# Have you physically ever been in the Oval office? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192 "2010-08-31T22:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/21 "2010-09-01T19:23:33Z")
Got to see lots of different rooms on a private tour. This was before 9/11; I suspect such tours are much harder to come by these days. I didn’t find that the office exuded any unusually power or anything. Kind of small actually, like a lot rooms in older building. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/22 "2010-09-01T19:31:26Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > February 1985. I took [this](http://www.suppersready.net/pictures/dc.png) picture as we were driving by in the bus… maybe they were just painting it. At any rate, I remember we couldn’t visit because it was closed. ☹ Oh, you didn’t get to go in the building at all? I asked because in '76 my 8th grade class went. We did take a tour of the White House, but a whole section (west wing, probably) was closed down due to some sort of upkeep. I was wondering if we were in the same class or something, but I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/23 "2010-09-01T19:38:35Z")
Yes, got to step inside the hallowed office and meet Dan Quayle, who gave me cufflinks! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/24 "2010-09-01T19:55:48Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yes, got to step inside the hallowed office and meet Dan Quayle, who gave me cufflinks! Probably because ol’ Dan thought they were a bit big on his wife’s ears … ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/25 "2010-09-01T21:16:42Z")
Closest I’ve ever been was when my family detoured through Washington and drove by the White House during a trip to Florida. That was a long time ago back when Johnson was President. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/26 "2010-09-01T22:58:51Z")
Never been in the Oval Office, but I have been to the White House in a non-tourist capacity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/27 "2010-09-01T23:06:53Z")
I went on the tour in Jan 73, but it did not include the OO. I do remember the Blue and Green rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/28 "2010-09-01T23:11:05Z")
Last year of Clinton presidency, a staffer who was friends of ours, led us on a personal tour of the West Wing. I have a great photo of my daughter at the podium in the press room. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/29 "2010-09-02T02:02:22Z")
I’ve been in the White House twice, once in 1988 and once in 1994. The tour took us nowhere near the Oval Office. I had no idea any tour did. I’m impressed anyone on here has been in it. Do they still do tours? I mean, did they start again after 9/11? ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/30 "2010-09-02T02:08:51Z")
You can get tours since 9/11. But they’re a massive bitch. A friend of my dads, when we lived near dc got us in when bush was out of town. I got to step inside the oval for a minute, not touch anything, and leave. It was pretty cool, thinking of all the other people who had been through that office. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/31 "2010-09-02T02:19:34Z")
I toured it during the Nixon administration. It was a standard White House tour, but we got lucky and they led us into it, as the president was out of town. I didn’t quite appreciate the significance of the event at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/32 "2010-09-02T02:39:33Z")
If you know someone that works in in the West Wing, they are permitted to give small groups of people tours. They are at night so that you don’t bother everyone. You have to submit identification information (SSN, etc) a couple of weeks before (if you are not a citizen, you probably won’t get in). They will take you to multiple locations in the West Wing with the obvious high-point being the doorway of the oval office. You can look in and stick your head in (somewhat), but there is a nice felt rope-like thing preventing you from going in (along with a friendly guard). Does that count? I voted yes. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/33 "2010-09-02T02:46:40Z")
I went on the standard tour pre 9/11, but I was a kid and only have vague memories. I’m not sure if it included the Oval Office or not but I seem to remember that it did. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/34 "2010-09-02T03:06:52Z")
No, but I know somebody who was once, and it was on some sort of business, not a tour. It was quite some time ago, and I honestly don’t know the specifics and wouldn’t say if I did. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/35 "2010-09-02T03:27:28Z")
Nope. I lived in the DC suburbs when I was young and I honestly don’t remember ever seeing the White House or any famous landmarks in person. I remember going with Mom and Dad into the city to buy beer. Knickerbocker in long necks. I remember going to the zoo and a Washington Senator baseball game. My father, an FBI agent working in Washington DC, got graveyard duty one week. The phone rang in the wee hours of the morning. The voice on the other end said: “This is the President”, and he knew right away it was Lyndon Johnson. I guess that probably works better than caffeine when you are trying to stay awake. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/36 "2010-09-02T06:58:57Z")
Wishing doesn’t count. I did sit in the Governor’s chair in Arizona when we toured the State Capitol in 3rd grade. Which is kind of like saying I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/37 "2010-09-05T04:10:31Z")
I’ve had the White House tour twice, in Aug. 1987 when I was a summer intern for my Congressman, and in Sept. 2000 when a contingent of my Civil War roundtable got a Lincoln-focused tour from a member of the White House Usher’s office, but neither time did I get to the Oval Office. I’d love to do so someday; so much history has been made there! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/38 "2010-09-05T12:58:10Z")
**Have you physically ever been in the Oval office?** No, and I’ve never been there spiritually, either. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192/39 "2010-09-05T21:08:44Z")
When I was a wee sprat, my dad was in Washington D.C. for several months covering what would turn out to be Clinton’s first election. During that time, since his assignment was so long, my parents flew me and my brother down to D.C. to stay with him for a week or two. We took the White House tour during that time. That’s as close as I’ve come. Failing that, I have visited Rideau Hall and attended a debate and a press conference (Canadians: know that room with the blue curtain and all the provincial flags you see on TV?) in the House of Commons. I was at the presser on business; I was also watching the debate on business, but it’s open to the public; and Rideau Hall was purely as a tourist. (The Prime Minister’s residence at 24 Sussex is not open to the public, nor, to my knowledge, is the PMO in the Langevin Block, not that anybody besides political dorks such as myself would be interested.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-physically-ever-been-in-the-oval-office/552192.md?page=1)