An approximately 9 by 3 in (20 by 8 cm) wooden box housing a call button is present on theOval Office desk in theOval Office of theWhite House. This call button, also referred to as a valet button, is used to call aides to the President for various reasons. The modern version of the call button has been present since at least theGeorge W. Bush presidency. Earlier versions of presidential call bells and buzzers have existed since the early 1800s.
| External image | |
|---|---|
 The Working White House: Electric Call-button Box A c.1930 White House electric call button |
.jpg)
Before the mid 1800s, a series ofcall bells was installed in the White House and used as a form of staff communication. This system was followed by a battery operated device, used by the President, that could be used to call on staff. The White House was wired for electricity in 1891 allowing for simple wired call-buttons.[3]
An 1881 letter written by White House disbursing agentWilliam H. Crook refers to an electric bell attached to presidentJames Garfield's desk.[4]
Betty C. Monkman notes inThe White House: Its Historic Furnishings & First Families that the Treaty table, also known as theGrant Cabinet table, has the remains of a call button system still attached to it, but does not state when this system was used.[5]
In the 1889 PublicationHistoric Homes in Washington; its noted men and women byMary S. Lockwood a story is told aboutBenjamin Harrison's grandson pushing a call button on the President's desk. She wrote:
Did not little Benjamin, when alone one day in his grandfather's office, climb to his table, and by a touch here and there with his baby hand, set the whole force of secretaries, clerks and messengers on a chase to do his majesty's bidding?[6][7]
Lyndon Johnson had a series of buttons, or keys, to summon different drinks to theOval Office,Cabinet Room, and "Little Lounge" (a room just next to the Oval Office). In the Oval Office the keys were on the table behind the president's desk. The four keys were for coffee, tea,Coca-Cola andFresca; when pressed, a butler would fulfill the president's drink request.[8]
DuringJohnson's presidency he was known for having extramarital affairs, with whatRobert Dallek in his bookLone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times called aharem of women.[9]Ronald Kessler in his bookInside the Whitehouse describes multiple sexual encounters between Johnson and his secretaries in the Oval Office including one where his wife,Ladybird Johnson, walked in on Johnson and a secretary in the midst of having sex, leading to the installation of a buzzer system to warn him if Ladybird was on her way.[10]
Several presidents had buttons or switches installed in their desk in the Oval Office to start recording devices attached to microphones in the room. This includesDwight Eisenhower,[11]John F. Kennedy[12] andRichard Nixon.[13]
.jpg)
.jpg)
The modern call button sits in an approximately 9 by 3 in (20 by 8 cm) wooden box marked with a golden presidential seal[14][15] and has been on theResolute desk since at least the George W. Bush presidency.[16] According toRichard Branson,President Obama repurposed it to order tea for his White House guests.[17]
DuringDonald Trump's first term, when pressed, a signal summoned avalet who brought aDiet Coke on a silver platter.[18] At one timeWalt Nauta had this job.[19] Trump reportedly also used the button to request lunch, and to pull a "recurringbit" on new visitors to the White House.[14][20][21] Trump stated to one reporter that "everyone thinks it is [thenuclear button]"[22] and that people "get a little nervous when I press that button."[16]
Trump further conflated this button with the nuclear button with a tweet in January 2018:
| Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) tweeted: |
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
January 2, 2018[23]
Rachel Plotnick notes in her bookPower Button that the "sexual one-upmanship" in this tweet was quickly undercut by news outlets noting the only button on Trump's desk "summons the White House steward with a Coca-Cola (really)."[24]
In the first few days ofJoe Biden's presidency, it was reported that he had the button removed;[25][26] however, it appeared to return a few weeks later when a White House official toldPolitico that the button was back on the desk with an unspecified purpose.[16][27]James Corden has said that Joe Biden had an "ice cream button" on his desk.[28]
Despite reports that the button remained during the rest of Biden's term, following Trump'ssecond inauguration,The Wall Street Journal reported that the Diet Coke button was "back", with the purpose it had during his first term.[18]
Media related toOval Office call button at Wikimedia Commons
| ||||||||||||
| Executive Residence |
|     | ||||||||||
| West Wing | ||||||||||||
| East Wing (under construction) | ||||||||||||
| Grounds | ||||||||||||
| Annex | ||||||||||||
| Nearby streets | ||||||||||||
| Related | ||||||||||||
38°53′51″N77°02′15″W / 38.8974°N 77.0374°W /38.8974; -77.0374