History of White House Dogs
In 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for his fourth term when rumors surfaced that his Scottish Terrier, Fala, had accidentally been left behind when visiting the Aleutian Islands. After allegedly sending back ships to rescue his dog, Roosevelt was ridiculed and accused of spending thousands of taxpayers’ dollars to retrieve his dog. At a speech following this Roosevelt said, "you can criticize me, my wife and my family, but you can't criticize my little dog. He's Scotch and all these allegations about spending all this money have just made his little soul furious." What was later called the ‘Fala Speech’ reportedly turned the election around for Roosevelt.
Richard Nixon was accused of hiding a secret slush fund during his candidacy for vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He gave a televised "Checkers speech" named after his cocker spaniel; denying he had a slush fund but admitted that, "there is one thing that I did get as a gift that I'm not going to give back.” The gift was a black and white cocker spaniel, Checkers, given to his daughters. Although Nixon had been in danger of being kicked off the ticket, following his speech he received an increase in support and Mamie Eisenhower reportedly recommended he stay because he was “such a warm person”.
Pets also featured on presidential elections. Herbert Hoover got a German shepherd dog during his campaign, King Tut, and pictures of him with his new dog were sent all across the United States during his campaign.
On the other hand, many believe that President Lyndon B. Johnson’s image was damaged because of his pets. He was photographed picking his two Beagle dogs named Him and Her up by their ears. Much of the public was outraged and animal lovers spoke out against it. Others however did not understand the purpose of the uproar and President Harry S. Truman was even reported to have said, "What the hell are the critics complaining about; that's how you handle hounds." While it may not have hurt his presidency, this scandal shed a new light on the president's image.
Read more about this topic: United States Presidential Pets
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, white, house and/or dogs:
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“There was something refreshingly and wildly musical to my ears in the very name of the white man’s canoe, reminding me of Charlevoix and Canadian Voyageurs. The batteau is a sort of mongrel between the canoe and the boat, a fur-trader’s boat.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Cats are the ultimate narcissists. You can tell this because of all the time they spend on personal grooming. Dogs aren’t like this. A dog’s idea of personal grooming is to roll in a dead fish. Dogs spend their time thinking about doing good deeds for their masters, or sleeping.”
—James Gorman (b. 1949)