Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President, gave his grandchildren numerous pets. Among them was a goat named His Whiskers, who frequently pulled the children around the White House lawn in a cart.
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, was famous for his many pets. His six kids had snakes, dogs, cats, a badger, birds, guinea pigs, and more.
President Theodore Roosevelt and family were prolific pet owners and animal lovers.
Billy, or William Johnson Hippopotamus, (Before 1927 – October 11, 1955) was a pygmy hippopotamus given to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Captured in Liberia, he was given to Coolidge by Harvey Samuel Firestone in 1927.
President Dwight Eisenhower greets Dzimbo, a 440-pound baby elephant, 1959. President Dwight Eisenhower greets Dzimbo, a 440-pound baby elephant, a gift from the French territories in west-central Africa in 1959. Dzimbo made his permanent home at the National Zoo.
Top prize for the oddest (and perhaps most dangerous) First Pet went to John Quincy Adams, who is said to have kept an alligator in the East Room. So much for the calming embrace of animal affection after a tough presidential day.
Presidential Pets (1860-1921) President William Howard Taft's cow, Pauline, poses in front of the Navy Building, which is known today as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Pauline was the last cow to live at the White House and provided milk for President Taft (1909-13).
Jack originally was on the Lincoln's dinner menu, but Tad became fond of the bird and pleaded with his father to spare Jack's life. President Lincoln relented, and Jack became part of the Presidential household.
A Zamorano-Leonés donkey, the same breed as Royal Gift. Royal Gift was the name George Washington chose for the Spanish jack that King Charles III of Spain gave to him in November 1784. The prized animal arrived at Mount Vernon one year later.
James Monroe
Our fifth president was known to have two pets: a Siberian husky named Sebastian, and a spaniel named Buddy. Both dogs are known to make great companions, and Buddy was a close friend to Monroe's daughter Maria.
George and Barbara Bush's dog Millie, may have been the most famous presidential dog. Millie was an English Springer Spaniel that even had her own memoir. The book, Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush reached the New York Times Best Seller list in 1992.
Thomas Jefferson received a pair of grizzly bears as a gift from Captain Zebulon Pike in 1807. The bears arrived at about the same time as Pike's letter (October 1807) explaining that he had acquired the male and female cubs in the southern region of the great Continental Divide.
Pete: Truman's White House Squirrel.
Theodore Roosevelt's Menagerie: President Theodore Roosevelt's children brought a fascinating assortment of pets to the White House when they moved into the residence in 1902. Their pets included the typical dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and ponies.
Billie and Debbie were Syrian hamsters who were United States presidential pets in the care of Caroline Kennedy during the presidency of her father John F. Kennedy. They joined the First Family at the White House in January 1961.
Object Details. During World War I, Woodrow and Edith Wilson kept a flock of sheep on the White House grounds to save costs to cut the grass. The wool was also auctioned off to raise money for the Red Cross.
Theodore Roosevelt's One-Legged Rooster | Presidential Pet Museum.
President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
The Coolidges owned a menagerie of pets, complete with a few felines. The 30th president′s cats included Tiger, Blacky, Bounder, Timmie and even a bobcat named Smoky. Blacky regularly enjoyed cream in a saucer and liked to hang out in the White House elevator.
Though Abraham Lincoln was the first president to keep cats as pets—Secretary of State William Seward gifted him two kittens he named Tabby and Dixie—Andrew Hager, historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, believes that the first cats to pad through the White House were likely nameless.
Over the course the Clinton administration, Socks, a black-and-white cat, served as First Pet of the United States, a title she reluctantly shared during the later years of Bill's presidency with Buddy, a chocolate Labrador Retriever. The two animals notoriously did not get along.
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. The Ford's acquired Liberty, a Golden Retriever, as a puppy in the fall of 1974.
Clipper: German Shepherd. Shannon (gift from the Barry Family in Ireland, 1963): Cocker Spaniel. Wolf (gift from Father Thomas Kennedy in Ireland, 1963): Irish Wolfhound. Pushinka/Charlie Pups: Butterfly, White Tips, Blackie, and Streaker.