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