I read recently about the alligator that had once lived in the bathtub of the East Wing of the White House. Although interesting, this article about White House pets differed from an earlier account that I recall reading, which makes me wonder which is correct. Supposedly, the American Revolutionary War hero, Marquis de Lafayette presented Thomas Jefferson with a baby alligator that the president placed in the bathtub, and, as animals tend to do, it grew and grew until it was a horrifying sight complete with big teeth and scary eyes. Another version claimed Lafayette gave the alligator to President John Adams, and a third version made it a gift to President James Madison. Doubting Lafayette gave alligators to three presidents, I suspect none of the stories are true.
Being neither an historian nor an academic, I don’t know twiddle from twaddle, but I suspect the stories may have developed from an earlier quirky but true story. Western explorer Zebulon Pike, he of Pike’s Peak and Masonic fame and himself the definition of quirky, presented Thomas Jefferson with two bear cubs. Jefferson kept the cubs as pets, and as animals tend to do, they grew and grew until they had to be kept in cages outside on the White House lawn for the entertainment of visitors. In those days the White House belonged to the people who could come and go as they pleased, which would make Jefferson’s exhibited bears the earliest federally supported free public zoo. Are the bears the oddest pets to entertain a president? Pets are common in the White House. Donald Trump is only the second president to not have a pet; James Knox Polk was the first. During the Civil War the White House fell into some disrepair and when Andrew Johnson moved in he found it infested with mice. He took a liking to them and spread grain around his bed so they could eat while he snored. As animals tend to do, they grew and grew in number. Imagine the President of the United States sleeping in bed with a hundred mice scampering around him. When he refused his daughter’s plea to exterminate the rodents, she went behind his back and had it done without his consent. Other presidents, especially Theodore Roosevelt, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Calvin Coolidge, had a menagerie of exotic animals that included a kangaroo and a pygmy hippo, but they sound more like collections than pets. James Buchanan received an elephant as a gift, and Congress gave him permission to keep it on the White House lawn. Woodrow Wilson had sheep to mow the grass. John Adams kept silkworms in the White House, but again I don’t know that they would qualify as “pets”. Perhaps the quirkiest pet was not unusual but it was certainly a “character”. Andrew Jackson had a sailor-mouthed parrot named Polly that enjoyed insulting people with strings of curses and four letter words, much to the delight of Jackson whose backwoods grit horrified the cultured Washington elites. He so loved Polly that it was brought to his funeral, but when it began shouting curses at the guests, it was ejected from the proceedings. At the Quirky Gifter Craft Fair you might not find a living pet, but you can certainly find unusual handcrafted animals. They might not shout curses at your guests, but they could still be the highlight of your party. Dragon egg, anyone?
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