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All-American Animals: Pets of the White House

Posted by Heather Brautman | Wed, Jul 03, 2013 @ 01:00 PM

WhiteHouseHave pet, will govern? Conspiracy theories abound in the political world, but there aren’t many that everyone from veterinarians to animal enthusiasts can get behind. Until you start looking at the connection between United States Presidents and their family pets. Once the fur, feathers, tails, and scales start flying, you may start to notice more of a pattern.

The Presidential Pet Museum offers the theory that the (very) few Presidents who never adopted any fanged or four-legged friends were our most obscure. Chester Arthur and Franklin Pierce were both lauded the honor of being POTUS, but they’re not exactly at the tip of anyone’s tongue, either. They both also only lasted one term.

Meet the First Animals

WaterDogMany Americans can relate to ardently wishing for a pet while growing up, a companion animal for those young years. Presidents’ children aren’t spared, and the entire country watched as hopeful POTUS Barack Obama promised his girls a puppy if he was elected. He made good on that promise, too, bringing Portuguese water dog Bo into the family shortly after they moved into the White House. The country reacted to those first photos of fluffy Bo prancing on the lawn by flooding breeders with requests for their own Bos. And he gets his own acronym - DOTUS.

Prior to First Dog Bo were the pets of the second Bush administration, which included two Scottish terriers (Barney and Miss Beazley), a mutt named Spot, and a cat named India. The oft-discussed Texas ranch compound owned by the Bushes is also home to a Longhorn named Ofelia. Dogs were “in the family” for the Bushes, as the elder George Bush welcomed Millie the Springer Spaniel and one of Millie’s puppies, Ranger. In between Bush administrations, the Clintons let Socks the cat and Buddy the chocolate Labrador Retriever into their large (white) home.

A Taste for the Exotic

Most people are familiar with the story of Presidents pardoning turkeys for Thanksgiving, but Turkey Day isn’t the only time that exotic animals strutted their stuff around the White House. A non-inclusive list of non-humans who’ve taken up residence at or near 1600 Penn includes:

  • Tiger cubs (Martin Van Buren)
  • Eagle and elephant (James Buchanan)
  • Whiskers the goat (Benjamin Harrison)
  • Old Ike the ram (Woodrow Wilson)
  • Rebecca and Horace, the raccoons; Ebeneezer the donkey; Billy the pigmy hippopotamus (Calvin Coolidge)
  • Emily Spinach the garter snake (Theodore Roosevelt)
  • Silkworms (John Quincy Adams)

Pets, Not Presents

LonghornCowAny veterinarian will tell you that pets should never be given as gifts, as many will end up in shelters soon after the initial excitement has worn off. But one President made his case on the idea of a pet being a gift -- Richard Nixon and his beloved American Cocker Spaniel, Checkers. Nixon may be remembered for his blustering “I am not a crook” denial speech, but another performance went down in the history books as well. Dubbed “The Checkers Speech,” Nixon addressed the country to come clean about the state of his finances and whether or not he received gifts (financial or otherwise) during his administration. He claimed to have accepted just one gift – that four-legged American Cocker Spaniel friend – given to the Nixons for their daughters by a traveling salesman.

In the speech, Nixon admitted that Checkers’ “giftability” could be considered a bribe or other problem, but after seeing his daughters’ joy, he just didn’t care. That fatherly desire to bring happiness into a world completely turned on its head by the mania associated with the Presidency is one that the Obamas may have followed themselves.

Pets of Future Presidencies

Currently, the requirements for those aspiring to become POTUS include:

  • Age of 35 or older at the time of announcing candidacy
  • Natural born citizen of the United States
  • Residency of 14 years or longer within the United States

FeeshPolitical and conspiracy groups alike may agree that there are many more unwritten requirements that come out along the stump trail. Perhaps one of those unwritten rules for Presidential acceptance and success should include adoption of at least one pet. Our previous forefathers have shown that one need not go the typical dog or cat route, as exotic First Pets have illustrated. Mixed mutt breeds and specially-raised animals alike have brought what could be considered luck to almost all of the administrations in our country’s past. When it comes to staying power, education and experience don’t hold a tail or paw to nine lives’ worth of dog and kitty karma for the human residents of the White House.

Who (and what) was your favorite Presidential pet of the past? Do you believe the theories? What type of animal gets your vote for Election 2016? Raise your paw and post in the comments below!

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Topics: Veterinarians

Written by Heather Brautman