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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class as a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that pays tribute to the parrots of the

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Speaker 1: past by telling their stories. Today, I'm Gay Bluesier and

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Speaker 1: in this episode, we're talking about the time when an

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Speaker 1: ex president's pet parrot livened up his memorial service by

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Speaker 1: giving a rather of scene eulogy. The day was June tenth, eighteen.

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Speaker 1: President Andrew Jackson's funeral was rudely interrupted when his pet

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Speaker 1: parrot began squawking profanities during the service. It's possible the

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Speaker 1: bird was upset by the large crowd, or maybe he

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Speaker 1: was just grieving more vocally than his fellow mourners. In

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Speaker 1: either case, the parrots outburst was so disruptive that he

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Speaker 1: was eventually taken outside hide where he could curse more freely.

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Speaker 1: The bird in question was an African gray parrot named Paul,

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Speaker 1: as in Polly Wanna Cracker. It wasn't the most inspired

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Speaker 1: name for a parent, but we'll talk more about that

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Speaker 1: a little later. Andrew Jackson had originally bought Paul as

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Speaker 1: a gift for his wife, Rachel. Unfortunately, she died of

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Speaker 1: a heart attack in December of eighteen twenty eight, shortly

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Speaker 1: after Jackson was elected president. He was so grief stricken

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Speaker 1: that he reportedly had to be pulled away from his

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Speaker 1: wife so that the undertaker could prepare the body for burial.

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Speaker 1: It's no surprise, then, that Jackson continued caring for the

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Speaker 1: parrot after his wife's passing, and since parrots can live

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Speaker 1: to be fifty years or older, that relationship lasted all

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Speaker 1: the way up to Jackson's own death seventeen years later.

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Speaker 1: That's a long time to spend together with a pet,

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Speaker 1: and it gave Paul plenty of opportunity to pick up

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Speaker 1: some of the salty or language which used by one

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Speaker 1: of history's most hot tempered presidents. Parrots, of course, are

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Speaker 1: notorious mimics, capable of memorizing and reproducing the sounds they hear,

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Speaker 1: whether it be a baby crying or a president swearing.

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Speaker 1: Paul eventually earned a reputation for cursing and visitors who

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Speaker 1: came to the White House, So while we can't say

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Speaker 1: for certain that he got his foul mouth from his owner,

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Speaker 1: it seems like a safe bet. After all, Jackson was

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Speaker 1: the guy who installed a dozen spittoons in the White House,

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Speaker 1: participated in more than a hundred armed duels, and orchestrated

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Speaker 1: the Indian removal process that forced tens of thousands of

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Speaker 1: Native Americans off their land. The fact that he was

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Speaker 1: a bad influence, even on a parrot, isn't all that surprising. Still,

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Speaker 1: for all his shortcomings and controversial policies, Old Hickory was

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Speaker 1: a celebrated military commander and the seventh President of the

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Speaker 1: United States. He had been out of office eight years

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Speaker 1: by the time of his death on June eighteen forty five,

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Speaker 1: but you never would have known it from the size

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Speaker 1: of the crowd at his funeral. The service was held

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Speaker 1: two days later at the Hermitage, his family home in Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: More than three thousand people gathered to pay their respects,

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Speaker 1: and among them was an African gray parrot named Paul.

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Speaker 1: It's unclear who decided the pet parrot should be present

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Speaker 1: in the crowded room, but whoever it was, quickly regretted

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Speaker 1: the decision when Paul started loudly chirping, squeaking, and swearing.

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Speaker 1: Reverend William Menifee presided over the funeral and later described

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Speaker 1: the scene that day, writing quote before the sermon and

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Speaker 1: while the crowd was gathering. A wicked parrot that was

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Speaker 1: a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud

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Speaker 1: and long as to disturb the people, and had to

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Speaker 1: be carried from the house. The reverend went on to

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Speaker 1: say that Paul had quote let loose perf gusts of

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Speaker 1: cuss words, and that the mourners were horrified and odd

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Speaker 1: at the bird's lack of reverence. The biggest question in

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Speaker 1: all this is, of course, what exactly did the parrots say? Sadly,

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Speaker 1: Reverend Menafee failed to transcribe the bird's tirade, though I

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Speaker 1: imagine it was something to the effect of and you

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Speaker 1: can keep your crackers too. Speaking of Polly Wanna cracker,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about that old cliche. The name Paul has

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Speaker 1: acted as a generic name for a parrot since at

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Speaker 1: least the early sixteen hundreds. The earliest written record of

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Speaker 1: its usage is in a satirical play called Volpone written

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Speaker 1: by Ben Johnson in sixteen oh six. Many of the

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Speaker 1: play's characters are described as animals that somehow reflect their

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Speaker 1: key character traits. For example, the title character Volpone is

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Speaker 1: likened to a fox due to his slyness and cunning.

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Speaker 1: Johnson also included to parrot like characters in the play

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Speaker 1: Mr and Mrs Politic would be or Paul for short.

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Speaker 1: The English couple tries to curry favor in Venetian high

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Speaker 1: society by mimicking the words and actions of Volpone and

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Speaker 1: his crew. Johnson describes this as parrot like behavior, since

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Speaker 1: they're essentially repeating what they hear without knowing what any

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Speaker 1: of it means. No one knows for sure if Johnson

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Speaker 1: was the first to apply the term Paul to parrots,

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Speaker 1: but his play certainly helped popularize the name. Some British

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Speaker 1: bird owners later adapted Paul into the much cuter, friendlier Polly,

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Speaker 1: but both versions of the name eventually crossed over to

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Speaker 1: the United States and into stories about pirates, so the

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Speaker 1: name wasn't as played out in Jackson's day as it

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Speaker 1: is in our own. And even if it was an

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Speaker 1: unimaginative name for a parrot, it was still nothing to

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Speaker 1: swear about. So Paul apparently disagreed. I'm gay, bluesier, and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, why

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Speaker 1: also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: you can write to me directly at this day at

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Speaker 1: I heart media dot com. Special thanks to guest producers

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Speaker 1: Joey Pat and Casey Pegro, and thanks to you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again soon for another day

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Speaker 1: in history class