thumb|right|upright=1.2|[[Socks (cat)|Socks at the White House Press Briefing Room lectern in 1993]]

thumb|right|upright=1.2|[[Grace Coolidge with Laddie Boy, an Airedale Terrier, and Rob Roy, a white Collie]]

Most United States presidents have kept pets while in office, or pets have been part of their families. Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office (however, Johnson did take care of some mice he found in his bedroom).

Pets also featured in presidential elections. Herbert Hoover got a "Belgian Police Dog" (Belgian Malinois),

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 Scottish and all these allegations about spending all this money have just made his little soul furious." What was later called the "Fala speech" reportedly helped secure reelection 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 the televised "Checkers speech" named after his cocker spaniel, denying he had a slush fund but admitting, "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 there had been talk of Nixon being dropped from 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."

Lyndon B. Johnson caused controversy when he was photographed lifting his beagles, named Him and Her, by their ears. Some did not understand the controversy; former president Harry S. Truman said, "What the hell are the critics complaining about; that's how you handle hounds."

Bill Clinton moved into the White House with Socks, a tuxedo cat, who in 1991 was reported to have jumped into the arms of Chelsea Clinton after piano lessons while the Clintons were living in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was later joined in 1997 by Buddy, a Labrador Retriever, during Clinton's second term. The two pets reportedly did not get along, with Clinton later saying "I did better with the Palestinians and the Israelis than I've done with Socks and Buddy" while Hillary Clinton said Socks "despised" Buddy at first sight. The two were, however, the subject of a book, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets written by then first lady Hillary Clinton and appeared as cartoons in the kids' section of the first White House website.

While George W. Bush was president, he had three dogs and a cat at the White House. Among the canines was Spot Fetcher, an English Springer Spaniel and the offspring of George H. W. Bush's dog, Millie. This made Spotty the first animal to live in the White House under two different administrations, having been born there in 1989 and died there in 2004.

Barack and Michelle Obama were without pets prior to the 2008 election, but promised their daughters they could get a dog when the family moved into the White House. They selected Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog, partly due to Malia Obama's allergies and the need for a hypoallergenic pet. The puppy was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy and was later joined by Sunny, a female of the same breed. Bo was featured in the 2010 children's book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, written by President Obama with illustrations by Loren Long.

Joe and Jill Biden moved into the White House with two German Shepherds, Champ and Major. Major was the first shelter dog in the White House, while Champ returned to Washington, having joined the Biden family during Joe Biden's tenure as vice-president. The Bidens announced the death of 13-year-old Champ on June 19, 2021. In December 2021, the Bidens announced the arrival of a pedigreed German Shepherd puppy named Commander, gifted to them by Joe Biden's brother. Officials later told the press that Major had been rehomed to a quieter environment following a series of biting incidents. Commander also had to be rehomed after at least 25 biting incidents. The Bidens had also promised they would get a cat, and they fulfilled that promise in January 2022 by adding a two-year-old gray tabby, Willow, to the family.

List of presidential pets

In addition to traditional pets, this list includes some animals normally considered livestock or working animals that have a close association with presidents or their families. Presidents have often been given exotic animals from foreign dignitaries; occasionally these are kept, but often they are promptly donated to a zoo.

George Washington

thumb|[[Portrait of George Washington Taking the Salute at Trenton by John Faed shows Washington on his horse Blueskin]]

  • Sweetlips, Scentwell and Vulcan (among others)
  • Drunkard, a gift from King Charles III of Spain
  • Nelson (1763–1790) and Blueskin – horses that were Washington's wartime mounts
  • Snipe – parrot said to have been owned by First Lady Martha Washington
  • Cornwallis – greyhound named for General Cornwallis – stallions

John Adams

  • Juno, Mark, and Satan
  • Bergère and Grizzle – shepherd dogs from France, possibly Briards
  • Two grizzly bear cubs, a male and female pair given by Captain Zebulon Pike. Jefferson deemed them "too dangerous & troublesome for me to keep" and gave them to Charles Willson Peale's Philadelphia Museum
  • Caractacus – horse named after Caratacus, a 1st-century British chieftain. The horse was the offspring of Jefferson's mare Allycroker and a Godolphin Arabian named Young Fearnought
  • Sheep – beginning in 1807, the president bred sheep from "four of the most remarkeable varieties Although this story has been widely circulated, the lack of evidence from contemporary accounts or official records suggests an apocryphal myth.

Andrew Jackson

  • Poll – grey parrot who learned to swear. Anecdotally, it is said that she attended Jackson's funeral and had to be removed due to loud and persistent profanity.<!--When did he own them? Was it during his presidency?--> This story, however, is likely untrue and conflated with a rumor of a similar story at the time, relating to a gift including two lions from the emperor of Morocco and the American Consulate in Tangier. Although the Sultan did send a ship with many exotic gifts, (including two horses) that became a point of contention within Congress, there is no contemporary reference to tiger cubs.
  • Whisker – Goat

John Tyler

  • Le Beau – Italian Greyhound

Millard Fillmore

  • Mason and Dixon – ponies;
  • Two birds from Japan,
  • Punch – Toy terrier
  • Eagle The elephants were then sent to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Abraham Lincoln

right|thumb|upright=1|[[Old Bob caparisoned in a mourning blanket at Abraham Lincoln's funeral]]

  • Nanny and Nanko – goats
  • Fido – dog, by a drunk with a knife, a few months after Lincoln's assassination; Lincoln's famous dog may have popularized the use of the name "Fido".
  • Jip – dog
  • Horse

Ulysses S. Grant

  • Butcher's Boy, Cincinnati, Egypt, Jeff Davis (his wartime mount), Jennie, Julia, Mary, and St. Louis – Horses. Cincinnati was a thoroughbred of renowned racing pedigree.
  • Billy Button and Reb – ponies First named Miss Pussy by First Lady Lucy Hayes.

James A. Garfield

  • Kit – horse
  • Coquette – horse Dachshunds
  • Hundreds of imported fish, including exotic fish and common goldfish
  • Paradise fish – A gift from the ruler of Siam (now Thailand)
  • Dash – collie named from the 1896 Republican party platform, which includes: "Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of Republican policy and go hand in hand."
  • Two alligators – According to one account, Russell Harrison kept two alligators in the White House conservatory

William McKinley

  • Washington Post (or "Loretta") – Yellow-headed Mexican parrot; could whistle "Yankee Doodle" ]]
  • Admiral Dewey, Bishop Doane, Dr. Johnson, Father O'Grady, Fighting Bob Evans – guinea pigs;
  • Bleistein – horse. The favorite of all his horses
  • Baron Spreckle – hen, brought from California and described as a "horned frog" (cf. horned toad); likely named after Lewis Carroll's Bill the Lizard.
  • Blackjack – Manchester Terrier
  • Eli Yale – Hyacinth macaw
  • Fedelity – pony named after the religious leader, an ancestor of Mrs. Roosevelt; eventually sent to the Bronx Zoo
  • Jonathan – Piebald rat
  • Manchu – Pekingese dog Cf. Peter Rabbit.
  • Rollo – Saint Bernard
  • Skip – mongrel
  • Bill – laughing hyena, gift from Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia
  • Barn owl
  • Fierce – one-legged rooster

William Howard Taft

  • Caruso – dog,
  • Mooly Wooly

Woodrow Wilson

thumb|upright=1|Wilson's sheep on the [[South Lawn]]

  • Davie – Airedale Terrier kept the White House lawn trimmed "in the most economical way", which was framed as helping the war effort. Their wool was sold to benefit the Red Cross
  • Old Ike – ram,
  • Bob – canary
  • Numerous canaries, names not recorded

Calvin Coolidge

thumb|upright=1|Portrait of Rob Roy and [[Grace Coolidge]]

thumb|Rebecca, the White House raccoon

  • Rob Roy (1922–1928) and Prudence Prim – White collies
  • Ebeneezer – donkey
  • Nip and Tuck – canaries, both olive green in color; the Coolidges' first birds
  • Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau – lion cubs from Johannesburg, South Africa
  • A wallaby – Promptly given to a zoo
  • Billy Possum – A wild opossum that occupied Rebecca's vacant tree-house and was "adopted" by the Hoovers; The name likely derives from a nickname used for the 27th president, William Howard Taft.
  • Caruso – A Roller canary (Malinois variety)
  • Glen – Scotch Collie
  • Patrick – Irish Wolfhound
  • Alligators – Owned by his son Allan After a number of White House biting incidents, he was sent to live at Roosevelt's private residence in Hyde Park, New York.
  • Meggie – Scottish Terrier because the Trumans "preferred to be a pet-free family" he was given as a puppy to Truman's personal physician and claimed to not be a "pet lover"
  • Mike – Irish Setter
  • Heidi – Weimaraner
  • Dzimbo – baby Forest elephant, sent by the French Community of African Republics, sent away to the National zoo

John F. Kennedy

right|thumb|upright=1|The Kennedy family and dogs

  • Gaullie – poodle
  • Charlie – Welsh Terrier
  • Robin – canary Ongoing conflicts with their terrier Charlie prompted sending them to Rock Creek Park.
  • Macaroni – pony
  • Tex – bay-colored Yakut pony
  • Moe – Doberman Pinscher
  • Clipper – German Shepherd
  • Butterfly, White Tips, Blackie, and Streaker – Offspring of Pushinka and Charlie
  • Spotted Salamander – given by Robert F. Kennedy
  • Edgar – beagle
  • Hamsters
  • Little Beagle Johnson – had the family initials LBJ

Richard Nixon

right|thumb|upright=1|King Timahoe, Vicky and Pasha looking out the window in the White House

  • Vicky – poodle
  • Pasha – Yorkshire terrier
  • Checkers

Jimmy Carter

thumb|upright=1|[[Amy Carter with her cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang]]

  • Grits – Border collie (mix); Given to his daughter Amy by her teacher, but quickly returned after snapping at several White House visitors
  • Misty Malarky Ying Yang, Amy's pet – Siamese cat
  • Shanthi – Sri Lankan elephant; officially a gift from the children of Sri Lanka to those of the United States. Symbolically gifted to Amy.
  • Rex (December 16, 1984 – August 31, 1998) – Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
  • Victory – Golden Retriever
  • Cleo and Sara – tortoiseshell cats at Rancho del Cielo

George H. W. Bush

right|thumb|upright=1|George H. W. Bush walking with Millie and Ranger

  • Millie (January 12, 1985 – May 19, 1997) – Springer Spaniel.
  • Ranger (March 17, 1989 – April 10, 1993) – one of Millie's puppies

Bill Clinton

  • Socks (March 15, 1989 – February 20, 2009) – Cat

George W. Bush

  • Spot "Spotty" Fetcher (March 17, 1989 – February 21, 2004) – female English Springer Spaniel named after Scott Fletcher; puppy of Millie;
  • Miss Beazley (October 28, 2004 – May 17, 2014) – Scottish Terrier; nicknamed "Beazley Weazley"; 2005 birthday gift from George to his wife.

Donald Trump

  • None

Joe Biden

thumb|right|upright=1|Champ

  • Champ (November 11, 2008 – June 19, 2021) – German Shepherd
  • Major
  • Commander (born September 1, 2021) – A German Shepherd given to the Bidens as a puppy by the president's brother, also removed from White House after biting incidents.
  • Willow – A gray tabby cat who was adopted after the cat jumped onstage during a rally in Pennsylvania in 2020. Willow, who Biden described as having "no limits," often slept on top of the president's head during his term.

Key

See also

  • Canadian Parliamentary Cats
  • Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
  • Pets of Vladimir Putin
  • Taiwanese presidential pets
  • Horses of Andrew Jackson

Notes

References

  • White House Pets: Animal Ambassadors&nbsp;– The White House Historical Association
  • Presidential Pets Museum&nbsp;– Private museum in Glen Allen, Virginia
  • Pets in the White House&nbsp;– White House for Kids (official Clinton archive)