National Love Your Pet Day – Presidential Pets Photo Gallery
Wednesday, February 20
Almost every American president had a pet. From dogs to horses to cows and even exotic animals, these companions brought lots of joy to the White House. (The White House/TNS)
Almost every American president had a pet. From dogs to horses to cows and even exotic animals, these companions brought lots of joy to the White House.
The eighth president, Martin Van Buren, continued the trend of extravagant presidential pets. He was given a pair of pet tiger cubs by the Sultan of Oman. Van Buren planned to keep them at the White House, but Congress forced him to send them to a local zoo. (The White House Historical Association/TNS)The 15th president, James Buchanan, had a 170-pound Newfoundland named Lara, but he also received some wild animal gifts. He had a pair of eagles, given to Buchanan by a friend who lived in San Francisco, who lived in cages on the porch of his home in Pennsylvania. He was also sent a herd of elephants by the King of Siam that were sent to live at a zoo. (National Portrait Gallery/TNS)President Ulysses S. Grant grew up around horses and is said to have learned to ride before he could read. A West Point graduate and military man, Grant professionally spent a lot of time with horses as well, forming close bonds with his steeds. He had one horse named Jeff Davis that he took from a plantation during the Civil War Battle of Vicksburg and later brought with him to the White House. His most famous horse is the chestnut Cincinnati, which was given to him during the war. He rode the horse to meet General Robert E. Lee to accept the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox. Grant is often depicted riding Cincinnati in statues. (Library of Congress/TNS)As was common in that day, 19th president Rutherford B. Hayes had a variety of animals around the white house, including carriage horses, cows and hunting dogs as well as pet dogs and birds. But his most distinctive pet was a Siamese cat named Siam, which was the first Siamese cat to come to the United States. The cat was a gift from the American consul in Bangkok and was shipped by boat from Thailand. (LIbrary of Congress/TNS)An outdoorsman, Theodore Roosevelt wasn’t shy about having a menagerie of animals running about the White House. He and his six children has a variety of pets, including dogs, guinea pigs, a lizard, a pig, a small bear, a Hyacinth macaw parrot, a one-legged rooster, a hyena, and a Shetland pony named Algonquin. When the president’s son Archie was still bed-ridden while recovering from measles, his brothers Kermit and Quentin brought the pony up to see him in his room in the White House via the elevator. (Library of Congress/TNS)President Taft had a dog named Caruso, but his most iconic pet was a 1,500-pound Holstein cow named Pauline Wayne. Nicknamed the “Queen of Capital Cows,” she was the last cow to live at the White House and provide milk for the first family. (Library of Congress/TNS)Woodrow Wilson had cats and dogs, but got an entire herd of unique pets after taking office. After the U.S. entered World War I, the 28th president got a herd of sheep to live on the White House lawn. This way, the first family was supporting the war effort by freeing up their groundskeepers and by auctioning off the wool and donating the proceeds to the Red Cross. In 1919, their fleece earned $52,823. (Library of Congress/TNS)During his White House tenure, Warren G. Harding had canaries, an English bulldog named Old Boy, a squirrel named Pete and an Airedale terrier named Laddie Boy. Considered the White House’s first celebrity dog, Laddie Boy sat in on Cabinet meetings, traveled to golf games and appeared at fundraising events. Harding wrote letters to the press pretending to be Laddie Boy and commissioned 1,000 bronze miniatures of the dog to send to supporters after taking office. (Library of Congress/TNS)The Coolidge family turned the White House into “the Pennsylvania Avenue Zoo” with their array of pets, including many dogs, cats, birds, a donkey, a pygmy hippo and a bobcat. The president and First Lady Grace Coolidge became the owners of one of the most unique White House pets when they took a liking to a raccoon sent to them to be eaten for Thanksgiving. As she was quite calm and friendly, they kept her and named her Rebecca. They gave her baths, took her on walks and got her a companion, another raccoon named Reuben. (Library of Congress/TNS)As president, Herbert Hoover had many dogs, a canary and even a wild possum his family adopted named Billy Possum. They kept him in the pen built for the Coolidges’ raccoon until he was adopted by a Maryland high school that had recently lost its opossum mascot. The Hoovers had even wilder pets, though, thanks to the pair of alligators that son Allan Hoover kept in the bathtub. They were thankfully donated to the Smithsonian Zoo before the family moved in to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. (Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)FDR had many dogs, but the most famous was his Scottish terrier Fala, short for Murray the Outlaw of Falahill. Fala traveled with the president and slept in a chair at the foot of his bed. Fala received so much fan mail that a secretary was appointed to him to answer it all. Fala outlived FDR but received a full obituary in the New York Times after his death. Fala is the only presidential pet honored with a statue. (Library of Congress/TNS)President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a Weimaraner named Heidi, who had full run of the White House and grounds. This got her in trouble, though, as she had an accident on an extremely pricey rug in the diplomatic reception room. To avoid future snafus, she was sent to live on the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)Even though President John F. Kennedy was allergic to animal hair, the Kennedy family had many pets, including rabbits, parakeets, dogs and Caroline Kennedy’s pony named Macaroni. Perhaps their two most famous pets were their Welsh terrier named Charlie and their dog Pushinka. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)Charlie was a gift from first lady Jackie Kennedy and was considered “Jack’s dog.” Pushinka, Russian for “Fluffy,” was a gift from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Pushinka was the daughter of Strelka, a Soviet space dog that was aboard Sputnik II. Charlie and Pushinka later had had four puppies together. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter found a white terrier abandoned at a Texas gas station on Thanksgiving Day 1966, and this precious pup soon became a top dog living at the White House and sleeping in the president’s room with him. Yuki, which means “snow” in Japanese, and the president famously enjoyed “singing” together. (LBJ Library/TNS)LBJ and Ladybird also had a pair of beloved beagles named Him and Her. Him sired puppies in 1965, and two of that litter, Freckles and Kim, were given to first daughter Luci Johnson to keep as pets. LBJ also had another beagle named Edgar and a white collie named Blanco. (LBJ Library/TNS)Nixon’s White House companions were Pasha, a Yorkshire terrier, Vicki, a poodle, and King Timahoe, an Irish Setter. (Robert Knudsen/National Archives/TNS)Richard Nixon’s cocker spaniel Checkers was his pet when he was vice president, so although Checkers never lived in the White House, he is perhaps the most famous of Nixon’s pets. During a televised speech in 1952, Nixon denied misusing campaign contributions but said he would take one campaign gift, and that was Checkers. The speech came to be known as the “Checkers speech,” and it was the first time a politician used TV to appeal directly to voters. (National Archives/TNS)President Ford and his wife, Betty, had lost a golden retriever before he took office after Richard Nixon’s resignation. His daughter Susan surprised him with a new puppy named Liberty after he moved into the White House. She became quite a beloved celebrity, especially after having a litter of nine precious puppies. White House staff made a rubber stamp of Liberty’s paw print to “sign” photos of her and her puppies. (National Archives/TNS)Like President Hayes, Jimmy Carter also brought a Siamese to the White House thanks to his daughter’s cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang. Carter and his wife also had an Afghan hound named Lewis Brown and a border collie mix that was given to them after the election. The name was a nod to Carter’s Southern roots. (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)The Reagans had many dogs and horses at their California ranch, but their first White House pet was a Bouvier des Flandres dog named Lucky. Unfortunately, she grew too large and rambunctious to live at the White House. After that, they were given a Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy they named Rex who was allowed to stay. (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)George H.W. and Barbara Bush’s English springer spaniel Millie made quite a name for herself in the White House. She appeared on “The Simpsons” and “wrote” New York Times bestseller “Millie’s Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush.” She is the mother of two other White House pets, Bush’s dog Ranger, who they kept out of the litter she had at the White House, and Spot, who was given to George W. Bush and ultimately returned to Washington with him years later. (George H.W. Bush Presidential Library/TNS)Buddy the chocolate-colored Labrador Retriever and Socks the adopted stray cat were the Clintons’ two pets during Bill Clinton’s presidency. They didn’t really get along, so they were kept separate in the White House. Clinton once said, “I did better with … the Palestinians and the Israelis than I have done with Socks and Buddy.” As first lady, Hillary Clinton wrote a children’s book called “Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets.” (William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum/TNS)Scottish terriers Barney and Miss Beazley and Spot the English springer spaniel, offspring of Bush family pet Millie, were George W. Bush’s companions while in office. Their black cat India also lived with them at the White House, while the family’s longhorn Ofelia, unfortunately had to stay back at the family ranch in Crawford, Texas. (Eric Draper/George W. Bush Presidential Library/TNS)After his election, Barack Obama and his family got two Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny. Bo was named after the first lady Michelle Obama’s father, who had gone by the name “Diddley,” and he has starred in several children’s books. The family got Sunny as a little sister for Bo and named her for her cheerful personality. They’ve both met many dignitaries, including the pope. (The White House/TNS)Currently, Donald Trump is the first president in a century to not have a White House dog. He told a crowd in Texas that the idea of getting one now feels “phony” to him. “I wouldn’t mind having one, honestly, but I don’t have any time,” he said. “How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?”
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