In October 1792, a beautiful white neoclassical sandstone building was completed in Washington, D.C., and has since become the presidential palace of the United States, where successive presidents and their families lived.
Since the opening of the White House, its tenants have changed every few years, and it has now changed to 45th. But the strange thing is that the president has changed and changed like a marquee, and a desk in the president's office is still in use for 143 years, so why should this table be a nail in the White House?
It is the White House nail household
This table, called the "Steadfast Table", is also known as the "Perseverance Table". The Oval Office located in the west wing of the White House is highly photographed around the world because the president works here every day, signing presidential orders, bills, meeting guests, giving speeches, etc., and everyone is paying attention to it.
For example, the Obama team, which spent $1.5 million on decoration in 8 years, and Trump is even more outrageous, spending $1.75 million on decoration in 4 years. Everyone found out that the curtains were changed, the sofas were changed, the wallpapers were changed, and a table was not willing to be changed, so this table became famous.
In 1880, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gave this table to U.S. President Rutherford Hayes, who loved it so much that he used it to make his desk, but he didn't expect it to be passed down from generation to generation.
It's 1880, and Hayes is working at his Fortitude Desk.
Kennedy was reading the newspaper at his desk, and his kids were nautical at the table.
George W. Bush was chatting with people and looked relaxed.
Clinton shows affection at the table.
Obama is using this table to make and receive phone calls
Trump sat down at the fortitude table and spoke
The elder Biden is still using this desk, and during the new crown epidemic, he wore a mask to work.
From the above pictures, we can see that this perseverance table is really the treasure of the White House, the favorite of previous presidents. So, what's so special about it?
The extraordinary journey of a table
The Fortitude Table is so popular in the White House because there really is an extraordinary story behind it.
We all know that Britain was once majestic, and it was difficult to meet an opponent across the earth. Since the 17th century, people have set foot in the vast and inhospitable land of North America, and various powerful countries have appeared in turn, and finally the 13 states of North America have been pocketed by the "empire on which the sun never sets" Britain.
The advancement of the industrial revolution has brought about a greater conflict of interests, so Britain has become more and more busy. Today it is fighting for land with France, tomorrow it is fighting for the market with the Netherlands, the Anglo-French War, the Anglo-Dutch War, Britain has been mired in war for many years, and in order to make up for the war attrition, it can only exploit the colonies even more.
This caused discontent and revolt in the colonies, and with the enthusiastic help of France and the Netherlands, the United States became independent in 1776.
The United States became independent, Britain was unhappy and tried its best to sabotage and suppress it, while the United States was eager for development and wanted to invade Canada. In June 1812, the two countries fought, and the fuse of the war was a ship, and Britain robbed the American ships, and also used the excuse of searching for deserters, forcibly recruited American crews, and did not allow the United States to conduct maritime trade.
The so-called "ginger is still old and spicy", as an old power that has been famous for a long time, the United States, a newly established rookie country, is certainly not an opponent, even if Britain is fighting Napoleon to the death, and it is not a problem to deal with the United States.
In the end, Britain invaded Washington, D.C., the White House was burned, and the newborn United States was almost on the verge of extinction. After a truce of more than two years, the newly established United States was shattered, life became more difficult, and relations with Britain were strained.
This is already the second war with Britain, and American politicians also understand that the fragile United States, which cannot afford another war, wants to repair relations with Britain.
It was in this context that a ship appeared, and it was the warship of the British Royal Navy------- Perseverance.
In June 1852, the Perseverance went on a mission to the Arctic Ocean, and its job was to find a shipwreck.
The wreck is important. As early as 1845, in order to open up the Northwest Passage and have more sea power, the British Royal Navy spent a lot of money to build two warships, "Wraith" and "Terror", these two warships, the mission is to cross the Canadian Arctic Islands and shorten the old route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The two ships, as obscure as their names, have not been heard from since their departure, with a crew of 133 and an adventurer old captain John Franklin.
At that time, the crew was the elite of the country, and this time the losses were heavy. Unconvinced, the British sent the Perseverance and another ship to search for it the following year.
As a result, the ship was in vain, but the Perseverance found a clue on Bich Island, and because it was too complicated, it returned to China to rest. When it set off again in the autumn of the following year, it entered the Arctic Ocean and ran aground on an ice floe and became trapped.
There was no way, so the captain abandoned the ship and fled. Three years later, an American whaling ship came, this ship was very large, and it was used to dragging whales as a huge animal, and they had the experience and tools, and they used the whaling method to actually drag the Perseverance out.
Such a large ship was worth more than a whale, and in the fall of 1855, the shipyard Baddington sailed the ship back to the United States, causing a great sensation in the local area. It was miserable to be bullied by the British, and now that a British ship has been "captured", everyone feels very honored.
This matter was soon known to US President Benjamin Franklin, who hoped to borrow this ship to improve relations between Britain and the United States. So, the U.S. government bought the ship and spent a huge amount of $40,000 (a huge amount of money at the time) to repair the ship and return it to Britain.
Britain was also grateful to receive the ship, because according to the habit of colonial hegemony at that time, whoever grabbed it belonged to whomever it was, let alone someone who picked it up. The Perseverance served in England for more than 20 years before retiring in 1879.
Later, in the face of the increasingly powerful United States, Britain also hoped to maintain good relations, so in 1880, Britain dismantled the Perseverance and made three desks from the best wood on board, the most beautiful and gorgeous one, and gave it to President Rutherford Hayes of the United States.
Because this table has witnessed the changes in the relationship between Britain and the United States, promoted the friendship and cooperation between Britain and the United States, and is also the material evidence that the United States has begun to become powerful, so the United States cherishes it so much.