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Vivek Ramaswamy recently made headlines after he said the swivel chair was “invented” by former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. He stated this on Wednesday, December 6, after being asked which former U.S. President he would take the most inspiration from, as per Politico.
“He [Thomas Jefferson] was 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. You are all sitting on the swivel chair today. He invented that swivel chair while he was at it while writing that Declaration of Independence,” Ramaswamy said.
His speech came as part of the last day of the four-day Republican presidential primary debate, which was held at the Moody Music Hall at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on December 6. It was organized by NewsNation and moderated by a panel of journalists, including former Fox News star Megyn Kelly.
Thomas Jefferson modified the swivel chair with arms to help him write
Just like other speakers, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was also asked at Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate which American President inspired him the most and whom he would like to emulate. His answer was Thomas Jefferson.
Ramaswamy justified his response by saying that it was Jefferson who was not only the country’s third President, but also the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. The American-Indian entrepreneur and politician did not just stop there. He claimed that it was Thomas Jefferson who invented the swivel chair.
However, according to Politico, Jefferson did not invent the chair but simply modified its design. The news outlet states that a previous version of the office furniture can be traced back to German pediatrician and inventor Martin Loffelholz von Kolberg in 1505, according to the website of the Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
The source further credited the German for conceiving the swivel chair, whose specialty was that it could twist on its legs and adjust its height. Meanwhile, what Thomas Jefferson did was offer more flexibility to the design to offer him better movement.
As per Workplace Insight, the 3rd U.S. President added an iron spindle between the top and the bottom half, allowing the already existing swivel chair (or Windsor Chair, as it was called) to rotate on rollers derived from window sash pulleys. However, it was before his time as the President and he was a member of the Continental Congress during this time.
Jefferson further attached a writing surface to one of the arms to help him write the Declaration of Independence between 1774 and 1775 and later other documents in 1776. In fact, he traveled with the chair, the legs of which he replaced with bamboo and a solid wooden seat.
Ten years after his death, Jefferson’s Revolving Windson Armchair (as he called it) became the property of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in 1836.
Now commonly called the revolving chair, it is seen in all kinds of places, be it offices, schools, colleges, or homes. The furniture comes with a single central leg with wheels at its base and allows easy 360-degree rotation and reclining. The piece of furniture can also adjust the height according to the seater’s comfort and convenience.
