Roosevelts Portraits in Roosevelt Room

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Even before President Nixon formally named it the Roosevelt Room, a tradition existed of Democratic administrations hanging Alfred Jonniaux's portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt over the mantel with Theodore Roosevelt's equestrian portrait by Tade Styka titled Rough Rider hung on the south wall. Republican administrations hung Teddy Roosevelt's painting above the mantel and moved FDR's portrait to the south wall. Bill Clinton decided to keep the landscape formatted Teddy Roosevelt portrait above the mantel and FDR's portrait on the south wall.

FDR: (1933-1945) Can't find anything here other than he had an aquarium and fish in here. I find it unlikely he would put a picture of himself up and Alfred Jonniaux's portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt hadn't been painted yet (1958).

Truman

Can't find anything here either.

Eisenhower

Can't find anything here. Supposedly he hated this room.

JFK (1961-1963)

Mantel and fireplace in the Fish Room (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)

View of the Fish Room. White House, Washington, D.C. [Streaks in lower portion of image are original to the negative.] (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)

I have no idea what painting is above the mantle but I am certain it is not FDR or Teddy. I see no paintings of FDR or Teddy here. There is a painting of Benjamin Franklin on the right though.

LBJ (1908–1973)

Rough rider isn't above the mantle.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)


ROLL NUMBER: WHPO-3716 Color or B/W: ColorPhotographer: Schumacher, Karl

Frame(s): WHPO-3716-09-12, Roosevelt Room. 6/19/1970, Washington, D.C., White House

This one's complicated. I think I will look closer through the Nixon archives, but the images above seem like different rooms entirely.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

President Gerald R. Ford Meeting with Ambassadors from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Nations in the Roosevelt Room

President Gerald R. Ford Meeting with Senior Staff in the Roosevelt Room

There's a Teddy over the fireplace but not Rough Rider. I'm missing one angle here unfortunately.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

Jimmy Carter - Energy Meeting in Roosevelt Room

I see Rough Rider, a different picture of Teddy, and the portrait of FDR, but they're all on the same wall.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Fu5M0JVCI

As for the other side of the wall, we now have video evidence, and there is indeed a wall with FDR, Teddy, and Rough Rider. The one above the mantle is definitely not either Rough Rider or FDR.

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)

Can't find anything here.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

ClintonRooseveltRoom

The tradition is finally here (or maybe GHWB did it). Still. it doesn't really matter since the article says this is when they stopped following it, but I'll keep going for fun

George W. Bush (2001-2009)

Dunno

Barack Obama (2009-2017)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Roosevelt_Room.png

Teddy is still over the mantle but it looks like FDR has been moved away from the South Wall to make room for the rest of the branches of the military. Donald Trump 45 (2017-2021)

by Carolyn Kaster (AP) by Carolyn Kaster (AP)

FDR is still not on the South Wall but Rough Rider is over the mantle still

Joe Biden (2021-2025)

by Bruce White (White House Historical Association)

Roosevelt Room, Biden Administration

Still looks like he's kept FDR where he is, and Teddy is still over the mantle.

Donald Trump 47 (2025-)

Rough rider is still over the mantle but that portrait of FDR is no longer in this room (it's in the oval office)

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AKA I am pretty certain the Wikipedia is wrong

OK turns out there are layers of mistruth to this:

1. Tade Styka's portrait of Theodore Roosevelt (c. 1909) is not titled Rough Rider but simply Theodore Roosevelt

Here's the painting's recording per the Smithsonian: Theodore Roosevelt by Tadé Styka (c. 1909) (974.1076.1 WH).

And to verify, from the White House Office of the Curator from George H.W. Bush's FOIA records (Second Presidential Lecture - State Floor 5/6/90 [OA 6898] [1], p.11)

Theodore Roosevelt by Tade Styka (1889-1954)

oil on canvas, c.1909. This equestrian portrait depicts Roosevelt in a tan uniform, possibly his Rough Rider outfit. It is believed to have been painted at the time that Roosevelt visited the artist's studio near Paris on during his European tour after his term of office.
Gift of the White House Historical Association. 974.1076.1

2. I am not sure Nixon even put a put of FDR in it

I was under the assumption that the origin of the factoid was Greek whispers over the seeminly uncontested fact "When Nixon called it the Roosevelt Room, he put up portraits of TR and FDR."

Here's a snippet from The White House: An Historic Guide:

This central conference room, directly cross the hall from the Oval Office, was named by Richard Nixon in 1969... Portraits of both Roosevelts were placed in the room.

And from The Office of the Curator from that earlier GHWB FOIA:

the room was renamed by President Richard Nixon in 1969...portraits of both Roosevelts were first placed in the room

But check this out. On June 26, 1975, Clem Conger (then-Curator of the White House) wrote to Mrs. Ford saying:

Also, Mr. Farrell tells me that on guided tours, we get constant criticism in the Roosevelt Room because almost everything depicts Theodore Roosevelt and only the small bronze wall placque is Franklin D. Roosevelt. We were about the change this at the end of the last [Nixon] administration but did not.

Curator's Office - Memos (2), page 40

And a bit later, in October 1, 1975 (Curator's Office - General (1), p. 13)

There have been changes in the paintings in the Roosevelt Room. Flanking the equestrian portrait of Theodore Roosevelt by Tade Styka now on the south side of the room are portraits of Theodore Roosevelt on the right and Franklin D. Roosevelt on the left.

This seems to backed up in a contemporary TIME article: THE PRESIDENCY by HUGH SIDEY: Subtle Changes in the Oval Office

Across the hall in the Roosevelt Room, so named by Nixon to commemorate the two Roosevelt cousins who were Presidents, there is a flare of partisanship, but it is about the only one close to the center of things. There are seven pictures, busts and prints of Theodore Roosevelt, the Republican, and one modest plaque of Franklin Roosevelt, the Democrat.

So, I am not sure. Fortunately, I am local to the Nixon Presidential Library, so I think I will try to figure it out in-person.

I'm stupid I forgot bas-relief portraits exist