Over the years, presidents have lived in the White House with their families, but many people do not acknowledge the fact that a lot of the presidents have had pets. The first president living in the White House that had pets was Thomas Jefferson. He had three birds, two dogs, two bears, and nine horses. The bears he received in 1807 from a Western explorer named Zebulon Pike. He housed them in a cage, where they showed Americans that new and exciting worlds awaited discovery.The second president that had pets was James Madison. The only pets that he had were birds, but he had nine of them. The main one was Polly, a green macaw. When James Madison left the White House for business, the British troops tried to burn the White House. When Dolley (James Madison's wife) realized that the British were only a few hours away, she packed the Declaration of Independence, the household silver, red velvet drapes, a small clock, a portrait of George Washington, and Polly. A few hours later, the British arrived, ransacked the White House, and burnt it. Polly barely managed to escape!The next president was John Quincy Adams. He had one dog and an ALLIGATOR!!!! J. Q. Adams caught the alligator in Florida when it was still a baby. After a while, he presented it to Marquis de Lafayette as a gift. Lafayette did not think that it would be polite to turn down a gift from the president, so he took the alligator with him all the way from Florida to Washington D.C. J.Q. Adams let the alligator stay in the bathtub in the East Room for months. Finally, before Marquis de Lafayette returned to France, he gave it to a zoo.Andrew Jackson had one bird, five horses, and several gamecocks. The parrot, Poll, was so loyal to President Jackson that he even attended President Jackson's funeral. However, Poll was removed from the area after he let loose a loud string of cuss words.John Tyler had two birds, two dogs, and one horse. One of the birds, a canary named Johnny Ty, was one of the birds. President Tyler and his wife thought that Johnny Ty should have a mate, so they called a friend. They asked the friend to find a canary as a mate for Johnny Ty. They found a beautiful bird and shipped it to the White House. Johnny Ty was excited to see another bird being brought into his cage. But something was wrong. Suddenly, Johnny Ty jumped off of his perch, flew to the bottom of his cage, and put his head under his wing. Before the week was over, he was dead. The Tyler's inspected the area, and found that the mate they had given Johnny Ty was another male!Zachary Taylor had one horse. His name was Old Whitey. Old Whitey once saved Zachary Taylor's life. During battle, when the British were starting to fire a cannon at President Taylor, he tried to make Old Whitney move forward, so that they would not get hit. However, Old Whitney stopped, then shook gently so that President Taylor would stand up. He did so, and the cannon ball went right between the president and the saddle.James Buchanan had two regular house birds, one dog, and several eagles. Lara, a Newfoundland, was the largest dog ever to live in the White House. He actually weighed 170 pounds! President Buchanan kept the eagles in a big enclosure on the White house lawn. Visitors to the White House often stopped to admire the eagles before continuing on their way.Abraham Lincoln had 13 pets when he lived in the White House. He had one bird, one cat, two dogs, two goats, three horses, two ponies, and two rabbits. When the Lincolns moved to the White House, they were afraid that Fido( what an exciting name-just joking!) would not make the train trip. Therefore they entrusted him the their trusted neighbors. To make him feel more at home, they gave him their expensive horsehair sofa! Their one bird, a turkey, was presented to the White House as a Christmas dinner, but President Lincoln's son, Tad Lincoln, grew attached to him and named him Jack. When he saw that they were preparing to kill Jack, Tad interrupted a cabinet meeting to ask his father so spare Jack's life. The president wrote a stay of execution, and ever since, it has become a tradition for the president to pardon a turkey each year at Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving? Why not Christmas? After all, President Lincoln spared a turkey's life right before Christmas!)Andrew Johnson had only one type of pet-mice. There is not much to say about the mice, so I won't say much about them, except that for some reason, they comforted President Jackson in hard times.Ulysses S. Grant also pets. He had 1 one bird, several dogs, 10 horses, 3 ponies, and several gamecocks. President Grant's favorite pets was a horse name Cincinnati. Cincinnati was a black thoroughbred that he received when he was still a general, and not yet president. Cincinnati was the son of the fastest four-mile horse thoroughbred in the United States(that means that the horse could run four miles faster then any other horse in the United States of America. President Grant loved Cincinnati so much that he had a statue made of himself on Cincinnati.
Rutherford B. Hayes had a lot of pets. He didn't have as many as President Lincoln had, but he still had many. He had 3 birds, 4 cats, 5 dogs, 1 goat, and a peacock. One of President Hayes cats was a Siamese cat. In fact, its name was Siam, and it was the very first Siamese cat to come to the United States of America. Siam had to be shipped from Siam (Thailand) to Hong Kong, then all the way to San Francisco, where he was finally shipped all the way across the country to the White House in Washington D.C.
The 20th president, James Garfield, did not have very many pets. he had 1 dog, several fish, and 3 horses. There is not much to say, except about Kit, a horse owned by Molly Garfield (President Garfield's daughter.) molly rode Kit side saddle, like most girls did in those days. One day, the saddle slipped, but Molly's foot caught, and Kit got spooked. She bolted, and Molly was dragged along the ground until someone grabbed Kit. Molly wasn't hurt, but she was so scared that she never rode again.
Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, had only seven pets, 5 birds and 2 dogs. There is not much to say about his pets either. One of his birds, a mockingbird, was so loud one night that he asked his aide to move it. The sudden silence worried him, so he asked his aide to move the bird again. This continued for most of the night (I think because he was feeling guilty.)
The 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison, had the regular animals: dogs, horses and cats. However, he also had several opossums. I could not find very much information about the opossums, but one of his goats, name His Whiskers, was a rascal. President Harrison would let his grandchildren ride in a cart behind His Whiskers, but one day, His Whiskers saw an open gate, and made a dash for freedom with the children still in the cart! Not to far away somebody caught His Whiskers, and the children were alright, just shaken.
The next president is Grover Cleveland, but some of the pets I told you he had were in his second term also.
The 25th president, William McKinley, had seemingly boring pets, a bird and five cats. One of his birds, however, was a "Mexican double-yellow-headed parrot" as described by a newspaper. His name was Washington Post, and he could sing many songs.
Theodore Roosevelt had perhaps the most odd and most pets of all the presidents he had: 5 bears, 3 birds, 2 cats, 5 dogs, 10 horses, 1 pig, 1 pony, 1 rabbit, and 1 snake. The most odd pets are:a badger, a barn owl, a bobcat, a coyote, and eagle, a flying squirrel, several guinea pigs, a horned toad, a hyena, a kangaroo rat, a piebald rat, and a zebra (this is going to be a long paragraph!) President Roosevelt's pony was named Algonquin. He was the favorite pet of President Roosevelt's son Archie. One time, Archie got a case of measles, and his brothers decided that nothing would make him feel better then a visit from Algonquin. So they put him in the elevator to take him to Archie's room. Algonquin was so enchanted by the mirror in the elevator that Archie's brothers almost couldn't get him out! I will not go into detail about the other pets except for one more, or this paragraph will be way too long. The snake, a green garter, was owned by Alice Roosevelt (President Roosevelt's daughter if you couldn't figure that out,) was named Emily Spinach because Emily thought that the snake was as green as spinach, and as thin as her Aunt Emily.
Finally, a new paragraph! Yam! William Taft had two cows and two dogs. One of his cows lived in the stable with President Taft's cars. When the garage was torn down, the cow moved with the cars to a new stable. However, she always grazed in the place where the old stable had been.
Woodrow Wilson's main pets were sheep, which he had 14 of (he also had 2 birds and a cat, but they are not important.) The sheep kept the grass trimmed semi-neatly when the gardeners were fighting in World War I. Every so often, the sheep were sheared and there wool was auctioned off. The money was then given to the Red Cross. The total money given to the Red Cross was somewhere around $100,000 during President Wilson's term at the White House.
Warren Harding, the next and 29th president, had only 4 pets. He had 2 birds and 2 dogs. Caswell Laddie Boy, one of the dogs, was an Airedale terrier. He was so beloved that he was often invited into special parties and other such things.
The 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, had a lot of pets also, nearly as much as Theodore Roosevelt. He had: 1 bear, 7 birds, 3 cats, 12 dogs, 1 donkey, 2 raccoons; his odd pets were and antelope, a bobcat, several lion cubs, a mynah bird, a pygmy hippo, a troupial, and a wallaby. This is such a long post, that I will not talk about details (from now on, I will not tell many details, so that this post is not too much longer.)
Herbert Hoover had 9 dogs and an opossum. The opossum may seem dull, but it caused a lot of mayhem. When it was found wandering the White House lawns, President Hoover adopted it as one of his pets. Unfortunately, the opossum looked just like Billy, and opossum that was the mascot of a team in Maryland. When the team saw the opossum in the newspaper, they thought that it was Billy. So some of the players went to the White House, and it was Billy. They brought him back for good luck, and made it to the state championships.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had only one type of pet, Scottish Terriers. The most famous one was Fala, who was the most adored by Franklin Roosevelt, and went everywhere with him.
Harry S. Truman had 2 dogs. Mike, and Irish Setter, was the only dog allowed other then one other. President Truman's daughter chased Mike around one night, and discovered a secret room where government people discussed plans for World War II!
Dwight D. Eisenhower had 3 dogs and a pig. His favorite pet was a Weimaraner named Heidi. Heidi did not like pictures being taken of the president's wife, and so whenever somebody tried to, he jumped in front of the camera.
John F. Kennedy had 3 birds, 1 cat, 9 dogs, 2 hamsters, 1 horse, 3 ponies, and an Irish deer.
Lyndon B. Johnson had 5 dogs. He liked to show off his beagles, Him and Her. One time when they were posing for a picture, he wanted the beagles to stand on their hind legs. So, he pulled their ears. It hurt the dogs, who yelped. Dog lovers from around the country wrote angry letters to the president.
Richard Nixon had 4 dogs. When he was vice president, Nixon was caught receiving money from secret contributors. He made a famous speech on television, and said that he had not received any money, but a dog. His children loved the dog, and named it Checkers.
Only 7 paragraphs to go! Gerald Ford had 1 cat and 9 dogs. Liberty, a golden retriever, was close friend with the president, and was adored by people all over the country. When she gave birth to 8 puppies, so many people requested pictures of the mother and pups with a paw print of Liberty, that a stamp was made of her paw.
Jimmy Carter had 1 cat and 1 dog. Misty Malarky Ying Yang, a Siamese cat, had the run of the White House. That is, she had the run of the White House until Grits arrived. Grits liked nothing better then to chase Misty M. Y. Y., and he also had a bad habit of soiling the White House rugs and carpet.
The 40th president, Ronald Reagan, had 2 dogs and 4 horses. Rex, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel had a taste for the finer things in life. He was a gift from the president to his wife.
George H. W. Bush had 8 dogs. Millie, an English springer spaniel, became famous by "writing" a book called Millie's Book. Millie's Book was a dog's-eye view of life in the White House.
Bill Clinton had a cat and a dog. Socks, was found by the president's daughter at her piano teacher's house. A puppy soon joined Socks at the White House. He was named Luke, but his name was changed to Buddy after President Clinton received hundreds of letters with name suggestions.
George W. Bush had 2 cats, 2 dogs, and a Longhorn cow. Ofelia is a black-spotted cow that now lives on Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. One of his dogs was spot, one of Millie's puppies (see paragraph above the paragraph above.)
Finally, President Barack Obama does not have any pets so far, but he promised his daughters a dog. It is expected to arrive in April.
YES!!!! I am done! If this took you longer then 10 or 20 minutes, I am not surprised.
Thanks to First Pets: Presidential Best Friends, and www.presidentialpetsmuseum.com !
