More 1960s

Posted on by

I’ve added a few more photos of Lady Bird Johnson in the family quarters from the Life photo shoot in 1964. I had some already, but it’s such a rich and illustrative “visot” with the first lady, that I decided to add more.

8 thoughts on “More 1960s”

  1. For those of you interested in the use by various First Families of the same WH furniture (e.g., the Resolute desk and the Lincoln bed), I think the coffee table in front of Mrs. Johnson in this 1964 west sitting hall photo — http://whitehousemuseum.org/floor2/west-sitting-hall/west-sitting-hall-1964-w.jpg — is the same one used by the current president and GWBush in the Oval Office between the couches, see http://whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/oval-office/oval-office-c2006-nw.jpg

  3. Concerning the furniture in the White House (including the East and West Wings), is it common for the furniture to be moved from room to room like that? I mean … a table is a table is a table, so why would a table located in the west sitting hall end up in the West Wing (Oval Office). Also, when one president leaves office and a new one moves into the White House, are all of the rooms used by the President and his family completely cleared out and then the furniture to be used in each chosen by the incoming first family? Finally, I think the current decor of the Oval Office is great, so I’m hoping that President Obama leaves it as it is.

  4. The furniture in the White House which belongs to the government will stay where it is when the departing president moves out, unless the incoming president makes pre-arrangements for changes. An example: When GWBush was president-elect, he requested that the Clinton rug in the Oval Office be removed and that the Reagan rug be installed, before his initial arrival at the Oval on January 20, 2001.

    Incoming presidential families are advised to not bring a lot of their own furniture with them when they move in, because the WH has a warehouse full of furniture, all carefully inventoried and photographed.

    Furniture gets moved from room to room because a member of the first family, usually in consultation with their interior designer and the WH curator, requests the switch. No furniture is permanently assigned to any room, except for items in the first floor public rooms, such as the Monroe pieces in the Blue Room and the dining chairs in the State Dining Room.

  5. Since the topic of furniture came up I would like to point something out. We all know of the famous Resolute Desk dating back to 1880…but what about the “famous” clock in the Oval Office? It’s been there for many years…but who placed it there? Doing some research and looking at old photos of the OO, I found that LBJ first placed a large clock in the OO, however Nixon did not have one. Then it appears that Ford placed a clock in the OO,the same spot LBJ had done with his clock. Well the clock that Ford put in, it’s still in the same spot it has been all these years, with every President from Ford to Obama using the clock in the OO.

  6. “rich and illustrative ‘visot’ with the first lady…” Did you mean “visit”?

    Also,”The Elliptical Saloon”? instead of salon?

    And Mrs. Obama with the queen of “Jordon” instead of Jordan?

  7. Whoa! Can’t speak to “visot”, but saloon seems more appropriate than salon. Neither word means “office”, as in “oval office”, which, I understand, “ellipical saloon” replaced earlier this year. The background photo appears to be of the Blue Room, which certainly was and is used more as a saloon than a salon.

    As for the Queen of Jordon? I prefer to think of her as just little Lisa Halaby from the District, but I go back a ways.

Comments are closed.