Janelle Irwin Taylor
It’s only been a day since Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, and already a lot has changed.
But it’s not just executive orders reshaping immigration and border policy, transgender rights or environmental regulation driving the overhaul. Trump on Inauguration Day also had staffers give the Oval Office where he will work for the next four years a major facelift.
The Wall Street Journal was given access to his redecorated workspace Monday, just a few hours after the inauguration.
One feature in what is perhaps the world’s most iconic office is a portrait of George Washington over the fireplace, sandwiched between portraits of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. On a table near the fireplace is a bust of Winston Churchill, the same place it sat the last time Trump was President before his successor, and now also predecessor, moved it. That’s all according to a viewing by The Wall Street Journal and its photographer, which documented the space.
Other changes include new silver eagle figures over the fireplace mantel, and Trump replacing the blue rug used during the Joe Biden term with the same neutral colored rug Trump had used during his first term. The Resolute Desk, as famous as the room where it sits, had to be partially disassembled to swap out the rugs, the Journal reported.
Another return to the Oval Office in Trump 2.0 is a sculpture called “The Bronco Buster” by artist Frederic Remington, which sits under the portrait of Jackson.
During Biden’s term, a bust of Robert F. Kennedy sat prominently near the room’s fireplace. Trump had it removed. A Kennedy will likely still be in the Oval Office, at least from time to time, with Kennedy’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. Kennedy Jr. has departed from his family’s prominent Democratic views to first run as an independent candidate for President before aligning himself with Trump’s populist brand of conservatism.
Also changed in the Oval Office, Trump returned military flags representing each branch of the nation’s military to the room after Biden removed them.
Staying put in the office is the Resolute Desk, which was a gift from Queen Victoria to then-President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. Its name derives from the materials for which it is made, white oak and mahogany from the HMS Resolute. The gold curtains in the office during Trump’s first term were never removed, and remain now for his second administration.
Elsewhere in the White House, frames were emptied of their contents awaiting Trump’s picks for the West Wing halls.
Also removed from Biden’s term is a portrait of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, heralded as an icon by modern progressives.
The inclusion of Jackson’s portrait in the Oval is no surprise. While other Presidents have honored the nation’s seventh President, Trump has expressed a particular fondness for him. Trump adamantly opposed removing Jackson’s likeness from the $20 bill to replace it with Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist famous for freeing slaves on the Underground Railroad.
And Trump is often compared to Jackson. Like Trump, Jackson pushed the limits of presidential power, expanding them in new ways. But Trump’s presidential crush on Jackson isn’t without controversy. Jackson was responsible for the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which displaced indigenous people from their tribal lands and has been widely criticized.
Another feature in Trump’s Oval Office is a reprisal of his valet button, which the President used in his first term to order up his beloved Diet Cokes.
The Oval Office is one of the few meeting spaces in the White House that Presidents can almost fully personalize. When Trump entered office for the first time in early 2017, for example, the wallpaper in the room was changed out, and remains today. The personalized features are meant to represent each President’s personal convictions and priorities.
It’s not always controversial. Both Biden and Trump chose to display a bust of Martin Luther King Jr., and both also included a portrait of Benjamin Franklin in the office, which Biden chose to signify his commitment to science and Trump opted to keep.
