On this date in 1952 VP candidate Richard Nixon made his famous “Checkers speech” (here’s a video if you have a thing for Tricky Dick). It’s like if Sarah Palin stopped hunting wolves and adopted a pet moose, making voters think “Oh, gee…how nice!”, in turn helping McCain win the presidency in 2008.
Nixon’s black-and-white cocker spaniel didn’t live long enough to see his/her (too lazy to look it up) owner win the White House, but he/she lives on at the Presidential Pet Museum, founded over 10 years ago to preserve over 500 artifacts related to White House pets. Believe it or not, nearly every Prez had some kind of pet, whether exotic or common. Possible candidates for “Confessions: Animal Hoarding, the President Edition” are JFK and Teddy Roosevelt.
The Kennedys owned hamsters, rabbits, canaries, parakeets, horses and a pony named Macaroni. And let’s not forget Tom the Cat and Charlie, Shannon, Wolf, Clipper, Butterfly, White Tops, Blackie, Streaker and Pushinka the Dogs. Yeah, that’s a lot of fucking dogs. The last one is extra special, she was a gift from Premier Khrushchev in 1961 to prove the Cold War wasn’t so cold.
TR had five small children when he moved into the White House. And boy, did those kids like their animals. There were at least ten horses, five guinea pigs and bears, two parrots, various cats and dogs (including one named Emily Spinach…just figured out my future daughter’s name) and one of everything, like Noah’s Ark. There was a badger, lion, hyena, wildcat, coyote, zebra, owl and raccoon. Oh, throw some snakes and lizards in there to complete the West Wing Zoo. I have a feeling if Obama’s girls attempted to own as many pets as the Roosevelts, there would be claims of U.S. taxpayer waste. “Don’t spend my hard earned money on 100 pounds of kitty litter!”
The picture of Teddy Roosevelt Jr. and his blue macaw, Eli Yale was taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston on June 17, 1902. (Library of Congress)
