» Signed, sealed, delivered
As we watched the new president being sworn in as chief executive of the most powerful country in the world, we could not help but get swept by the majesty of the office, and the historic significance of the event. Our attention then turned to him as he signed the first documents of his presidency. Naturally, we got curious about the presidential pen and ink he used during the ceremony. We scoured the Internet and here’s what we discovered about presidential pens and ink from Journalismo:
“Parker pens have played an important role since John F. Kennedy and care has been given to provide complete coverage of Parker’s half century involvement with the White House.”
Journalismo also brought us to a link, which traces the history of the presidential pen, complete with photos and some interesting trivia.
But speaking of presidential autographs, your Rhodia Driver happened to secure one from the future president, while on the field. We wrote about our Obama encounter last November:
“The next thing I knew, I was face-to-face with the would-be American president. He extended his right hand to me and flashed a toothy smile. All I could say was, “Thank You” as he I shook his rather skinny hand and looked him in the eyes.”
You can find the full article here:
Comments
Parker was the Pen of Presidents for many years, and many important documents were signed with various pens.
However, starting with the Bush administration, they switched to Cross. Obama also uses Cross:
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/01/president-order.html
I suspect–though I can’t confirm–that it has to do with the fact that Parker is now, essentially, an English company, while Cross remains US-based.
From a style perspective, I can’t say I find the most recent offerings from Parker particularly attractive, though I love most of their Twentieth Century offerings (very few pens can touch the 51).
Cross has some odd ducks, but, overall, produces a very simple, classic looking pen. I used to joke that every US male receives one sometime after graduating high school.
If they really wanted a US pen with class, they should have looked at Bexley.
thanks for that very informative tidbit charles!
i wonder if they also have a special gallery of pens and paper used by former presidents.
Are we gonna see a picture of Obama on this website every time he does something out of the ordinary, signs a bill, or even farts to loud?
Obama used a Cross Townsend Rollerball with black refill on his first day.
brad, brad, why don’t we just talk about pen and ink? any comment on that?
Driver1, there seems to be a lovefest with Obama, he is just one person who used a nice pen, there are many of us out here and none are more important than any other. Not sure if any American president uses Rhodia paper but would love to find out.
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