Oval Office Moments

U.S. political leaders interacting in formal settings, featuring discussions or announcements within the historical context of the Oval Office.

President Barack Obama jokes with Sen. Bernard Sanders, Ind-Vt., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., right, following lunch with Senators in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Aug. 4, 2010.

President Barack Obama escorts Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden for the announcement of new fuel and emission standards for cars and trucks. At left is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif).

President Barack Obama pauses in a replica of the Oval Office during a tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, April 25, 2013.

President Barack Obama waits in the Blue Room of the White House for the start of an East Room ceremony to present 16 individuals the Presidential Medal of Freedom, August 12, 2009. Standing in the background, from left, are Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients; Muhammad Yunus, Stuart Milk, nephew of slain San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, and former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.

President Barack Obama receives a quasi fist bump from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel prior to the start of his prime time news conference on July 22, 2009.

President Obama with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the Red Room of the White House prior to a live prime time press conference in the East Room, March 24, 2009.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden greet participants of the Fatherhood Town Hall in the Green Room at the White House, June 19, 2009.

President Barack Obama jokes with Sen. Bernard Sanders, Ind-Vt., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., right, following lunch with Senators in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Aug. 4, 2010.

President Barack Obama meets with Jon Favreau Director of Speechwriting in the Oval Office to review a speech April 14, 2009.

President Barack Obama waits with staffer Brian Mosteller and Personal Aide Reggie Love prior to his live prime time press conference in the East Room of the White House, March 24, 2009.

President Barack Obama discusses his speech to the United Nations General Assembly with Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, N.Y., Sept. 21, 2011. Press Secretary Jay Carney is at right.

President Barack Obama shares a lighter moment with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office on July 24, 2009.

President Barack Obama stands on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office upon arrival from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2014.

President Barack Obama and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan participate in a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, Jan. 11, 2013. Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghan National Security Advisor, left, and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, attend.

President Barack Obama meets with Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office, April 11, 2011.

President Barack Obama jokes with senior advisors Mona Sutphen and David Axelrod during a birthday party April 15, 2009, for senior advisor Pete Rouse in the Oval Office.

George W. Bush makes a statement in the Treaty Room of the U.S. Department of State after a meeting on Iraq on December 11, 2006.

President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine in the Oval Office, March 12, 2014.

President Barack Obama meets with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the Oval Office of the White House, June 15, 2009.

President Barack Obama adjusts his tie in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House, following a private reception in honor of President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and his wife, Mrs. Margarita Zavala, May 19, 2010.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as they depart the Cabinet Room of the White House, July 6, 2010.

President Barack Obama departs the Brady Briefing Room after his press conference en route to the Oval Office with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Senior Advisor David Axelrod, June 23, 2009.

President Barack Obama jokes with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at an official reception in the Blue Room of the White House, Feb. 18. 2009.

President Barack Obama talks with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett during a briefing in the Oval Office May 6, 2009.Official White House Photo by Pete Souza. This official White House photograph is being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

President Barack Obama talks with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office after their lunch together, May 30, 2014.

President Barack Obama talks with Vice President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the Oval Office, Sept. 9, 2010.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir address reporters before their bilateral meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2015.

President Barack Obama leaves a new conference in the East Room of the White House on July 15, 2015

President Barack Obama jokes with cast members of the movie "The Monuments Men" in the Diplomatic Reception Room, prior to a movie screening in the Family Theater of the White House, Feb. 18, 2014. Standing from left are: Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Damon, Grant Heslov, and George Clooney.

President Barack Obama reviews notes in the Blue Room prior to a Live Prime Time Press Conference in the East Room of the White House 3/24/09. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama meets with Apollo 11 astronauts Michael Collins, seated left, Buzz Aldrin, center, Carol Armstrong, widow of Apollo 11 commander, Neil Armstrong, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Tuesday, July 22, 2014, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, during the 45th anniversary week of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

President Barack Obama meets with former Vice President Al Gore in the Oval Office, Dec. 7, 2009.

President Barack Obama meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office, May 28, 2009.

President Barack Obama meets with Solicitor General Elena Kagan in the Oval Office last month.

President Barack Obama meets with Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to China, in the Oval Office, Jan. 17, 2012.

President Barack Obama talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside the South Portico following their meetings at the White House Monday, May 18, 2009.

President Barack Obama, background, and First Lady Michelle Obama greet guests in the Oval Office April 21, 2009, including former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, center, along with Vice President Joe Biden.

President Barack Obama takes an apple from a bowl prior to meeting with, from left, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), in the Oval Office, Oct. 22, 2009.

U.S. President Bill Clinton meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C., USA, Bob McNeely, White House Photographer, March 15, 1993

President Barack Obama meets with Communications Director Anita Dunn, Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in the Oval Office, Sept. 18, 2009.

President Barack Obama meets with former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, in the Oval Office, May 15, 2009.

President Bush holds press conference in the Rose Garden

Tony Blair talking to reporters at the White House.

President Barack Obama talks with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter prior to the Let Freedom Ring ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 2013.

CHRISTIAN BALE and SAM ROCKWELL in VICE (2018), directed by ADAM MCKAY.

President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdog(an of Turkey, right, following their bilateral meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Seoul, Republic of Korea, March 25, 2012.

President Barack Obama waits in the Blue Room before his news conference in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 10, 2010.

President Barack Obama meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the Oval Office on July 22, 2009.

President Obama and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari walk around the South Lawn of the White House prior to US-Afghan-PakistanTrilateral meeting May 6, 2009. This official White House photograph is being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

President Barack Obama laughs with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius following the official Cabinet group photo in the Grand Foyer of the White House, July 26, 2012. Pictured, from left, are: Energy Secretary Steven Chu; Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Education Secretary Arne Duncan; and Attorney General Eric Holder.

President Barack Obama is framed through the arm of Chief of Staff Denis McDonough during a meeting in the Oval Office, Oct. 10, 2013.

President Barack Obama talks to Press Secretary Jay Carney prior to a joint press conference with President Park Geun-hye at the Blue House in Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 25, 2014.

President Joe Biden meets with White House staff in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, prior to his meeting with U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV.

President Barack Obama talks with guests at a dinner for Congressional Committee chairmen and ranking members in the East Room

President Barack Obama makes an announcement on NATO and Libya in the East Room of the White House on March 18, 2011.

President Barack Obama feigns a jump shot during an Affordable Care Act video taping for BuzzFeed in the White House Library, Feb. 10, 2015.

President Barack Obama laughs with Senior Advisor David Axelrod, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau in the Oval Office, June 18, 2009.

President Barack Obama meets with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Oval Office, April 27, 2015.

President Bush makes a statement to the media with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora

President Barack Obama meets with members of the Apollo 11 crew on the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing, in the Oval Office, July 22, 2014. Seated clockwise from the President are: Carol Armstrong, Neil Armstrong's widow; NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Patricia Falcone, Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs, Office of Science and Technology Policy; and astronauts Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk from the Oval Office of the White House Friday, March 12, 2021, to the Rose Garden to deliver remarks on the American Rescue Plan.

President Barack Obama talks alone with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada during the Summit of the Americas April 18, 2009, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

President Bush holds press conference in the Rose Garden

President Barack Obama talks with former President George W. Bush prior to the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, April 25, 2013.

President Barack Obama talks with former President Bill Clinton in the Lower Press Office before addressing the media in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Dec. 10, 2010.

President Barack Obama talks with Nancy-Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, in the Outer Oval Office after learning of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” June 28, 2012.

President Barack Obama talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a G-20 leaders working dinner at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Penn., Sept. 24, 2009.

President Obama talks with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, following a health care meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, April 30, 2009.

President Barack Obama speaks with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine following a meeting with leaders from Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales, Sept. 4, 2014.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Solidarity co-founder and former Polish President Lech Walesa during an official dinner hosted by President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, June 3, 2014.

President Joe Biden participates in a virtual bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheál Martin Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry puts away his pen after signing the guest book at the Istana, the President's residence and the Prime Minister's office, in Singapore, Singapore, on August 4, 2015, before a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a visit to discuss regional issues and celebrate the country's 50th anniversary.

President Barack Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office shortly after she was confirmed and sworn in, Jan. 21, 2009.

President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the NATO Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 20, 2010.

President Barack Obama meets with civil rights movement leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery and his family in the Oval Office, Jan. 18, 2011.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the completion of the review of how the United States Government responds to overseas hostage cases in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 24, 2015. photo by Dennis Brack

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama toast during an official dinner hosted by Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes at the National Palace in San Salvador, El Salvador, March 22, 2011.

Michelle Obama talks alone with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton prior to President Obama's Meeting with President Hu of China. Winfield House in London, England, April 1, 2009.

President Barack Obama walks to the podium in the Rose Garden of the White House to deliver remarks on the Senate Finance Committee's vote to approve health insurance reform, Oct. 13, 2009.

President Barack Obama jokes with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and personal aide Reggie Love, right, prior to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Fla., Oct. 26, 2009.

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel talk before their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, March 5, 2012.

President Bush meets with Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk across the South Lawn of the White House Friday, April 2, 2021, to board Marine One en route to Camp David, near Thurmont, Maryland.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the Outer Oval Office, Nov. 16, 2012.

Vice President Joe Biden and Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro talk in the outer Oval Office, June 26, 2009.

Dec. 9, 2013 "The President and former President George W. Bush turn to joke with White House Doctor Ronny Jackson (off-camera) shortly after they boarded Air Force One for the trip to South Africa. Dr. Jackson also worked as a White House physician during the Bush administration."

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama join staff aboard Air Force One during their flight April 3, 2009, from Stansted Airport in Essex, England, en route to Strasbourg, France.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk in the Green Room of the White House before hosting a Smithsonian Museum of African American History reception in the East Room, Feb. 22, 2012.

President Barack Obama greets Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, during a meeting with governors in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, June 24, 2009.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas greets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on February 21, 2016, as he arrives at his home for a bilateral meeting about a range of issues.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, third from left; U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., second from left; and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, left; meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, right; during the Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 1, 2011.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris meet with bipartisan members of Congress Monday, April 12, 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House.

President Barack Obama greets James Clapper, his nominee for director of national intelligence, in the Oval Office, Saturday, June 5, 2010.

First Lady Michelle Obama snuggles against President Barack Obama before a videotaping for the 2015 World Expo, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, March 27, 2015.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., right, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and interim Chief of Staff Pete Rouse, center, in the Oval Office, Nov. 29, 2010.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden join the Cabinet for a group photo in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 3, 2015.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the margins of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 76) in New York, New York, on September 23, 2021.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan standing in the White House Oval Office for the last time as U.S. President, Washington, D.C., USA, President Ronald Reagan White House Photographic Office, January 20, 1989

President Barack Obama meets with King Abdullah of Jordan in the Oval Office 4/21/09 Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama meets with Sudan Special Envoy Ambassador Princeton Lyman in the Oval Office, April 1, 2011. (Office White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

Vicki Kennedy, widow of Senator Ted Kennedy, shows President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama a replica of Sen. Kennedy's Senate office following the dedication of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston, Mass., March 30, 2015.

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