AGENCY
Washington, Jan 21
As US President Donald Trump returns for his second term in the White House, has reinstated a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office after the redecoration.
The 47th president reinstalled the bust on a side table on the right-hand side of his fireplace on the first day following his inauguration at the Capitol Rotunda on Monday (Jan 20), according to a photograph by the Wall Street Journal. The statue was removed by former president Joe Biden in 2021.
The bronze bust of the former British prime minister Winston Churchill was sculpted by British-American Sir Jacob Epstein. It was first gifted to the White House by the British government in 2001 during the presidency of George Bush, who placed it for display in the Oval Office.
The statue has been a point of contention between the British leaders and Democratic presidents, who have repeatedly moved it from the Oval Office to somewhere else in the White House complex.
In 2008, Barack Obama created controversy when he moved the bust outside the White House’s Treaty Room after assuming the office.
His act was condemned by British Boris Johnson, while the Mayor of London said his decision was motivated by an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire.”
Trump returned the bust to the Oval Office in 2017 during his first term in the White House, however, it was once again removed by Biden in 2021.
Biden replaced the Churchill bust with the busts of Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez, an American trade unionist and civil rights activist.
During Biden’s term, Johnson had been elected as the British prime minister and his administration said that it was “up to the president to decorate as he wishes”, according to the Telegraph.
The bust has now been placed in the Oval Office by Trump during the redesigning.
Apart from the Churchill bust, Trump brought back several items back to the Oval Office from his first term.Trump reinstalled the red-coloured “Diet Coke button” on the Resolute Desk. He uses the button to summon a butler, who brings him a glass of his favourite drink–Diet Coke.
The walls of the office consist of portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Jackson.
Trump also kept the portrait of Benjamin Franklin, which was brought in by Biden, but he removed one of Franklin D Roosevelt. He has also reinstalled the flags for each brand of the military.
Other items brought in by President Trump include silver eagle figurines on the fireplace mantel and a square paperweight emblazoned with his name.
The blue carpet was removed and a one with warmer neutral tone was placed to complement the gold curtains, which were not changed by Biden from Trump’s first term.
