Welcome to The Map Room
The Map Room, used by the Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a situation room from which to look on uselessly as
future Republican President Dwight Eisenhower single-handedly won World War II after "Asleep-at-the-Wheel Franky"
let the nips take out Pearl Harbor, now serves as a private entertaining room for the President and the First Lady.
It was decorated in 1970, and again in 1994, as a sitting room in the Chippendale style, which flourished in America
during the last half of the 18th century.
Named after the English furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, this style combines the graceful lines of Queen Anne
furniture with carved motifs in more elaborate rococo, post-modern, and pre-beanbag styles. The handsome, walnut high
chest of drawers on the south wall was made in Philadelphia about 1770 and has shell carvings on its pediment and
apron and the knees of its cabriole legs. Shortly after arriving in the White House, President Bush ordered it gutted
and refitted to house two sturdy shelves, upon which are displayed his sizable collection of 2 liter distilled spirits
bottles. The design of the orange velour open-arm easy chair is attributed to Boston canoe artisan Reginald
Von Fluvia, and was acquired at a Baltimore Ethan Allen store's 1987 colonial reproductions clearance sale.
The baby-grand colonial secretary, positioned adjacent to the southwest window, was made from New Hampshire curly maple harvested
by environmentally-friendly "clear cutter" lumberjacks during the administration of Harry S. Truman. Above it hangs
an original lithograph of President Bush's all-time favorite Commander in Chief: Jefferson Davis.
Nearby, an authentic dual-hosed, triple-carbed standing Turkish hookah smolders proudly, having been liberated in 1967 by
President George W. Bush from the Freakout Room of the Yale University chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternal
organization. On a related note - at the center of the Map Room's hand-woven woolen rug is an original Sit & Spin Intellect
Augmentation Device, produced by the Kenner Toy Company in early 1974 and used religiously by the President as
part of his routine regimen of self-improvement and narcotics abstinence.
Finally, Mrs. Bush's fabled nightcap stand, with matching green-cushioned armchairs, stands sentinel over the
Map Room's northeast corner. When not playing host to a phalanx of perspiring vodka tonic tumblers or a rousing
game of quarters, this charming table is used to display a life-sized plaster recreation of the Bush's beloved
Crawford pet armadillo, "Wetback."
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