A look inside Biden’s Oval Office
 
President Biden has filled the Oval Office with images of American leaders and icons, focusing the room around a massive portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt that hangs across from the Resolute Desk. It is a clear nod to a president who helped the country through significant crises, a challenge Biden now also faces.
The Oval Office is synonymous with the power and majesty of the American presidency. All incoming presidents change the decor of the largely symbolic room to offer a sense of their personality and the type of presidency they hope to have. Biden’s is notable for the sheer number of portraits and busts of well-known American historical figures.
Some are paired, with paintings of former president Thomas Jefferson and former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton hung near each other — the two men frequently disagreed and were placed together to illustrate the benefits that come from differing views. Biden’s office said the paintings were twinned as “hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy.”
“It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president,” said Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations.
Busts of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy flank a fireplace in the office. Biden often refers to the impact both men made on the country as part of the civil rights movement.
A painting of Benjamin Franklin is intended to represent Biden’s interest in following science. The painting is stationed near a moon rock set on a bookshelf that is intended to remind Americans of the ambition and accomplishments of earlier generations.
The room also includes paired paintings of former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and a bust of former senator Daniel Webster, who forcefully defended the Union.
The window dressing behind Biden’s desk has also undergone a makeover. According to the Washington Post, Biden has swapped out the shiny golden drapes on display during Trump’s time for a more muted, darker set that used to hang during the Clinton administration.
Biden also looked to the Clinton days for a carpet, selecting the same royal blue rug with a bright red and yellow tassel design to lay underfoot rather than the sunburst floor covering used by Trump, which was actually designed by former first lady Laura Bush.
Biden is clearly a sentimental type, as he has filled the sideboard near his desk with framed photos of his extended family. The fact that these mementos are well within his sights while he toils away on behalf of the nation suggests he’s eager for all the inspiration he can get.
Source: washingtonpost.com/ realtor.com/