C&O desk

Common card · No. 461669

The C&O desk is one of six desks used in the Oval Office by a sitting President of the United States. It is the shortest-serving Oval Office desk to date, used during President George H. W. Bush's term. Prior to his use, the desk had been used elsewhere in the White House. Built around 1920, the C&O desk is one of four desks built for the owners of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) by Rorimer-Brooks. Following a series of railway mergers, Clement Conger convinced Hays T. Watkins of the Chessie System to loan the desk to the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the United States Department of State at some point between 1969 and 1974. Conger later became White House Curator. In March 1975, he had the desk moved to the Oval Office Study. It was used in this room by Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. In 1987, the C&O desk was donated by Chessie System's successor CSX Corporation to the White House, making it a part of the White House collection. George H. W. Bush first...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Series: George H. W. Bush Presidential Photographs, 1/20/1989 - 1/20/1993 Collection: Records of the White House Photograph Office, 1/20/1989 - 1/20/1993, Public domain