'Presidential Doodles:' Oval Office Artists

by Robert Siegel, NPR

The hand on the rudder of the ship of state, the finger on the nuclear button, has its frivolous, extra-constitutional moments, too. From the hands of presidents have come a wealth of improvised drawings on White House stationery, memos and Cabinet agendas.

They have been collected by the creators of Cabinet magazine and writer David Greenberg, in a new book called, Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles and Scrawls from the Oval Office. Greenberg is a professor of history and journalism at Rutgers University.

The collection also includes art works created before the presidents took office — such as a detailed drawing of a horse created by Ulysses S. Grant during his time at West Point, and a young John Adams' diagram of the Pythagorean theorem.

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, September 21, 2006