Nixon chose this desk for the Oval Office because of his mistaken belief that former President Woodrow Wilson had used it there.

During its time in the White House the desk featured a glass top which was placed to protect its work surface.

[5] The desk bears a property decal from the Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate and is numbered S-4966.

[6] Within the kneehole area there is a small wooden box affixed to the desk where a button was installed that allowed Richard Nixon to turn on recording devices.

[3] According to the book Presidential Anecdotes by Paul F. Boller, Nixon enjoyed working in the Oval Office with his feet propped up on the Wilson desk and, in spite of the glass cover, Nixon's "...heels began leaving scars on the top of it.

"[7] Someone at the White House noticed the marring of the historic desk and, while Nixon was out of the United States, had it refinished.

[2] The furnishings either purchased or ordered by Hobart included Persian rugs, mohair carpeting, Neapolitan silk curtains, "a silk velour slumber robe" to match the velour cushions on his office sofa, a $600 (equivalent to $21,974 in 2023) floor clock from Harris and Schafer jewelers, and a large mahogany desk, now known as the Wilson desk.

Moses and Sons was, at the time, "the largest exclusively retail furniture, carpet, and drapery business in the nation.

[8] The Vice President's Room saw many ceremonial functions, caucuses, press briefings, and meetings during this time.

On June 4, 1919, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall signed the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on this desk, which granted women the right to vote, and in 1937 Vice President John Nance Garner set aside April 6 as National Army Day by signing a resolution on the Wilson desk.

She explains the desk, "was used in the Capitol for a great many years, then his office force went in together and bought it for him when it was declared surplus available."

Richard Reeves also states in his book President Nixon: Alone in the White House that Johnson had the desk shipped to Texas to use in his office there.

[14] James Davies, the gardener at the Johnsons' house in Texas, stated in an oral history of the office, within the 1987 Historic Structure Report of the building, that when Johnson was inaugurated as vice president a new desk was moved into the office, and a different desk was moved in when he became president.

[19] There were seven microphones in total installed in the Oval Office, one on either side of the fireplace and five located within the Wilson desk.

[20] A total of 502 tapes were recorded on these microphones, as well as two by the Oval Office fireplace, while the system was in existence, between February 16, 1971, and July 12, 1973.

During official White House tours, guides wrongly told of how Woodrow Wilson used the desk.

The assistant curator informed Cecilia Bellinger, a chief researcher in the writing operation at the White House, about the mistake.

[11] Fifty years ago, in this room and at this very desk, President Woodrow Wilson spoke words which caught the imagination of a war-weary world.

The redesign extended to changing out artworks, rugs, window treatments, and he even oversaw the removal of secret sliding door entrances into the room.

Walter Mondale was known to crawl under the desk with visitors to show the screw holes and other markings left by the controls to Nixon's recording system.