A hole was drilled in the top so phone cords could be threaded through the desk out of sight, and a lock was placed on the left hand drawer to secure a recording device located there.

[1] Since then the drawer has been signed by vice presidents Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Mondale, George H. W. Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, Mike Pence, and Kamala Harris.

Upon moving into the White House, the Roosevelts found the Victorian interiors crowded and dingy and generally too small for their large family.

[12] This refurnishing was done with the stated aim to "design and furnish the interior in harmony with its neoclassical exterior architecture, in order that it would not be subject to changing fashion.

"[7] These new furnishings were part of a widespread attempt to develop a national design identity which had been growing since the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.

Betty C. Monkman explained through the White House Historical Association that at this time, "Americans looked back to the nation's origins and an idealized past and sought representative antiques or reproductions of furnishings from the earliest periods of the country's history.

Colonial Revival furnishings and copies of English and French neoclassical styles were selected for rooms at the same time that a growing emphasis on lighter spaces and a reaction away from pattern in wallpaper, fabrics, and carpets—and from a certain busyness and 'artistic' clutter".

[15] The desk, as well as all other furniture in the Executive Office Building, was designed by McKim and built by furniture-maker A. H. Davenport and Company in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1903.

[19] The desk was the first one to be used in the Oval Office and remained in the room for twenty years, being used by Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

[21][22] The fire was noticed at approximately 8 p.m. by White House messenger Charlie Williamson, and immediate action was taken to save items in the building.

[22] The first things they saved were current papers, followed by completely clearing the top of the desk and removing the drawers which were passed through the windows to safety.

All of these valuable objects and papers, including the Roosevelt desk drawers, were left on the White House Lawn and guarded all night by 150 infantrymen from the local Washington barracks.

The fire was put out by approximately 10:30 p.m. leaving the executive offices, roof, attic, and floors heavily damaged and the press room completely ruined.

[25] The Theodore Roosevelt desk was brought back to the newly rebuilt Oval Office in 1945 by Truman, who placed a sign reading "The Buck Stops Here" on it.

[30][31] As part of this installation a hole was drilled in the desktop to feed phone cables through and a recording apparatus was concealed in the left hand drawer of the desk.

[18][3] The entire taping system was removed on July 18, 1973, at the orders of Alexander Haig, Nixon's Chief of Staff, due to its existence being made public during testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee two days before.

A tradition rose where each vice president signs the interior of the center drawer at the end of their time in office.

"[33] The following table shows the location and users of the Theodore Roosevelt desk from its 1902 installation in the Executive Office Building through to the present.