating them in 1986.[14] In 1987, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the C&O desk was donated by the CSX Corporation to the White House.[1]
On May 2, 1985, the desk was moved from the Oval Office study to then-Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush's main work space in the White House, where he started using it.Marlin Fitzwater,White House Press Secretary under both presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, said that Bush found the desk comfortable and attractive.[9]
After George H. W. Bush's presidential inauguration on January 20, 1989, the C&O desk was used in the residential portion of the White House. On June 13, 1989, it was moved into the newly decorated Oval Office.[9] TheResolute desk, the Oval Office desk removed for the C&O, was placed briefly in the White House storage room,[9] but was ultimately placed in theTreaty Room (which Bush used as an ancillary office) for most of his presidency.[15]
Doro Bush Koch, one of George Bush's children, wrote that Bush chose to use the C&O desk due to a perceived tradition.Lyndon B. Johnson chose not to use the Resolute desk after Kennedy's assassination and instead moved the desk he used as vice president to the Oval Office. Koch inaccurately claims thatRichard Nixon and Gerald Ford also brought their vice-presidential desks to the Oval Office.[15] In actuality, Ford had retained Nixon's presidential desk, theWilson Desk.[16]
Presidents that placed the Resolute Desk in their Oval Office, such as Jimmy Carter, had never been a vice president. Therefore, Koch claims that Bush brought his vice-presidential desk as a way to continue what he perceived to be a tradition.[15] This perceived tradition was not followed by the next one-time vice president to assume the presidency, withJoe Biden opting to use the Resolute Desk in his Oval Office.[17]
On the desk Bush kept a pencil holder with a smallAmerican flag. This flag was given to him in 1989 by a nineteen-year-oldArmy Ranger at aSan Antonio hospital who lost both an arm and a leg during theUnited States invasion of Panama that year. Bush kept the flag prominently displayed as a reminder of the sacrifices soldiers make. When dignitaries from other countries visited the Oval Office, Bush asked that a small flag from their country be displayed in the pencil cup as well.[15]
.jpg)
Bush was defeated byBill Clinton in the1992 United States presidential election. Before leaving office on January 20, 1993, Bush wrote a note to Clinton and left it on his desk in the Oval Office. This note continued a tradition where outgoing presidents leave private messages to incoming presidents on the Oval Office desk, which was started by Bush's predecessor Reagan.[18][19] Clinton moved theResolute desk back into the Oval Office for his presidency.[20] The C&O Desk remained as part of the White House collection after Bush left office, according to Jay Patton, the supervisory curator of theGeorge H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.[21]
In February 2025, Donald Trump temporarily returned the desk to the Oval Office while theResolute desk underwent refinishing.[22] This switch of desks was announced in the followingTruth Social post by Donald Trump:
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![23]
The desk was in the Oval Office for roughly a month before theResolute desk returned in mid-March.[citation needed]
The location of the desk from its construction to present day and each tenant of the desk:
| Tenant | Location | Dates | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Sweringen brothers offices | Terminal Tower 36th floor Cleveland, Ohio | 1930 – sometime between 1969 and 1974 | [5] |
| Chesapeake and Ohio Railway offices | |||
| Chessie System offices | |||
| United States Department of State | Diplomatic Reception Rooms,Harry S Truman Building Washington, DC | sometime between 1969 and 1974 – 1975 | [8] |
| Gerald Ford | Oval Office Study White House | 1975–1985 | [12][2] |
| Jimmy Carter | |||
| Ronald Reagan | |||
| George H. W. Bush | Vice President's Office White House | 1985–1989 | [9] |
| White House Residence | 1989 | [9] | |
| Oval Office White House | 1989–1993 | [9] | |
| None | White House collection | 1993–2025 | [21] |
| Donald Trump | Oval Office White House | 2025 | [24] |
| None | White House collection | 2025–present | [21] |
A replica of the C&O desk is located in theGeorge Bush Presidential Library, inCollege Station, Texas, as a part of a full-scale replica of the Oval Office furnished as it was during Bush's presidency.[25] This Oval Office replica was not original to the museum but was added approximately ten years after its creation. According to Warren Finch, director of the library, Bush thought such replicas were boring, as every other presidential library had one. When the replica was finally added it became one of the most popular displays in the library.[26]
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
Media related toC&O desk at Wikimedia Commons