Chief Dog

If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. - Harry S. Truman

Inspired by the return of presidential pets to the White House with the Biden administration, I found this 1920 photo of Anna Roosevelt and her German Shepherd, Chief of the Mohawk. That's her famous father, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing beside them. Mr. Mohawk was first in shepherd class at that year's 7th Annual Washington Kennel Club dog show. Mr. Roosevelt was not yet president, but was Assistant Secretary of the Navy serving under Josephus Daniels during Woodrow Wilson's two terms as Commander-in-Chief.

As you can see, Mr. Roosevelt looks hale and hearty in this shot. Just one year later he would contract polio while on vacation in Canada.

As an adult, Anna Roosevelt was active during her parents' White House years, helping out as a secretary and hostess when needed. She also worked as a writer and journalist. Anna married three times and had three children. She passed away in 1975 at age 69.

Click-O-Rama

The Wiki article about presidential pets is a most delightful way to spend an afternoon. That's my original source for all of this week's Click-O-Rama topics.

• President Biden isn't the first to have German Shepherds as pets. JFK and FDR also had them. Roosevelt's even shares the name Major. Herbert Hoover had a German Shepherd as well as a Malinois, which is a very similar breed.

• Some of the oddest pets originated as gifts to the presidents from other world leaders. George Washington received an Andalusian donkey from the King of Spain (hence the Andalusian heritage). Zebulon Pike gave Thomas Jefferson a pair of grizzly bear cubs. Gesture of friendship, or assassination attempt? Ditto Marquis de Lafayette's alligator which (allegedly) somehow wound up in the possession of John Quincy Adams.

• John Adams had some dogs, one of which was named 'Satan'. I found this hilarious because after watching the HBO series about Adams, I had the impression he was very religious.

• Some sicko thought it wasn't quite enough that President Lincoln was assassinated; he thought it would be cool to assassinate the late President Lincoln's dog Fido as well. That poor pup is also why we consider 'Fido' as a sort of generic name for a dog. I hope that dude got what was coming to him. Side note: one of my favorite southern expressions is from my dearly departed cousin Nan, may she rest in peace. Whenever she wanted to describe something as particularly messy or unattractive, she compared it to 'Fido's tail': "I can't do a thing with my hair today. It looks like Fido's tail."

• Several presidents, or those in their immediate family, had birds as pets. My favorite bird anecdote is this one about Andrew Jackson's parrot: it had to be escorted away from Jackson's funeral service because of its incessant cursing. Wonder where it learned that?

• Pet-loving presidents are by far the majority. Of the 40-some-odd presidents we've had, only three have not had pets of any kind. In contrast, some presidents have had so many pets, I was starting to worry about them a little bit while reading the Wiki. Even so, I'd rather have too many pets in the White House than none.

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