The most important room in the White House is the Oval Office. Here the President goes about his daily work routine: making decisions, signing bills and Executive Orders and meeting both with staff, Heads of State, and a multitude of others. The decor of the Oval office changes with each new administration, as each President brings personal mementos and favorite furniture or artwork, and each makes selections from the White House collection. For example, President Clinton requested thst a Childe Hassam painting, "The avenue in the Rain", hang to the left of the desk. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt first moved the Executive Offices to the newly constructed West Wing of the White House. The first "oval office" was built in 1909 and was situated in the center of the south front of the West Wing. It was occupied by William Howard Taft. When Franklin Roosevelt had the West Wing enlarged in 1934, he moved the Oval Office to its current location in the southeast corner of the wing. Adjacent to the Oval Office are Senior Staff offices, the Office of the Press Secretary and other press facilities, the Cabinet Room and the Roosevelt Room. On the ceiling of the Oval Office is a bas-relief of the Presidential Seal. Over the fireplace (which is the same mantel that was in the 1909 Oval Office) hangs a porthole portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale painted in 1776. The United States flag and the President's flag stand behind the President's desk. The desk, given to Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1880, is fashioned from the timbers of the H.M.S. Resolute. It was a goodwill gift to Hayes in recognition of America's successful efforts to rescue the Resolute after it was lost in Artic waters in 1855. Every President from Hayes through Dwight Eisenhower used the desk, but it was at the request of President John F. Kennedy that it was first placed in the Oval Office, in 1961. After being on exhibit for 14 years at the Smithsonian Institution, the Resolute desk was put back into use by President Jimmy Carter. The desk was also used in the Oval Office by President Ronald Reagan and for a few months by President George Bush, who later opted to use the "partners desk"(a desk with drawers on both the front and back which could be used by two people, sitting across from each other). On January 20, 1993, this historic desk was returned to the Oval Office for President Clinton's use. Also in 1993 a new oval wool carpet was woven for the room. A dark blue field centers a full-color Presidential Coat-of-Arms encircled by fifty white stars and framed by a gilt rope band nestled into a plain red band. The rug's border features green olive branches and gold laurel wreaths separated by red rosettes on a white field.
