WHY IS THE OVAL OFFICE AN OVAL?

BY ABIGAIL CAIN

President George W. Bush Oval Office Meeting from Above, December 21, 2001. Photo by Paul Morse. Courtesy of George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum/NAR.

The Oval Office has served as the backdrop for some of the most iconic moments in 20th-century U.S. presidential history. It was there that Richard Nixon shook hands with Elvis and took a phone call from the moon; it was there that both Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy elaborated on their decisions to send federal troops to desegregate American schools.

In fact, the office has become so ingrained in the American consciousness that many assume it has been around as long as the country itself. That’s one of the most common misperceptions about the now-iconic space, says White House Historical Association research historian Evan Phifer.

“I’ve seen things printed that say, ‘Lincoln worked in the Oval Office’—and at that time the president’s office was actually on the second floor of the White House residence,” he notes. “Really, the Oval Office as a concept only dates back to 1909.”

A tinted postcard of the first Oval Office, made during the William Howard Taft administration. Courtesy of the White House Collection/White House Historical Association.

The distinctive oval design, however, can be traced back to the very first president of the United States of America: George Washington himself. Since his term predated the White House, Washington resided in a series of presidential mansions—one of which, located in the then-capital city of Philadelphia, was renovated to accommodate a particular political ceremony known as a “levee.” During these formal receptions, visitors would arrange themselves in a circle around Washington, who would then address each of them in turn. To facilitate these levees, the straight rear walls in two main rooms of the presidential home were rebuilt in a semi-circular shape.

The levee ceremonies, English in origin, earned Washington harsh criticism from many citizens of the young nation. The National Gazette decried the practice as “the legitimate offspring of inequality, begotten by aristocracy and monarchy by corruption.” Another writer claimed that, with his levee room, Washington “has exactly copied the style of monarchs…[and] has in short only differed from kings in wanting a kingdom, which his friends were seeking to provide for him.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson and his beagles, Him and Her, in the Oval Office. Photo by Yoichi Okamoto. Courtesy of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA and the White House Historical Association.

The levees would soon be discontinued by the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson, who took office in 1801. But the curved walls of Washington’s presidential home had already inspired architect James Hoban, whose winning design for the White House featured an “elliptic saloon” at the center. This oval interior soon became known as the “Blue Room” and originally served as a reception hall for visitors……

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