Political Decorating and Branding: A Historical Retrospective of the oval office Interiors from 1934 to 2010

Abstract

The Oval Office, the White House locus of the president's formal office, is one of the most well–known interiors in the world. It is part of a living museum, where rules and tradition often dictate the placement of furniture and objects, yet the décor changes as each president and spouse guide its decoration in their attempts to create or reinforce a particular political identity as a part of a strategy referred to as political branding. This paper will examine the Oval Office for over 76 years and will discuss the manner in which décor and politics have joined and created four patterns established in this research as branding strategies over time. This particular time period was chosen because it covers the inception of the Oval Office in its permanent location through the present. The methodology of this paper is qualitative. Each of the 13 presidential administrations’ use of furniture, color, window treatments, rugs, and emblems is examined to reveal the four patterns identified in this research as branding strategies. These four branding strategies are classified as either symbolic, static, personal or expunged, and propose a new framework to view the décor of the 13 Oval Offices.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbot

J. A.

(2006). Jansen. New York: Acanthus Press.

Abbot

J. A.

, & Rice

E. M.

(1998). Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House restoration. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Baker

(2006). Bush weaves rug into many an occasion; President uses his Oval Office floor covering as a metaphor for optimism and leadership. March 7, 2006, p. A15.

Benac

(1993). Clinton's officer: Symbols of America redecorated Oval Office includes rug with 13 colors, A Tribute to Original Colonies. September 4, p. C28.

Burros

(1994). A visit to the White House. House Beautiful, 136(3), 108–114.

Carter

(1984). First Lady from the Plains. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Clarke

(2008). At home with history in the White House: The first lady puts her personal imprint in the residence. Architectural Digest, 65(3), 152–167.

Dowd

(1993). The new Oval Office: Slight changes, but tidier. New York Times, September 3, East Coast late ed., p. A15.

Furnishings for President Hoover's Office. (1930). Good furniture and decoration.

10.

Green

(2008). Looks do matter: What will change look like in White House decor? New York Times, December 18, 2008, D1. pp. 31–41.

11.

Hales

(2006). For this Old House and Senate, it's makeover time. Washington Post, November 13, p. C1.

12.

Hersey

(1975). The President. New York Times, April 20, p. 246.

13.

Hess

(2008). What do we do now? A workbook for the president–elect. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

14.

Houston Chronicle. (1990). Bush pulls rug from under Oval Office. January 23, p. 3.

15.

Howard

(2010). Eco consultants take on the greening of the Oval Office. EcoInstitution, October 5, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.ecoinstitution.com/green–news/eco–consultants–take–on–the–greening–of–the–oval–office.

16.

Hufbauer

(2005). Presidential temples: How memorials and libraries shape public memory. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

17.

Iovine

J. V.

(2001). Oval Office: Room with a hue. New York Times, January 28: sec. 4, 16.

18.

Kennedy

(2011). This Museum Has a Lived–In Look. New York Times, March 15, p. C–1.

19.

Koncius

(1993). The courage to change curtains: Clinton's golden swags replace ‘bush blue’ in the Oval Office. Washington Post, April 8, p. T9.

20.

Koncius

(2010). Seat of power: A neutral tone is set for the Oval Office's new look. Washington Post, September 1, p. C.1.

21.

Krogh

, & Krogh

(2007). Integrity: Good people, bad choices, and life lessons from the White House. New York: Perseus Books/Public Affairs.

22.

Leaming

(2001). Mrs. Kennedy: The missing history of the Kennedy years. New York: Free Press.

23.

Lewis

(2009). The Great Lady Decorators: The women who defined interior design, 1870–1955. New York: Rizzoli.

24.

Monkman

B. C.

(2000). The White House: Its historic furnishings & first families. New York: Abbeville Press.

25.

Mukerji

(1997). Territorial ambitions and the Gardens of Versailles. New York: Cambridge University Press.

26.

Neilson

(2007). Interior Textiles: Fabrics, application, and historic style. Hoboken, NJ: WileySons.

27.

Newsweek . (2000). From sublime to subliminal. December 15, p. 6.

28.

New York Times. (1974). Ford refurnishes office to reflect informality. November 27, p. 16.

29.

Obama

(2010). Retrieved May 31, 2010, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first–lady–michelle–obama.

30.

The Oval Office. (2009). AmericanPresidents.com. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/oval–office.

31.

Parish

, Hadley

, & Petkanas

(1995). Parish–Hadley: Sixty years of American design. New York: Little Brown.

32.

Phillips

(2010). Oval office gets Obama makeover. Washington Wire, August 31. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/31/oval–office–gets–obama–makeover.

33.

Presidential Seal. (2009). Heraldica.org. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from http://www.heraldica.org/topics/usa/usheroff.htm.

34.

Rattray

(2009). The Resolute desk: A gift of peace. Our White House: Looking in, looking out. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/resolutedesk.html.

35.

San Francisco Chronicle. (1988). Private donor gives Reagan fancy new rug for the Oval office. June 7, p. A9.

36.

Sanger

D. E.

(2001). The new administration: The president: On the first day, Bush settles into a refitted Oval Office. New York Times, January 22, p. A1.

37.

Seale

(1986). The president's house—A history (Vol. 2). New York: Harry N. Abrams.

38.

Sidney

(1975). Subtle changes in the Oval Office. Time, January 13, p. 16.

39.

Sorensen

T. C.

(1973). Your Next President. New York Times, September 17, p. 33.

40.

Talbot

(2007). Brothers: The hidden history of the Kennedy years. New York: Simon & Shuster.

41.

Harry

Truman Library & Museum Web Site. (2008). Retrieved March 23, 2008, from http://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia.

42.

The White House. A Historic Guide. (1977). Washington, DC: White House Historical Association.

43.

The White House. The History of an American Idea. (1992). Washington, DC: White House Historical Association.

44.

Watson

R. P.

(2005). Laura Bush: The Report to the First Lady 2005. Executive, NY: Nova History Publications.

45.

Weaver

(2008). Change Is Coming … to the Oval Office rug. Gaurdian, November 5, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2008/nov/05/obama–oval–office–rug.

46.

Weidenfeld

S. R.

(1979). First Lady's Lady: With the fords at the White House. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

47.

Wheeler

(2009). Designing brand identity: An essential guide for an entire branding team (Vol. 3). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

48.

Whitcomb

, & Whitcomb

(2000). Real life at the White House. New York: Routledge.

49.

White House Historical Association. (2008). The Historic Guide to America's House. White House History (White House Historical Association), 3, 13–18.

50.

Yang

(2009). First read: The more things change in the office. msnbc. January 19. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/01/19/4435682–the–more–things–change–in–the–office.