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5 unusual facts about Oval Office


Fresca

American President Lyndon B. Johnson had a soda fountain containing Fresca installed in the Oval Office.

James River Bridge

The $5.2 million James River Bridge was opened on November 17, 1928, by the press of a button in Washington, D.C., where U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, sitting in the Oval Office of the White House, sent an electric signal to lower into place the upraised lift span over the James River channel.

Merle Miller

In Plain Speaking, Miller quoted Truman as referring to General Douglas MacArthur as a "dumb-son-of-a-bitch" and quoted Truman as asserting that Dwight Eisenhower, his successor in the Oval Office, tried to divorce his wife Mamie in order to marry Kay Summersby, his English chauffeur and secretary during World War II.

Michael Noakes

He has also painted President Clinton, making preparatory studies with the President in the Oval Office - one of only very few painters to have been given such access to any President of the United States - and Pope Benedict XVI.

Rowan Nathaniel House

During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, several of House's works hung in the Oval Office as part of the President's desire to promote southern artists.


1947 World Series

The October 13, 1947 edition of Time magazine reported that President Truman, who had just made the first Oval Office TV appearance on October 5, 1947 and received the first TV for the White House, watched parts of the Series but "skipped the last innings".

A Child's Wish

Because Missy's cancer is terminal, she is visited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and she wishes to go to the White House and visit the Oval Office and hopefully see President Bill Clinton himself.

Abomination: The Nemesis Project

The cutscene also shows the Oval Office with a figure resembling President Bill Clinton, who has obviously collapsed and died while still at his desk—within moments after he signed and issued the written orders for the emergency response plan "Project Nemesis," which can be seen in a folder there.

Ariyanatha Mudaliar

For example Rahm Emanuel, the former White House Chief of Staff, was also described as the Gate keeper to the Oval Office.

Saad Hariri

On 12 January 2011, minutes after Hariri posed for pictures with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, the opposition parties resigned from the cabinet, as an objection for the inability of the government to take detrimental decisions, causing his unity government to collapse.


see also

Alexander Butterfield

Chief Minority Counsel, Fred Thompson, notably asked "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?"

Desk

The Resolute desk in the Oval Office has been used by many presidents, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Harry S.Truman and President John F. Kennedy.