Patterico's Pontifications

2/18/2008

Happy President’s Day

Filed under: Miscellaneous — DRJ @ 4:34 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

This is a good day for little known (at least to me) Presidential facts.

Did you know the oval office was first used by President Taft? An oval-shaped room was preferred by George Washington, who may have seen it as a symbol of democracy:

“On an early October morning in 1909, President William Howard Taft became the first President to walk into the Oval Office. Greeting the 27th President of the United States were silk velvet curtains and a checkerboard floor made of mahajua wood from the Philippines. Caribou hide tacked with brass studs covered the chairs in the room. President Taft chose the olive green color scheme.

The Oval Office was different from the office of President Theodore Roosevelt, who built the West Wing in 1902. Roosevelt’s office was rectangular. Taft relocated the office and changed its shape to oval, like the Blue Room in the White House.

Preferences for oval rooms date to the time of George Washington. At the president’s home in Philadelphia, Washington had two rooms modified with a bowed-end in each that were used for hosting formal receptions called levees. As his guests formed a circle around him, Washington would stand in the center to greet them. With no one standing at the head or foot of the room, everyone was an equal distance from the president. The circle became a symbol of democracy, and Washington likely envisioned the oval Blue Room as the ideal place to host a levee.”

There’s more Presidential info at the White House website.

— DRJ

2 Responses to “Happy President’s Day”

  1. CAN ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN WE CELIBRATED lincolns BIRTHDAY and WASHINGTONS birthday as seperate holidays?

    krazy kagu (a97175)

  2. Me! When I was in grade school, it was tons of fun to celebrate one week with Lincoln log cabins and the next with Washington cherry trees. Kids today have great lives but they miss some good stuff, too.

    DRJ (3eda28)


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