Oval Office makeover: Biden removes Trump's Andrew Jackson portrait, brings in busts of Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks
The 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, got straight to work right after his inauguration on January 20, 2021, signing multiple executive orders to reverse the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Among the executive orders signed were those indicating that the country would reenter the Paris Agreement — a significant agreement in the global fight against climate change — and reversing Trump's "Muslim Ban." The changes in the presidency, however, were not just in the executive orders signed by President Biden, but also in the way the Oval Office was redecorated after Trump left the White House.
The Washington Post reported on the many changes in Biden's Oval Office, with one of the most prominent changes being that a portrait of President Andrew Jackson was replaced with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, which is intended to represent Biden’s interest in following science, according to the publication. This is also reflected in a moon rock that is placed in Biden's Oval Office. Trump's choice of hanging Jackson's portrait was decried due to Jackson's role in signing the Indian Removal Act, which led to the "Trail of Tears" and the deaths of many Native Americans.
Another significant change is the presence of the bust of Cesar Chavez, whose granddaughter, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, is Biden's director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Rodriguez had also worked in former President Barack Obama's administration. Chavez was the labor leader who helped organize farmworkers and turned their cause into a widely publicized movement — the inclusion of the bust is a nod to Biden's commitment to fighting Trump's immigration policies as well as the current president's support of labor rights, especially those of undocumented immigrants.
Other busts include those of civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, as well as those of former Sen. Robert F Kennedy and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Notably, Winston Churchill's bust -- which was placed outside the Oval Office during Obama's term and brought inside during Trump's term — was removed. The former British Prime Minister is controversial in some circles given his role in worsening the 1943 Bengal Famine in India which led to the death of millions of locals.
A significant addition to Biden's Oval Office is the painting, 'The Avenue in the Rain', painted by Childe Hassam in 1917. According to the White House History, the painting may have been inspired by President Woodrow Wilson's "Peace Without Victory" speech, which held the ideal of a peace that would leave no residue of bitterness, during a time when patriotic fervor was high weeks before the country entered the first World War. This and the paintings of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson placed side by side are represented “as hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy.”
Biden also added a personal touch to his office. In the table behind the Resolute Desk are photos of his large family, including his children and his grandchildren, who had accompanied him as he entered the White House for the first time as the president of the country.