Talk:Wilson desk

Wilson desk has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: June 2, 2021. (Reviewed version).

Wilson desk received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

A fact from Wilson desk appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 November 2011 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Richard Nixon chose the Wilson desk as his Oval Office desk because he believed it was used by Woodrow Wilson, but it was actually used by Henry Wilson, Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2011/November. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Wilson Desk.

Wikipedia

United States Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Home Living Low‑importance

	Housing portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Home Living, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of home-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Home LivingWikipedia:WikiProject Home LivingTemplate:WikiProject Home Livinghome articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

DYK hook

This is kinda' unclear. The article says that the desk was used by every vice president since Hobart since 1897. But Wilson was vice president in 1873. So Wilson didn't actually use the Wilson Desk? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.137.134.61 (talk) 12:57, 1 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wow that is kinda a major oversight on my part and a major discrepancy between the sources... i will look into this and adjust the article accordingly.--Found5dollar (talk) 14:18, 1 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Page 6 of the cited document in question, The Vice President's Room, states "The double-pedestal, mahogany desk is sometimes referred to as the 'Wilson desk,' an erroneous association with Vice President Henry Wilson." I think since the document is prepared by the Office of Senate Curator and the latest document in the whole affair, "In actuality the desk was not used by Woodrow Wilson, but by Vice President of the United States Henry Wilson, under President Ulysses S. Grant's administration" should not be asserted here. Safire was a political writer, not a historian; he might have misheard what was passed to him. Jappalang (talk) 02:35, 2 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The knee-hole extends all the way through the desk during its time in the White House a glass top was used.

Something wrong here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.103.145 (talk) 11:38, 26 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Watergate Tapes

The statement that the Watergate Tapes were made by an apparatus hidden in the Wilson desk doesn't cite a source. Weren't they made from the Theodore Roosevelt desk, which was in the Executive Office Building room 180, from where Nixon did most of his work? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.148.114.45 (talk) 18:41, 7 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hubert Humphrey's desk

Ive been tryign to figure out what desk Hubert Humphrey was using in the Vice Presidents Office since it was obviously so special that he moved the Wilson desk out for it. I found this picture that shows Humphrey in the office with the desk behind him. Anyone know if this desk has any other history? Is it even worth noting in the article? --Found5dollar (talk) 22:53, 3 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Wilson desk/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Eddie891 (talk · contribs) 16:51, 25 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Can review Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 16:51, 25 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

a property decal from the Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate, could you clarify what this means? What does the decal look like, where is it, perhaps?

This comes directly from this source. Max Friedersdorf tells Jack Marsh in a memorandum this number in an attempt to find the desk when the Senate was unsure of its location. I have researched trying to find an image of what these decals look like but haven't been able to find out more. If this feels like extraneous info I'm happy to cut it.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nixon was out of the United States, had it refinished. could you contextualize, perhaps when or why Nixon was out of the country?

The source of this antidote just says that "Once, when he was on a trip abroad..."[1] This additional ref only says it happened "during one of his absesnces"[2] Unfortunately I cant seem to find exactly where he was.

Presumably, you mean 'anecdote' :p I couldn't find anything more, either. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 13:29, 2 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Consider using inflation templates to convert prices?

Done--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"The desk was likely ordered" what does likely mean here?

"Likely" is just there to show the small bit of uncertainty as to where the desk came from. The Senate source says "The double-pedestal desk is believed to have been ordered from W.B. Moses and Sons in 1898 specifically for use in the Vice President’s Room." It sis "believed" because they still have receipts and ledgers listing most of the items bought for the room but, sadly, the actual receipt for the desk no longer exists. With out %100 certainty we should probably still keep a "likely" or "believed to" there.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Do we know why Nixon would have believed Wilson used it?

Honestly, no idea. I've searched for that "why" but that info doesn't seem to exist out there. The closest I can assume was that everyone knew that Wilson used a different desk in the Oval Office, the Theodore Roosevelt desk. That desk was being used in Nixon's other office in the Executing Office Building. Someone probably said that Wilson used "this" desk and it got misconstrued to the desk he had in the Oval Office instead fo the EOO. This it complete and utter conjecture though. I cant find a single source that says the "why".--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Any idea why Barkley got a name on the desk?

Again another unfortunate thing I cant find info on. I assume it is just that he was the last person to use it before Nixon in the Vice President's room, but it is referred to as the McKinley-Barkley desk a few times in references.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A brief gloss of what the Watergate tapes are in the article body might be useful

Added a super quick mention on what they were.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"This misconception was first discovered to be untrue" do we have a date?

This information comes from an account by William Safire in his book, Before the Fall he doesn't mention when this happened and I've watched interviews with him about the book but he doesn't ever seem to state when exactly this happened.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"of his character traits and virtues" who is 'he' here?

Fixed--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"less-than-public entrances into the room" what does this mean? 'hidden'?

clarified--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Imgs look good
sources are reliable and reasonably well formatted (for GA)
Ref #10 throws up a error 404 for me

It looked like they moved the page. found it again and changed the source. --Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Earwigs suggests no copyvio
Spotchecked a few sources, lgtm.

Very interesting article, very nicely done. A few minor things, nothing too big and not one thing in particular that would fail the article Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 01:13, 29 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Eddie891 Thank you do much for this review! I believe I have responded to all of the issues you rose. Please let me know if there is anything else that needs work.--Found5dollar (talk) 17:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nice, nice, this clearly meets the GA criteria. Happy to pass. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 13:29, 2 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Is this the Wilson desk!?

Im doing some research on the Johnson desk discrepancies and found this picture] from 1965. Johnson is at the LBJ ranch in Texas and that totally looks like the Wilson desk! Right down to the handle shapes and corner carving details. This seems pretty crazy, but thinking about all the stuff he did not out of the question. do we think this is the Wilson desk? Does anyone else have info about him possibly moving the desk to Texas!?--Found5dollar (talk) 02:28, 16 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Woah! it seems it did go to texas per this book about Nixon! ill update and see if I can find a free picture of it there.--Found5dollar (talk) 02:39, 16 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ok something even stranger. In this interview with Ladybird from 1963, starting at 27:12 She says about the Wilson desk that "it 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." So are the stores about the desk at Johnson's ranch actually about this desk and not the Johnson desk?--Found5dollar (talk) 16:14, 16 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]