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WILL PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA KEEP THE RESOLUTE DESK IN THE OVAL OFFICE?

Posted by hmsresolute on January 13, 2009 at 7:25 AM

This coming week President-Elect Obama moves into the White House. He has many important and world shaping decisions to make in the first months of his Presidency, but the one that concerns me is: will he keep the RESOLUTE DESK in the Oval Office? Very few presidents, since 1880 when the desk arrived from Queen Victoria have chosen to use it in this capacity. With its message of hope for change through peace, a message no less important today than when the RESOLUTE story took place, I hope he keeps it in the Oval Office for a daily reminder in these dangerous times, that enemies can become allies, or at least no longer be so deadly to each other, and live in peace. What do you think? SEE UPDATED BLOG: thanks for your comments!

Categories: PRESIDENT OBAMA KEEPING THE RESOLUTE DESK IN THE OVAL OFFICE

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6 Comments

Reply Elizabeth Matthews
05:18 AM on January 17, 2009 
From the Admiralty records at Kew in London. She never left Britain again after her return in 1856. She was used as a troop ship and training ship within British waters.
Reply Bev
03:24 PM on January 16, 2009 
Elizabeth, Thanks I do know better than to include "the". Thanks for the correction. How do you know it was not "HMS Resolute" in the East China Sea?
Reply Elizabeth Matthews
12:42 PM on January 16, 2009 
I like the way you think! I have faith in President-Elect Obama being the kind of president who will pursue diplomacy to the greatest extent that it can be used. Although the senator who actually put the proposal before Congress in 1856 for the US government to buy RESOLUTE and send it to Britain did not have the purest motivation in doing so, the gift still did the business and helped to bring Britain and America back from the brink of war. The peace dividend throughout the last 150 years has more than paid for the ship! I will have to see if there was another ship in the Royal Navy that carried on that name, but it is most definitely NOT the RESOLUTE that was in this story. Just a little foot note, we Americans have a habit of saying "the HMS..." which is understandable because we do say "the USS...". and it makes sense: The United States Ship CONSTITUTION, for example. With a British ship you can say "the" and the name of the ship, (The RESOLUTE) but one never says "The HMS" cause that would be saying "The Her Majesty's Ship RESOLUTE. It is a mistake I made when I first started researching the Royal Navy and a fellow maritime historian set me straight...Hope I have not offended you!!!
Reply Bev
10:04 AM on January 16, 2009 
I also hope President-Elect Obama will keep the Resolute desk in the oval office. The return of the "HMS Resolute" was the kind of diplomacy that I believe the president-elect will pursue with other nations. Warming relationships with other countries is essential and gestures like "HMS Resolute" can have far-reaching consequences.
As an historian I am studying the period from 1850 to 1861 in the China Sea when ships of commerce built on Long Island, New York traveled to China and then Japan. In one instance, the cabin boy on the bark "Mary and Louisa" mentions meeting the "HMS Resolute" in the East China Sea in 1859 as she was looking for pirates. Another possible connection?
Reply Elizabeth
05:06 AM on January 14, 2009 
I hope so too! I am hoping that being a democrat, he will think back on Presidents Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton, and want to carry on the best that those presidents had to offer the office and the country. I sent him a copy of the book, not that I think he will have much time for reading, but I made the case for keeping it in the Oval in my cover letter, which I do hope he or an aide WILL read!
Reply Barefoot47
12:07 AM on January 14, 2009 
As much as the President- Elect admires Lincoln I would hope that he embraces history and keeps the Resolute desk in the Oval office. To me it is beyond history, it is the essence of the bond between Britian and the US. I think he will keep it! Paula

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