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50 Years of Presidents and Their Pets
Fife and Drum Press
September 2012
On Sale: September 1, 2012
232 pages
ISBN: 0615580637
EAN: 9780615580630
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Pets at the White House provides a spectacular view
into one of the most historic homes in the world and all of
its four-legged, beaked, and pawed inhabitants - from
ponies, puppies, and cats to parakeets, sheep and even an
alligator. Interest in presidential pets has risen with the
importance, power, and prestige of the American presidency.
The American public has an insatiable appetite for stories
of everyday life in the White House, and the media obliges
with increased coverage of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the
pets that reside there. This book brings it all to life.
With charm, wit, and compelling photographs,
author Jennifer Pickens reveals how pets have played an
important role in the White House throughout the decades,
not only by providing companionship to the Presidents and
their families, but also by humanizing and softening their
political images. The book starts with the Kennedy family
and their menagerie of pets and continues through 10
administrations and more than half of a century to the Obama
family and First Dog Bo. Throughout the pages are more than
200 exquisite photographs - images of Presidents with their
pets in quiet moments as well as more animated times of play
- most of which have never been seen before. Pickens
documents the lives of the most famous White House pets
through compelling and little-known anecdotes. One such
story involves the Soviet Prime Minister, who gave young
Caroline Kennedy a puppy, which had to be put through a
battery of tests in search of hidden listening devices and
bombs. There's also the story of President Ford getting
locked out of the White House when he took out his very
pregnant dog Liberty in the middle of the night. Another
heart-warming tale: the custom birthing box created by
Executive Resident carpenters for Millie while she was
pregnant with Presidential Puppies during the first Bush
Administration. President George W. Bush's Scottish terrier,
Barney, became a celebrity in his own right, appearing in
more than 10 films while he was at the White House. And,
most recently, President Obama made good on his promise to
give his daughters a puppy, so they welcomed Bo, a
Portuguese water dog, to the White House. Bo's favorite food
is tomatoes, by the way. With a foreword by First
Lady Barbara Bush, this book has earned the devotion of the
recent United States First Families, many of whom penned a
unique quote for their chapters. This poignant collection of
stories and photographs is a must-have for pet lovers and
lovers of American history alike.
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