I have heard a few years ago that when George Bush left the White House, he wrote Bill Clinton a letter congratulating him for winning. It was said that the letter was put into the desk for the new president as the old president was leaving. I have heard that this has been done for a very long time. I asked a few people about this, and no one heard about this happening. Someone said that each president gets to pick out their desk when they move in, so they cannot put anything in a desk when there is no desk. Does this tradition actually happen? If so, who started it?
I don’t know about that, but the desk in the oval office has one drawer that has been signed by every president for the last 135 years. I believe Lincoln was the first to sign it. Pretty cool, huh?
Uh, that’s not so. Clinton uses a different desk than George Bush did, for instance (Clinton’s was used by JFK, and I wouldn’t be surprised if George W. uses his dad’s desk).
When Gore conceeded someone did mention that there is a desk in in the office where he spoke that has all the VP’s signatures. That office is just ceremonial.