@DennisinPeoria :
I actually believe the Resolute Desk was a gift to the American people, bestowed on then President Rutherford B Hayes in 1880. It was one of two constructed for Queen Victoria from the recovered timbers of the HMS Resolute - which sank in 1854 and the sunken remains of which were found a year later following the northwest passage's thaw. The salvage was returned to England and then the Queen commissioned two desks from the hull. One she maintained and the other brought to the US and presented to the then President Hayes in 1880 as a thank you for the return of the ship. It's major claim to fame is simply its significant presence in the Oval office. Although the current occupant of the office of president is not the first to remove it from the Oval Office - he is in fact the first to remove it from the premises of the White House.
It is a shame to be seen as a museum-esque oddity presented for onlookers to that swampy toilet of a building - but guess you need somewhere to file all those classified documents.