Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren voc obam here. Over the years, the residents of
Speaker 1: the White House have been pretty regular people. They eat
Speaker 1: dinner at home, They laugh and argue, They talk about
Speaker 1: were decorating and whether that paint color is really white
Speaker 1: or one of the fifteen variations of eggshell. And they
Speaker 1: share their lives with cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and all
Speaker 1: sorts of other household pets, just like you and me,
Speaker 1: except for the alligators. Of all the presidential pets throughout
Speaker 1: all of the presidential administrations ever since John Adams, the
Speaker 1: second U S President, first pulled his horse drawn U
Speaker 1: haul up to the newly built palace in eighteen hundred,
Speaker 1: alligators might be the strangest. And that's saying something. It's
Speaker 1: true though, or true ish. According to the Presidential Pet Museum,
Speaker 1: the story goes that John Quincy Adams, John adams Son,
Speaker 1: and the sixth US President from eighteen twenty nine, housed
Speaker 1: an alligator in the unfinished east room of what was
Speaker 1: then called the President's House. President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave
Speaker 1: the White House its current name in nineteen o one.
Speaker 1: The alligator in question, whose name seems to have been
Speaker 1: lost to time. Was a gift from the French military
Speaker 1: officer Marquis de Lafayette, who fought with the US against
Speaker 1: the British in the American Revolution and was an old
Speaker 1: Adam's family friend. John Quincy kept his gator in a bathtub,
Speaker 1: so the story goes, and enjoyed scaring guests by springing
Speaker 1: the big fellow on them. The alligator allegedly lived for
Speaker 1: some time in the Presidential Digs, where he ostensibly grew,
Speaker 1: both in stature and as a bit of Washington lore.
Speaker 1: The whole idea of a reptile in the people's House
Speaker 1: would have been unique too. But then a century later,
Speaker 1: Alan Henry Hoover, son of Herbert Hoover, President number thirty
Speaker 1: one from nine thirty three, showed up with his two gators. Allegedly,
Speaker 1: these gators supposedly were allowed to roam the White House grounds, which,
Speaker 1: as the folks at the Presidential Pet Museum also point out,
Speaker 1: probably kept King Tut on his toes. King Tut being
Speaker 1: President Hoover's German shepherd. Those two gators, names also lost
Speaker 1: to time, were the last known Camyans to reside, allegedly
Speaker 1: in the White House. There's no verifiable documentary evidence to
Speaker 1: back either of these stories up. But even if the
Speaker 1: alligators in the White House tales are to be discounted,
Speaker 1: the presidential digs still have housed more than a few
Speaker 1: non traditional pets through the years. There were definitely a
Speaker 1: couple of bear cubs. Thomas Jefferson, at President number three
Speaker 1: from eighteen o one to eighteen o nine, received a
Speaker 1: pair of grizzly bear cubs as a gift from an
Speaker 1: explorer of the American West. They were an instant hit
Speaker 1: because many Americans had never seen such animals before. The
Speaker 1: bears lived in an enclosure on the lawn of the
Speaker 1: President's House before being moved to Philadelphia. And then there
Speaker 1: was a raccoon. First, Lady Grace Coolidge, wife of Calvin
Speaker 1: number thirty nineteen twenty nine, kept a raccoon named Rebecca
Speaker 1: at the White House. The story goes that Rebecca was
Speaker 1: going to end up on the White House table for Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: but they fell in love with her. She wore a
Speaker 1: gold plated inscribed holler and became a beloved family pet.
Speaker 1: Then there was Theodore Roosevelt, President number twenty six from
Speaker 1: nineteen o one to nineteen o nine, who had a
Speaker 1: veritable zoos worth of animals snakes, hens, a one legged rooster,
Speaker 1: a hyena, a small bear named Jonathan Edwards. The most famous, though,
Speaker 1: was probably Josiah, a badger who was often carried around
Speaker 1: the White House grounds by young Archie Roosevelt. Woodrow Wilson
Speaker 1: number twenty eight from nineteen thirteen to nineteen twenty one
Speaker 1: kept a flock of sheep and let as many as
Speaker 1: forty eight of them graze on the south lawn as
Speaker 1: a show of support for the troops. During World War One,
Speaker 1: the sheep were shorn and their wool sold for wartime causes.
Speaker 1: There were possibly appossums. The story goes that Benjamin Harrison
Speaker 1: at number twenty three from eighteen eighty nine to eighteen
Speaker 1: nine three had two pet appossums at the White House.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to confirm, as is the answer to why
Speaker 1: the two alleged marsupials were named Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection. However,
Speaker 1: President Hoover did definitely preside over a ceremony on White
Speaker 1: House grounds involving Anna possum and a local high school
Speaker 1: sports team. Of course, the pet most recognized as a
Speaker 1: presidential sidekick, at least for modern day presidents, is the
Speaker 1: loyal canine. The most famous may have been Fala, who
Speaker 1: was so close to Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Number thirty two
Speaker 1: from nineteen thirty three to ninety five that the little
Speaker 1: Scottish terrier attended his funeral and is forever memorialized at
Speaker 1: the FDR Museum in Washington. Though there were many other
Speaker 1: presidential best friends. Warren G. Harding gave his dog Laddie Boy,
Speaker 1: a handcarved chair to sit in during meetings. Lyndon Johnson
Speaker 1: sung with Yuki in the Oval Office, Liberty hung out
Speaker 1: with Gerald Ford, Lucky with Ronald Reagan, and Millie with
Speaker 1: George H. W. Bush and Bowen Sonny kept Barack Obama
Speaker 1: and his family company. Sadly, one of the most famous
Speaker 1: presidential pooches never made it to the White House. Richard
Speaker 1: Nixon mentioned his dog, Checkers in the nineteen fifty two
Speaker 1: speech that later became known as the Checkers Speech, and
Speaker 1: it was credited with helping save Nixon's political career, but
Speaker 1: Checkers would pass away before Nixon took office in nineteen nine.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by John Donovan and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of
Speaker 1: other pet topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
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