QUIZ - WHITE HOUSE PETS AND THEIR MASTERS
I found this in some magazine long back and jotted down on a tissue paper. After several years I discovered the tissue paper from a diary. Thought I would just re-publish it!!!
Questions:
Name the Presidents related to the following incidents/anecdotes.

1. Fala is probably the most famous White House pets. He made headlines during his master’s third election campaign when a rumour (it wasn’t true) began that a naval destroyer – at great expense – had been sent to retrieve him. Fala’s master spoke for him: “His Scotch soul was furious.”

2. On a signal from the president, Liberty, a golden retriever, would rush into the Oval Office and break up meetings that have had gone on too long. Such informality was in marked contrast to the ‘imperial’ presidency of the previous president.

3. Old Ike, the ram and a flock of sheep kept the White House lawn neatly trimmed so that the presidential gardeners could go off to war and make the world “safe for democracy”. The bookish president wasn’t much for farm animals, but he did occasionally go out among the herd and pat them.

4. This president’s six children brought a menagerie to the White House, everything from a bear and a pony to a hyena, a badger, and many more. Daughter Alice had a garter snake named Emily Spinach. No wonder her father established so many nature preserves.

5. Pushinka was a mute from the Soviet Union. She was the offspring of Strelka, one of the first dogs to be sent into space by the USSR. Pushinka was a gift, a peace offering from the Soviet premier to the president’s daughter. Given the Cold War, thought, the pup was thoroughly examined by the CIA first.

6. Polly, a green parrot, was doted upon by the president’s wife, Martha. The chief executive preferred horses, but also bred mules and dogs. Besides being the father of the USA, he is father of the American foxhound.

7. Jack, the turkey, was supposed to be Christmas dinner when he was given to a wartime White House. But the president’s young son grew fond of the bird and begged his father to spare him – which he did, to no one’s surprise. The boy’s tender-hearted father had already allowed his son’s two pet goats to ride in the presidential carriage.

8. An alligator was a gift from France’s Marquis de Lafayette, a key US ally in the Revolutionary War. The alligator resided for months in a bathroom in the East Room. The gifts reluctant recipient was the first son of a president to become president himself.

Answers:

1. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Secret Service dubbed Fala “The Informer”, because when he was spotted, FDR was sure to be nearby!

2. Gerald R. Ford. It fell to President Ford to walk Liberty early one morning. They exited without incident only to find they were locked out. The Secret Service had to rescue him.

3. Woodrow Wilson. When WW-I ended and the gardeners returned, old Ike and his flock retired to a farm in Maryland.

4. Theodore Roosevelt. Kermit and Quentin Roosevelt once sneaked a pony up in the White House elevator to visit their sick brother, Archie.

5. John F. Kennedy. Nikita Krushchev gave the puppy to Carolina after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

6. George Washington. When a stray wandered into his Revolutionary War headquarters, Washington’s officers wanted to keep it. But a name on the dog’s collar showed it was General Howe’s. Washington insisted the dog be returned to the British Commander under a flag truce.

7. Abraham Lincoln. Tad Lincoln’s goats were named Nanny and Nanko.

8. John Quincy Adams. His preferred ‘pets’ were silkworms. His wife, Louisa, reportedly spun and wove the silk herself, enough for several gowns.