Oval Office Oddities

by Bill Fawcett

  Gemini: Adaptable and versatile, witty, intellectual, eloquent, youthful but also nervous, superficial, cunning, and inquisitive. The great claim of the Gemini was that John F. Kennedy was one. He certainly was a perfect fit for the general traits listed above. I would have thought him an Aquarius though, with the stories of his bedroom frolics. Maybe the cunning part fits.

  Cancer: Emotional and loving, imaginative, cautious, protective and sympathetic, but also moody, touchy, and clinging. The skinny-dipping John Quincy Adams was cautious enough, but not very touchy, by any definition.

  Leo: Generous, warmhearted, creative, enthusiastic, faithful, and loving, but also pompous, patronizing, interfering, and intolerant. There wasn’t a Leo as president until Benjamin Harrison in 1889. He was the coldest, least sociable person to ever live in the White House. His nickname was “White House Iceberg.” He missed the first part of the list it seems. The next one, Herbert Hoover, didn’t do much better. Shantytowns in the Great Depression were called “Hoovervilles.” Going forward from Hoover, you find next William Jefferson Clinton. Loving we got, but missed the faithful part.

  Virgo: Modest, shy, reliable, practical, diligent, and intelligent but also prone to worry, critical, a perfectionist, and conservative. William Howard Taft was a 325-pound bureaucrat and the first Virgo president (in 1909). He somehow managed to make just about everyone in the nation mad at him by the end of his term. Shy? Reliable? Modest? The next one is LBJ, not your typical Virgo it seems.

  Libra: Diplomatic, charming, easygoing, sociable, idealistic, and peaceable but also indecisive, easily influenced, flirtatious and self-indulgent. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first Libra president and generally botched the job. Basically, take every trait listed for Libra and reverse it and you have Hayes. He was much happier later as a judge. Ike, the next Libra, did a much better job, if mostly from the golf course.

  Scorpio: Forceful, emotional, intuitive, passionate, and magnetic but also prone to be jealous, compulsive, obsessive, secretive, and obstinate. The first Scorpio president certainly had these traits, as it was the Revolutionary hero John Adams. As a Scorpio, James Polk should have been decisive. The truth is that his failure to deal with slavery was one of the eventual causes of a the American Civil War. Teddy Roosevelt was a Scorpio—now that fits. Most Scorpios try to forget that Warren Harding was one too, with good reason.

  Sagittarius: Optimistic, good-humored, honest, intellectual, and philosophical, but also careless, irresponsible, and tactless. The first one to hold office was Martin Van Buren; he is mostly known for creating the first modern political machine in the United States and for luxurious living. About honest—see the part about political machine above.

  Capricorn: Practical, ambitious, disciplined, patient, and careful, but also pessimistic, greedy, and grudging. So all that ambition and patience gave us the first Capricorn president, Millard Fillmore. A case can be made for his being the least effective president to have ever served. A more competent Woodrow Wilson was the next Capricorn. Capricorns have the dubious honor of including Richard Nixon.

  Aquarius: Friendly, honest, loyal, inventive, and intellectual, but contrary, unpredictable, and unemotional. The first Aquarian president was William Henry Harrison, who spoke almost two hours at his inauguration, fell ill, and died. A bit too friendly perhaps. Abraham Lincoln was an Aquarius, and certainly had many of the positive traits, but then he seems to have had a lot of positive traits. This writer always figured him for a Taurus, the way he hung on during dark times in the Civil War. After all, Grant was. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also an Aquarius. He led the nation with a near-dictatorial hand through two crises, the Depression and World War II. FDR does seem to have lived up to the “free love” image, to his wife’s chagrin. And who would have figured that Ronald Reagan was an Aquarius? Guess it was from all those years in California.

  Pisces: Imaginative, sensitive, kind, and unworldly and very sympathetic, but also idealistic, secretive and easily led. Strangely, George Washington was a Pisces. The next Pisces president was James Madison, a consummate politician and definitely not easily led. Never unworldly, Andrew Jackson showed few Pisces traits. Perhaps it was his frontier upbringing.

  LONG TIME, SAME PROBLEM

  The first time the son of a president was elected president was way back in 1824, when John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, was elected. Strangely, both of these men who became president shared one problem. This was that both received less than half of the popular vote and served their term under a cloud.

  21

  PRESIDENTIAL PETS

  by Claire McLean

  Curator, Presidential Pet Museum

  The curator of the Presidential Pet Museum was kind enough to gather these facts and remembrances of presidents and their pets. You can visit the Museum while in Washington, D.C., or look it up online at www.presidentialpetmuseum.com. For those of you that feel the White House is quite a zoo, it will confirm your suspicions.

  GEORGE WASHINGTON

  Our founding father was the hero of the dog breeder’s domain in early days, having a keen sense of selection of the finest to the finest. He forefathered the American foxhound from the English foxhound, and kept records on his breedings and his animals, which covered dogs, mules, turkeys, and other farm animals. On top of that the story, true or not, is that Martha Washington’s parrot was trained to say, “Polly wants a cracker?”

  JOHN ADAMS

  John Adams built the first stables at the White House and had a favorite horse named Cleopatra. Abigail had two dogs: Juno and Satan.

  THOMAS JEFFERSON

  This great gentleman was a lover and breeder of French Briards, and is said to have invented the dog license, having asked all landowners to tag their dogs and be responsible for their mischief.

  JAMES MADISON

  President Madison’s wife, Dolley, took the stage at the White House with her society parties and wonderful affairs, but her big claim in the history books is that she and her handlady rescued both the great portrait of George Washington and her beloved green parrot from the White House as the British advanced. It is said the parrot outlived both her and her husband, and did not ask for any crackers.

  JAMES MONROE

  James Monroe’s twelve-year-old daughter, Maria, had a spaniel while at the White House, and they both were the objects of much observation and entertainment. One visitor remarked that he was not sure whether Maria or the spaniel wiggled more, nor which was more rude.

  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

  One of the most bizarre and yet true stories is how President Adams kept an alligator of questionable size in the East Room of the White House for several months. This well-documented episode tells of how this gift from the French general, Lafayette, managed to provide the President with some amusing and hilarious moments, as many guests would come upon the reptile unaware and show their shock and awe in a variety of ways. To add to his bizarre taste in pets, Louisa Adams kept silkworms in the sitting room and was known to weave their silk into cloth.

  ANDREW JACKSON

  Andrew Jackson was known as the “racehorse president,” as his love for horses and especially for racing them was well documented. His favorite horse was Truxton and another was Sam Patch. It was Truxton, however, that he purchased and put out at stud at his farm, the Hermitage, in Tennessee, and who sired many foals for racing and riding. He loved this horse above many of the others, but perhaps it was because Truxton won so many races for him.

  MARTIN VAN BUREN

  When he was president, Martin Van Buren fought with the Congress of the United States to keep two tiger cubs that were given to him. They arrived at the White House as cute cubs from the sultan of Oman, and the president was happy to show them off to visitors. He felt they were indeed his property and he could do as he wished with them. But as the complaints began to fly, Congress stepped in and made a decree that such gifts to the president belonged to the people, and therefore the cute cubs, now testy teenagers,
went off to the National Zoo and attracted much attention there.

  WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

  The story of this president running down Pennsylvania Avenue, chasing his grandson Ben in a runaway goat cart, is the big animal story of the Harrison White House, but it goes much farther than that. Although not well-documented, it is known the grandchildren of William Henry Harrison, just as his children did, had an assortment of small pets and large pets—in particular, the ornery runaway goat, Whiskers. The newspapers carried the story of the runaway goat and some bystanders, aghast at the wildly puffing president, believed it was the president’s coachman Willis who spooked Whiskers into his mad dash. Little did they know then that grandson Ben would grow up to be president also, but at that time Ben enjoyed the ride.

  JOHN TYLER

  Tyler and his wife, Julia, had soft hearts for animals. They had many in their lives and several during his administration, which was fraught with controversy. Tyler was to help pioneer the Italian greyhound in the country when he surprised his wife by ordering a puppy from Naples. When it finally arrived, it was noted that it was rough on furniture and in need of discipline. Le Beau, as he was called, was mentioned in the press on occasions of his misbehaving—mostly in the Tyler estate at Sherwood Forest in Virginia.

  ZACHARY TAYLOR

  When tales are told of President Taylor, there is usually the mention of his great war mount, old Whitey. A comparison is often made of how they were alike in appearance: an un-groomed, shaggy, and scraggly steed, and his long, lanky rider. Whitey carried the general through hundreds of miles in the Mexican-American War and through many battles to become the most famous horse in the United States. He stayed on with the general when he became president, and while losing many of his tail and mane hairs to visitors at the White House, he joined the funeral procession for his master and found his final resting place at their home in Virginia.

  ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  Many animals adorned the Lincoln White House, despite Mrs. Lincoln’s lack of pleasure in them. The first recorded litters to be born in the White House came on the same day, when Tad’s dog and Willie’s cat both gave birth at the same time.

  Willie took sick with pneumonia and died, and this left the Lincoln family in deep mourning and shock, especially little Tad. Several months later, after other attempts to cheer him up, two goats came to live with him at the White House and went into the history books as heroes. They were Nanko and Nanny. First came a pair of pink-eyed white rabbits, and then came the goats. Tad was a typical rambunctious boy and looked for ways to have fun with his pet goats. He often riled his very stern mother, Mary Lincoln, who did not look upon several of his stunts kindly.

  The episode that got Tad in the most trouble was when he hooked up the fun-loving goats to some hall furniture, chairs to be exact, and rode the chairs down the great hallway while the aides and assistants stood aghast. The recorded word has it his father, Lincoln, was amused by his creativity, but Tad was given downtime by his mother. Sadly, Nanny Goat wandered off when Tad and his mother were visiting Vermont and was never seen or heard from again. A long-held suspicion is that the gardener may have assisted in the disappearance, as the goats were notorious for smashing the flower gardens. For some reason, Nanny was often able to escape from the stable and make a beeline for the flowerbed. Nanko stayed on, better behaved and content.

  Their famous family dog, Fido, of mixed ancestry, stayed behind in Springfield when the Lincolns went to Washington, but the dog was still very much a part of the family. A formal portrait of this dog can be seen on exhibit at the Lincoln Museum and Library.

  ANDREW JOHNSON

  During his impeachment process, over which this president prevailed, Andrew Johnson confided to an aide that he had befriended a family of mice that would appear at dusk each night in the Oval Office. He would put out flour or biscuits for the tiny rodents and ponder their plight as he worried late into the night about his own.

  ULYSSES S. GRANT

  President Ulysses S. Grant appeared to be a genuine animal lover, having had dogs, cats, and horses throughout most of his life. During his administration, he was known to dote on his great racehorse, Cincinnati.

  RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

  A two-year-old greyhound named Grim, a gift from Mrs. William DuPont of Wilmington, Delaware, gained celebrity status at the White House. He was much admired by the Hayes family and was popular with the public. When Grim met an untimely death by standing his ground in the face of an oncoming train, the public deluged the White House with letters of condolence. Hayes wrote, “The death of Grim has made us all mourn.” The Newfoundland, Hector, and the cocker, Dot, both seemed to miss the big guy as well. The Hayeses went on to replace Grim with other adored pets, but with such outpouring of public sympathy, came to realize that their animals were very much a part of their public image.

  JAMES GARFIELD

  One of the favorite tales told about James Garfield is that of his family dog, Veto, a large black Newfoundland that captured the imagination of the public when the president decided upon naming the big dog.

  This story, as sent to the Presidential Pet Museum by Debbie Weimkamer, follows:

  James A. Garfield acquired a dog in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1879, while he was a congressman representing the Nineteenth District of Ohio. He had a home in Washington at Thirteenth & I Streets, but wanted the dog sent to his summer home—a farm in Mentor, Ohio, now the James A. Garfield National Historic Site (aka Lawnfield). The dog traveled by train to Mentor. Garfield sent several letters to his younger sons, Irvin and Abe (who were already at the farm), telling them all about the new dog and to expect his arrival.

  Irvin objected to the name that Garfield had given the dog. Garfield had called him Veto because President Hayes had recently vetoed five bills in three months! As a congressman, minority leader of the House of Representatives, and Republican liaison to President Hayes, Garfield had helped the president sustain his vetoes through the House. The name did not win instant acceptance from all of the Garfield family, so they took a vote on it to settle the matter. Garfield was very impressed that his son understood democracy enough to want a vote. The dog’s name remained Veto.

  An excerpt of the letter to Irvin from Garfield reads:

  Washington, D.C.

  May 17, 1879

  My Dear Irvin,

  I have read your letter to Hal [Garfield’s oldest son], and I think you are quite right in your view of the way to name the dog. The whole family ought to be heard on the subject; and you may call him ‘pup,’ or any other name you please until we get home. Then we will hold a meeting of the Garfield family and have the name voted on—each man, woman and child to have a vote….

  Affectionately Your Papa

  J.A. Garfield

  This information can be found in The Garfield Orbit by Margaret Leech and Harry J. Brown, Harper & Row, 1978, pages 294–295.

  I also have this reference to the dog in From Mentor to Elberon by (Garfield’s friend) Colonel Almon Rockwell (it appears in J. M. Bundy’s Life of Garfield and was excerpted in Century Magazine, 1881): “The big Newfoundland dog, in memory of the numerous bills killed in 1879 by the executive disapproval, was called by the suggestive name of Veto.”

  CHESTER A. ARTHUR

  While there is no official history or even folklore about President Arthur and pets or animals in his domain, we do know he was a big sportsman and hunter and kept hunting dogs, several of which he considered favorites, and he was attached to them. Because his administration was so secretive, much of his history and documents, journals and government papers were destroyed, so we have a hard time peeking into any personal history of this president and his affinity for (or lack of) towards his four-legged friends. He is one of three presidents to whom no animal or pet can be attributed.

  GROVER CLEVELAND

  The only president to be married in the White House, big Grover Cleveland, age forty-four, took little Frances Folsom, age twen
ty-one, as his bride and with her came her Japanese spaniel, a mockingbird, and three canaries. The Clevelands produced five children, one of whom had a famous candy bar named after her, Baby Ruth. The children for a short time began to collect an assortment of pets, none of which took public attention, but this small accumulation of animals, dogs and cats, made way for the other great animal pets to come and live in the White House.

  BENJAMIN HARRISON

  The grandson of William Henry Harrison, Benjamin had animals at the White House, too, and enjoyed a longer term in office.

  WILLIAM MCKINLEY

  The invalid wife of William McKinley had a double yellow-headed parrot that she was extremely fond of. By a twist of fate, shortly before the president was shot on September 6, 1901, he was photographed with an unknown black dog crossing his path, as if an omen of something tragic to come.

  THEODORE ROOSEVELT

  Six children and enough pets to fill a zoo, not to mention the many animals given to the President, which ended up at the National Zoo. Bleistein was President Roosevelt’s favorite horse, and he had horses for all the children. They were called Renown, Roswell, Rusty, Jocko, Root, Grey, Dawn, Wyoming, and Yangenka. General and Judge were carriage horses. Algonquian was Archie Roosevelt’s Icelandic calico pony. Pete, a bull terrier, was a favorite pet. There was also Sailor Boy, a Chesapeake retriever. Jack, Kermit Roosevelt’s, was a rat terrier, and Skip was a mongrel. Manchu was Alice Roosevelt’s spaniel, and she had a snake called Emily Spinach. Quentin Roosevelt also had some snakes, some of which he unloaded on top of his father’s desk during a meeting with important people. Everyone scattered as the snakes slithered away; it became a very newsworthy item. Eli Yale was a macaw also belonging to Quentin Roosevelt, and Tom Quartz and Slippers were cats. Josiah was their well-known badger; Dewey Senior, Dewey Junior, Bob Evans, Bishop Doan, and Father O’Grady, were all guinea pigs. The list probably goes further and the Roosevelts can be said to have contributed the most animals to the history of the White House, but the Coolidges can claim a close second and the Kennedys were also high on the list of White House pet owners. A rather famous “pet” story about Theodore Roosevelt’s White House is one that describes Quentin Roosevelt taking Algonquian, the pony, up in the White House elevator to see his brother Archie, who was sick in bed on the second floor. Once in the elevator, they had a time trying to get the pony out and it made the news, made the public laugh and the president mad.