Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States (1869-1877). Photo Wikimedia Commons
By Carl Sferrazza Anthony
There’s as much of the old sod in the White House as there is on its south lawn.
The backgrounds of America’s First Families are diverse: Nancy Reagan and Lady Bird Johnson have Spanish forebears; Herbert Hoover was Swiss and Canadian; Mamie Eisenhower was part Swedish while Ike was German; Martin Van Buren and the Roosevelts were Dutch; James Garfield had a royal strain of French; Eliza Johnson’s parents were immigrant Scottish sandal-makers; both Calvin Coolidge and Edith Wilson had American Indian blood–she being a direct descendant of Pocahantas.
20 Photos of U.S. Presidents With Their Dogs That Will Make You Smile
On 2/18/21 at 7:00 PM EST
Over the years, the White House has been home to countless presidential dogs. Its current residents are Champ and Major, who joined President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., last month. Very few presidents have not had a dog while in office Donald Trump was the first president in nearly 130 years to lack a canine companion.
The first dogs have often made headlines and won over the hearts of the nation, with Laddie Boy, the dog of Warren G. Harding, considered the first celebrity presidential dog. Other famous dogs have included Franklin D. Roosevelt s dog Fala, who accompanied him to Pearl Harbor, and Bill Clinton s Buddy, who famously feuded with Socks the cat.
Credit: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Instead of the pomp and circumstance of an official presentation of the portraits, the former first lady suggested an alternate solution. Could it perhaps be announced that the portraits would go on view on any date you might suggest, for which occasion I would send a little statement thanking you, she wrote to Mrs. Nixon. And perhaps any day before or after at your convenience, could the children and I slip unobtrusively to Washington, and come to pay our respects to you and to see pictures privately?
As Onassis wrote, this would allow the Nixons to forego a traditional ceremony and would mean that the children could see their father s portrait in the rooms they used to know, in a quiet way.
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Inside Jackie Kennedy s Secret Visit to the Nixon White House
The former First Lady and her family snuck into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a private tour 50 years ago today.
By Jennifer Boswell Pickens Hearst Owned
“Thank you with all my heart. A day I dreaded turned out to be one of the most precious ones I have spent with my children,” wrote former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, 50 years ago today. She composed this message after an emotional return to the White House, the only day she would ever go back, eight years after her tragic departure in 1963. What had begun earlier as a simple request, written in her distinctive handwriting on her powder blue stationery, became a cherished memory fueled by the generosity of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Patricia Nixon.
After four long years, we finally have a new president and, more importantly, new presidential pets. Usually the thrill of pets arriving at the White House is tempered by the sting of old presidential pets leaving the White House, but this year is different: Donald Trump is the first president in more than 100 years not to have a pet of any kind, so we can say goodbye to his rotten administration without stray sympathy for any blameless dogs, cats, or possums getting evicted alongside their captors.
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This also means that the incoming presidential pets the Bidens have two German shepherds and a cat, the former two of which arrived to the White House this week to great fanfare won’t be able to rely on the outgoing presidential pets for advice or support during the transfer of power. So to help the new national mascots find their footing, Slate has decided to break what many regard as the most important commandment in journalism (“all presidential pets are equally goo