Ten former U.S.
presidents are known to have brought their cats into the White House. Tabby and
Dixie share the distinction as being America’s first “First Cats.” These two
felines moved in as the pets of President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
An essay posted
on the Presidential Pet Museum’s website notes that U.S. Treasury official
Maunsell B. Field once wrote that Lincoln was “fond of animals, especially
cats. I have seen him pet one for an hour.” Indeed, Lincoln doted on his cats,
so much that he once fed Tabby from the table during a formal dinner at the
White House.
Mary Todd
Lincoln described her husband’s action as “shameful in front of our guests,” but
the president laughed it off, saying: Dagnabbit, Mary Todd – “If the gold fork
was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough
for Tabby.”
Lincoln’s longtime
friend Caleb Carman said Lincoln confided: “Dixie is smarter than my whole
cabinet! And, furthermore, she doesn’t talk back!”
President Rutherford
B. Hayes entered the White House in 1877. The following year, he received a
gift from Bangkok, Thailand, believed to be the first Siamese cat ever imported
into the United States. According to legend, Siamese cats were regal pets owned
by Siam royalty. They lived within the palaces and served as guardians of
Buddhist temples.
Hayes named the
female cat Siam, and his 12-year-old daughter, Fanny, was ecstatic when the
crate arrived after a two-month journey. Siam was allowed to roam
the White House and often made ‘grand entrances’ whenever First Lady Lucy Webb
Hayes entertained guests.
BJ
Bangs of Phillips, Maine, is a freelance writer and producer of the Paws for Reflection
blog. She reported: “In the autumn of 1879, Siam became seriously ill from a
respiratory infection. The White House staff tried fish, chicken, duck, cream,
and even oysters, hoping that Siam would respond.”
“When
her condition worsened, the staff sent for the president’s personal physician,
Dr. J. H. Baxter. He prescribed beef tea and milk every three hours, but Siam
did not improve. Siam survived another five days. Everyone was saddened; her
gentle and appreciative ways had endeared her to the entire staff at the White
House,” Bangs said.
One
of the many pets of President Theodore Roosevelt, who served from 1901-09, was
Slippers, a blue-gray tabby cat who had six toes on his right front paw, making
him polydactyl. It’s “not uncommon” for a minority of the cat population to
have one or more additional toes on their front paws. Polydactyl cats have the
equipment to be better hunters as well as better scratcher-uppers of
upholstery.
While
in the White House from 1913-21, President Woodrow Wilson owned cats named
Mittens and Puffins. Both enjoyed leaping on the Wilson’s dining room table
during family meals. White House staff members became quite adept at zapping
the offending felines with spritzes of water to shoo them away.
When
President Calvin Coolidge moved into the White House in 1923, it was a case of
“kitty, bar the door,” a play-on-words warning to “take precautions; there
could be trouble ahead.”
Coolidge
owned several cats. The inventory included Smokey, Blackie, Tige, Bounder,
Timmie and Climber (also referred to as “Mud” by First Lady Grace Anna Coolidge.)
Tige
was a character. He was a gray-striped shorthaired tomcat who often climbed up to
sit on the president’s shoulders and wrap himself around his neck for daily
walks. Yet, the cat was an independent adventurer. In a March 1924 snowstorm,
Tige eluded White House security to bolt beyond the boundaries of the lawn.
Tige’s
disappearance became national news, with Washington radio stations broadcasting
“missing cat” alerts. The telephone switchboard at the White House was flooded
with offers from the public to provide “replacement cats.” A column in The
New York Times reported: “There may be 100 cats at the White House by
tomorrow morning.”
Officer
Benjamin Fink, a security guard at the Navy Building, located just a few blocks
from the White House, discovered Tige “promenading” around the grounds there.
He scooped up Tige, who had been gone four days, and returned him pronto to the
Coolidge family.
After
Tige, there was a gap of more than 30 years until the next cat clawed its way
into being a member of the presidential family.
He
was Tom Kitten, who arrived at the White House in 1961 as the loving pet of 3-year-old
Caroline Kennedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment