Donald Trump has already returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office as a symbolic 'sign of respect' for his 'idol', after Joe Biden removed the bronze statue during the last administration.
The 47th president has spruced up his office with decorations, including a portrait of George Washington, a rug designed by Nancy Reagan and the infamous Diet Coke button, which this time has been moved to the other side of his desk.
He also quickly brought back a bust of British war leader Winston Churchill, replaced by Joe Biden, with busts of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, activist Rosa Parks and socialist labor leader Cesar Chavez.
In a feat of logistical choreography, the Oval Office underwent a makeover within hours, coinciding with Monday's historic transition of power.
Sources close to the president had insisted in the run-up to the historic inauguration that the bust would make its return to Trump, who has said that the Oscar-winning 2017 film The Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Churchill, was “my favorite'. movie ever'.
The bust of Churchill, by English modernist sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, was a gift from Winston Churchill's war friends to President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.
Trump restored the bust of Winston Churchill to its original position by the fireplace, which was removed during the Obama and Biden presidencies. Trump is pictured in 2017
The controversial bust of Winston Churchill (circled in red above) was returned to the Oval Office by Donald Trump, after both Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Pictured here in September 2019
US President Donald Trump with executive orders during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, January 20, 2025
Nigel Farage said ahead of the inauguration that Trump would permanently return the bust, calling him the “most pro-British president since Eisenhower.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower served as President of the United States between January 1953 and January 1961 and helped oversee the reconstruction of Europe after the devastation of World War II.
It occupied a place of honor in the Oval Office until 2009, when it was rumored that Barack Obama had replaced it with one of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The bust returned and controversially replaced MLK Jr. when Trump took office, before being pushed aside again when Joe Biden won the 2020 election in favor of Chavez.
Farage was critical of Biden's decision to remove the bust, saying in 2021 that its move was a sign that he would not be a “great friend” to Britain.
Trump restored the bust to its original position by the fireplace this week, a choice that subtly underlines his affinity for strong leadership.
This time the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. remains. to stand.
The bronze was removed by Joe Biden in 2020 and replaced with a bust of Cesar Chavez
Donald Trump has promised to return a bust of Sir Winston Churchill to the Oval Office
But other Biden additions, such as the bust of labor leader Cesar Chavez and a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, have since been removed.
A source close to Trump said in November, after the election, that “one of the first things” Trump would do would be to bring back the Churchill statue as a “sign of respect.”
'Donald idolizes Churchill and believes he is the greatest leader the world has ever seen. He will restore him to a position of honour,” the source told the Mail on Sunday.
During his last administration, Trump condemned demonstrators who defaced a statue of Churchill in London's Parliament Square with “racism” during the Black Lives Matters protests.
The source said: 'He thought it was a shame that people were attacking Churchill's image when Churchill saved the world from Hitler's tyranny.'
The Churchill bust was a gift to President Lyndon B Johnson in 1965. Pictured: The sculpture depicting George W. Bush
A bust of Martin Luther King Jr. still stands there. which both Biden and Trump displayed in the Oval Office. King sits on the other side of the fireplace next to Churchill
The story of Churchill's bust is long and winding. According to Dan Pfeiffer, former aide and senior adviser to Barack Obama, there has been a wartime arrest of the British leader in the White House since the 1960s.
When George W. Bush came to power, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lent him a bust that matched the original, as the existing one from the White House was being restored by specialists.
The copy loaned to Mr. Blair was displayed by President Bush until the end of his presidency – after which all art specifically loaned to his Oval Office was removed by the curator's office.
That led to urban myths that President Obama had returned the Churchill bust or refused to put it on display, Pfeiffer said.
He added that under Obama, the original bust of Churchill remained on display at the residence.
