Our Founding Fathers, and Their Weird Pets
Posted by John McCullock on 02-21-2012
It's only in recent times that White House presidents kept only common pets. Special breed dogs, cats and birds are the norm for today's presidential families; tame, reverent, and generally civilized choices in pets. Not like our country's founding fathers' choices in animal companions. Of course, back then it was normal to see the president's horses, cows and goats grazing the White House lawn. But it was more than just farm animals; our nation's presidential residence was a veritable zoo.
John Adams kept an obnoxious mutt named, "Satan", to guard the White House lawn. Mrs. Adams probably wasn't a fan of Satan, apparently she named him.
Thomas Jefferson kept grizzly bear cubs in a huge kennel on the White Lawn for a brief period.
John Quincy Adams, famous for not being a pet lover, was given an alligator as a gift from Marquis de Lafayette. Adams kept this pet -- in a White House bathroom! Some say he brought the alligator out on occasion to thrill guests.
Andrew Jackson kept a parrot named, "Pol". Not just any parrot, this one used its talent for speech to utter profanity. Pol outlived Jackson, and as the story goes, Pol had to be politely removed from Jackson's funeral because it wouldn't stop cursing.
Martin Van Buren was saddened to give away his pet tigers, a present from the Sultan of Oman. Apparently, congressional members weren't happy with live tigers roaming the White House.
The unmarried president, James Buchanan, was gifted many pets to keep him company, including elephants and bald eagles. Never mind what talons that size can do to a sofa, I feel sorry for the maid or butler who had to clean up after the 4-ton pachyderms.
Abraham Lincoln had farm animals roaming the White House halls like many of the presidents back then, but his son, Tad, was the one most attached to them. Tad let the family goats sleep on his bed, and even fought for the presidential pardon of their Christmas dinner, a turkey named, "Jack" (named, "Tom" by other accounts) in 1863. Historians write that, "Tad interrupted a cabinet meeting weeping and begging for his father's intervention and returned to the cook with the president's handwritten order of reprieve."
Ironically, it was Lincoln who declared "Thanksgiving" be a national holiday.
The infamous Andrew Johnson wasn't one for normal pets. He is said to have befriended the feral mice living in the White House walls by leaving them dishes of water and little piles of food.
Among Benjamin Harrison's pets were two opossums, Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection.
Theodore Roosevelt's household zoo included dogs, guinea pigs, macaws, roosters, garter snakes, pigs, various lizards, badgers, cats, mutts, rabbits, owls, ponies. Not really exotic for American pets. The one that stood out, though, was the hyena.
Quentin Roosevelt holding the family Macaw, "Eli Yale".
William Howard Taft's, "Miss Wayne" (aka "Pauline" in other reports), was the last cow to graze on the White House lawn.
Woodrow Wilson had a ram named, "Old Ike", who was addicted to chewing tobacco. Who knows why White House visitors fed him tobacco of all things.
Wilson's sheep grazing on the White House lawn.
Wilson's staff collecting wool near the White House west wing.
Warren G. Harding, not the best of golf players, actually trained his dog to climb trees to fetch all of his lost golf balls.
Despite all Calvin Coolidge's normal pets, he had many more odd ones: raccoons, canaries, a bobcat, a pygmy hippo, a wallaby, a black bear, and two lion cubs named, "Tax Reduction" and "Budget Bureau." He was occasionally seen walking one of his raccoons, "Rebecca", on a leash around the White House lawn.
Later presidents, starting with Herbert Hoover, ended the long history of farm-like and zoo-like stays in the White House. Since then, it's just been dog, cats and other city-friendly pets. Now it's the presidential scandals that are more interesting than the pets. But still, I would like to have seen young Quentin Roosevelt sneaking scraps under the dinner table to the hyena.
