New U.S. President Joe Biden immediately made some changes after moving into the Oval Office on Wednesday, including removing one of ex-president Donald Trump‘s unique creature comforts: the Diet Coke button.
The wood-encased, brick-sized button sat on the Resolute desk throughout Trump’s presidency, and would immediately summon a butler with a cold can of Diet Coke at a moment’s notice.
The button was emblematic of the former president’s well-documented love for fast food. He famously welcomed Clemson University’s championship football team to the White House with a junk-food feast in early 2019, which included “McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King with some pizza,” he said at the time.
Trump also reportedly loved to grab McDonald’s cheeseburgers for an impromptu meal, according to multiple reports during his presidency.
Trump’s Diet Coke button is now gone, official photos from the Oval Office show, in one of the more notable tweaks Biden has made to the space.
Biden kept a few touches from the Trump presidency, including the Resolute desk and the gold curtains hanging behind it. Those curtains were also used during Bill Clinton’s tenure.
Most of Biden’s changes amount to tinkering around the edges, such as swapping out the carpet for a slightly darker blue one, The Guardian reports.
Several family photographs now sit behind the president on a table, where Trump once arranged a row of military service flags. The photo collection includes a picture of Biden’s late son, Beau, who died of cancer in 2015.
The photos are accompanied by a bust of Cesar Chavez, the Latino American civil rights and labour leader.
Chavez’ son, Paul, told the Associated Press that he agreed to loan the bust to Biden, but he was shocked to see it placed in such a prominent position.
“We’re still smiling cheek to cheek,” he told the AP.
Biden removed a bust of former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a painting of former president Andrew Jackson, a white nationalist, that hung on the wall beside Trump’s desk. He replaced the Jackson painting with one of Benjamin Franklin, and set a bust of former president Harry S. Truman on a table below it.
Biden outfitted the rest of the room with paintings of former presidents Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, the former treasury secretary.
Biden’s Oval Office also features busts of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt, the Washington Post reports.
Most of the busts and paintings belong to the White House, the Smithsonian or other museums. A White House curator typically selects the artwork based on the president’s preferences and political priorities.
Biden pressed themes of unity, inclusivity and advocacy for racial justice during the election campaign and in his inaugural address.
Paul Chavez said Biden appeared to be trying to convey that through a series of quick decorative changes he’s made to the world’s most powerful office.
Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration or welcome him into the White House before the transfer of power on Wednesday, in a major break from a tradition that he himself described as “gracious” in 2017.
However, Trump did follow tradition in leaving a note for Biden on the Resolute desk before his departure.
Biden described the note as “very generous” on Wednesday, but declined to share it with the public.
“It was private,” he said.
— With files from The Associated Press
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