Presidential Pens

Kamakura Fountain Pens

One artifact that tends to stay in the oval office as new presidents come and go is the Resolute desk that Queen Victoria gave to President Rutherford B. Hayes.

The Resolute desk, which was made from the timbers of H.M.S. Resolute, an abandoned British ship discovered by an American vessel and returned to the Queen of England as a token of friendship and goodwill. When the ship was retired, Queen Victoria commissioned the desk and presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.

The desk has twice been modified from the original 1880 version. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be fitted with a panel carved with the Presidential coat-of-arms, but he did not live to see it installed in 1945. President Ronald Reagan requested it be raised on a 2" base to accommodate his 6'2" frame.

Every president since Hayes, except Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford, has used the Resolute desk. The desk was made famous by a photograph of President John F. Kennedy at work while his son, John Jr., peeked out from behind the kneehole panel.

AT Cross supplied the new president's favorite Townsend midnight blue Lacquer Selectip pens. The pens were engraved with President Bush's signature on the cap and the Presidential seal on the clip. These rest on Hayes's desktop along with framed portraits of Bush's parents, wife and children. Upon taking office, President Bush signed a series of executive orders and inaugural documents with these pens.