The decorative touches in President Biden’s Oval Office reflect a more liberal circle of friends.
In an exclusive tour offered to the Washington Post, reporter Annie Linskey observed the new flourishes designed to honor liberal leaders. Reporter Matt Viser shared photos of the newly redecorated Oval Office in a tweet Wednesday evening.
For instance, one change is a large portrait of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt gracing the wall opposite the Resolute Desk.
A quick redesign of the Oval Office for President Biden:
– Busts of MLK and RFK flank a fireplace in the office.
– Large portrait of FDR
– Paintings of Jefferson and Hamilton
– Clinton’s draps and blue rug @AnnieLinskey with the details:https://t.co/ipK3g5OtDZ pic.twitter.com/1NzNhFHWyE— Matt Viser (@mviser) January 20, 2021
“It is a clear nod to a president who helped the country through significant crises, a challenge Biden now also faces,” Linskey noted.
A bust of Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor, as well as civil rights icon Rosa Parks and labor leader Cesar Chavez, surround the large portrait.
“Biden is … nodding to segments of the Democratic Party’s base via [these] historic references,” Linskey concluded.
Still, evoking his pledge to be a “unifying” force, Biden paired portraits of noted historic rivals President Thomas Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, signifying his openness to hearing opposing views.
“[The portraits are] hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy,” Biden’s office said.
Not seen in Biden’s Oval Office was the bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Former President Donald Trump returned the tribute to the Oval Office after his predecessor, President Barack Obama, stoked controversy when he moved it to the Treaty Room in his private residence. Obama cited aesthetics as the motivation for the change. “There are only so many tables where you can put busts. Otherwise, it starts looking a little cluttered,” he said.
Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations, said that the pieces were chosen to foreshadow how the nation’s 46th president will make decisions going forward.
“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,” she explained.
