Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Simi Valley, CA
EXHIBITS: PERMANENT
Updated: July 2025
Posted: September 2023
As you peer into the room known as the president’s formal workspace, you’ll notice the desk. Made from the timbers of the 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, it was commissioned by Queen Victoria and presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. Now known as the Resolute Desk, it has been used by every president since Hayes, with the exception of Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that the wooden base appears altered. This is because President Reagan added the 2” base to the desk to accommodate his 6’2” frame and keep the desk drawers from hitting his knees!Each president decorates the Oval Office to suit his tastes. President Reagan, inspired by the West, added earthy colors, western art including a collection of bronze saddles, and, of course, a jar of jelly bellies for his desk! While at the Reagan Library, you will be able to view this full-scale replica of the Oval Office, decorated as it was during President Reagan’s presidency.
President Reagan’s inspirational can-do spirit was made clear by the two plaques he kept on his desk: “It can be done” and “There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
Replica Oval Office
Resolute Desk Replica
