A viral post claims that President Donald Trump refused to unveil Barack Obama’s presidential portrait and won’t allow it to hang in the White House. “This is the official White House portrait of President Obama that Trump refuses to hang and have an official unveiling for,” the post reads. “It is the first time in history that a sitting president has been so petty. Trump may not hang it, but can share it and flood the internet with it!”
The claim is outdated and includes some inaccuracies. It’s true that Trump did not host a ceremony during his first term to unveil Obama’s presidential portrait, but the decision appears to have been made mutually by both the Trump White House and the Obamas. The image shown is also not Obama’s official portrait, which was eventually unveiled by President Joe Biden in 2022.
Sitting presidents traditionally host their predecessor at the White House for a ceremony to unveil an official portrait. In 2004, for example, George W. Bush hosted Bill Clinton for such a ceremony, and in 2012, Obama welcomed Bush. The custom stretches back to 1978 when Jimmy Carter hosted his predecessor Gerald Ford for a portrait ceremony.
In May 2020, NBC News first reported that a ceremony for Obama was unlikely to occur before the end of Trump’s term. However, the break in tradition was not prompted solely by Trump. NBC News also reported that Obama had “no interest in participating in the post-presidency rite of passage so long as Trump is in office.” Representatives for both Obama and the Trump White House declined to comment on the story at the time.
In September 2022, Biden unveiled Obama’s portrait at a ceremony in the White House’s East Room. The portrait was painted in 2018 by artist Robert McCurdy and depicts Obama against a stark white background.
Official White House portraits are different from those shown in the National Portrait Gallery’s America’s Presidents exhibition. The White House Historical Association assists in funding, acquiring, and donating portraits for the White House collection, while portraits in the National Portrait Gallery are funded and commissioned separately by donors to the Smithsonian.
The White House Historical Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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