(NEXSTAR) — As President Joe Biden begins his tenure Wednesday, the Oval Office underwent redecorating to reflect the president’s values and goals for his administration.
The Washington Post was given an exclusive tour of the new Oval Office, and the changes from the previous administration are striking.
Most notably, Biden replaced the infamous portrait of Andrew Jackson, which hung in Trump’s Oval Office, with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
The portrait is intended to celebrate science, according to the Post.
The Jackson painting caused a stir when it was first installed in Trump’s office. While Jackson, like Trump, was a populist president, many saw the portrait in a negative light, citing Jackson’s signing of the Indian Removal Act, which led to the “Trail of Tears.”
Other additions to Biden’s office include a duo of paired paintings of President Thomas Jefferson and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, two men known for their fierce rivalry.
The paintings were paired “as hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy,” Biden’s office told the Post.
The office also features a series of busts, including those of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt.
The flags of branches of the military that Trump displayed in the office are also gone, with Biden replacing them with an American flag and one of the presidential seal.
Displayed behind Biden’s desk are multiple family photos, which surround the bust of Chavez, the labor leader who helped organize farmworkers and turned their cause into a widely publicized movement. The motto of the United Farm Workers of America, “Sí se puede” or “Yes, we can,” was later adopted by President Obama – first in his 2004 Senate run and again in 2008 when he was elected president.
