Editorials & Other Articles

Eugene

(61,900 posts) Fri Apr 22, 2016, 03:04 PM Apr 2016

Fact-check: did Obama really remove a Churchill bust from the Oval Office?

Source: The Guardian

Fact-check: did Obama really remove a Churchill bust from the Oval Office?

Mona Chalabi
Friday 22 April 2016 18.03 BST

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has claimed that shortly after becoming president, Barack Obama removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office.

Writing on Friday for the Sun, a right-leaning British tabloid, Johnson attacked “the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire” in an article urging Britons to leave the European Union when given the choice in a referendum to be held in June.

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The claim that Obama discarded a Churchill bust is not new. In 2012, rumors circulated of an undiplomatic redecorating, prompting the White House to publish a blogpost titled Fact Check: The Bust of Winston Churchill, which claimed: “This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.”

So, has Boris Johnson got his facts wrong? The answer is a little more complicated.

The bust in question, by British sculptor Jacob Epstein, was given to President George W Bush by the British government in 2001 and was placed in the Oval Office. But the statue was not donated, it was simply on loan for Bush’s term in office (a loan which the British government decided to extend when Bush was re-elected in 2004). Churchill disappeared from the White House in 2009, when the loan ended at the same time that Obama moved in.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-winston-churchill-bust-oval-office-britain

10 replies

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Highlight:

Fact-check: did Obama really remove a Churchill bust from the Oval Office? (Original Post) Eugene Apr 2016 OP

I don't see why it's important. HooptieWagon Apr 2016 #1

YALTA NAPKIN (dividing up post WWII world) Baobab Apr 2016 #5

The popular perception of the Yalta Conference is that the Western Allies "gave away" Aristus Apr 2016 #7

As an American with Irish heritage, I too have ancestral feelings towards the British empire. . . Journeyman Apr 2016 #2

It's always frustrating to see the way angry rhetoric, unaccompanied by facts, gets a foothold CBHagman Apr 2016 #3

What makes it worse.... T_i_B Apr 2016 #4

Do people know what North Korea does with gifts to their leaership from foreigners? Baobab Apr 2016 #6

When I was in Brunei oldandhappy Apr 2016 #9

At the press conference in the UK oldandhappy Apr 2016 #8

What ?!! The Brits gave GWB a Churchill bust but took it back after Obama was elected ?!! struggle4progress Apr 2016 #10

HooptieWagon

(17,064 posts)

1. I don't see why it's important.

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 03:14 PM

Apr 2016

As POTUS, Obama is entitled to suit the decor to his liking. If he likes a Churchill bust, fine...if he doesn't like it, also fine.

Baobab

(4,667 posts)

5. YALTA NAPKIN (dividing up post WWII world)

Reply to HooptieWagon (Reply #1)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 12:41 PM

Apr 2016

Biggest mistake ever in US diplomacy.

Looking at that bust would remind me of it again and again and make me furious.

Many many millions of people were imprisoned under Communism and killed in gulags because of the deal written on that cocktail napkin.

Never again!

Aristus

(66,385 posts)

7. The popular perception of the Yalta Conference is that the Western Allies "gave away"

Reply to Baobab (Reply #5)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 01:32 PM

Apr 2016

the Eastern Bloc nations to the Soviet Union; cruelly dooming them to Stalinism.

The truth is, the nations in question had already been invaded and secured by the Red Army on their way to Germany and Berlin. The Soviets spilled oceans of their own blood avenging the invasion of their country. Asking them to "give back" all the territory they gained in order to preserve the sovereignty of Eastern Europe would have been thoughtless, and unworkable in any case.

Would the Western Allies have given up any of the territory they had gained on the Second Front if Stalin had asked them to?

Journeyman

(15,036 posts)

2. As an American with Irish heritage, I too have ancestral feelings towards the British empire. . .

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 04:15 PM

Apr 2016

What those feelings are, however, are a product of historical British behavior and not something I pulled -- as did the Mayor of London -- from where ever it is the British exude their policies and behaviors towards those whom they perceive as "subject peoples."

From what I gather about our President, I'm inclined to believe that no matter what his personal or ancestral feelings would be towards any nation or group of people, he would treat them with every respect possible, as that's the proper and polite way to act. Same as I do.

CBHagman

(16,986 posts)

3. It's always frustrating to see the way angry rhetoric, unaccompanied by facts, gets a foothold

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 10:04 AM

Apr 2016

This is by no means the only such instance, of course.

It certainly reflects badly on Boris Johnson, not the president.

T_i_B

(14,738 posts)

4. What makes it worse....

Reply to CBHagman (Reply #3)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 12:04 PM

Apr 2016

Is that the "British" media barons are all in favour of leaving the EU. And Boris Johnson rose to prominence as a gobshite from the opinion pages of the UK press, who give him an easy ride.

Baobab

(4,667 posts)

6. Do people know what North Korea does with gifts to their leaership from foreigners?

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 12:44 PM

Apr 2016

Its kind of bizarre, funny and sad at the same time.

They have turned them into a tourist attraction.

oldandhappy

(6,719 posts)

9. When I was in Brunei

Reply to Baobab (Reply #6)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 03:23 PM

Apr 2016

I went into a museum that was almost all gifts to the Sultan. Amazing stuff.

oldandhappy

(6,719 posts)

8. At the press conference in the UK

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 03:19 PM

Apr 2016

the president said he thought it was reflective of him and his country to have a bust of Martin Luther King in the Oval office. I rather agree. The mayor of London brought up the issue. I respect and admire Churchill lots. MLK in the Oval office seems appropriate.

struggle4progress

(118,294 posts)

10. What ?!! The Brits gave GWB a Churchill bust but took it back after Obama was elected ?!!

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sat Apr 23, 2016, 07:09 PM

Apr 2016

And then they complained the bust wasn't in the White House anymore ?!!

We should be at DEFCON 3 !!!

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