President Bidens farewell address

Dear Editor,

From the Oval Office, sitting at the Resolute desk, President Joe Biden addressed the American people for the final time – Wednesday, January 15, 2025.

I believe he spoke the truth.

To learn more about this historic desk, please read on.

In 1852, the Resolute was part of a British arctic expedition to search for Sir John Franklin, who disappeared while trying to discover the Northwest Passage. The Resolute had been abandoned after being trapped in ice. The American whaler George Henry recovered the ship in 1855 and Congress appropriated the funds to refit it and send it to England as a gift in friendship to Queen Victoria.

The Queen reaffirmed that friendship with the construction of this desk after the Resolute was decommissioned. The double pedestal partner’s desk, made by William Evenden, Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, England, was constructed from white oak and mahogany timbers taken from the HMS Resolute. Presented to President Rutherford Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1880, it has been used by nearly every president since.      

Source:  White House Historical Association

Eileen Z. Fitzsimons

Dodgeville, WI