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Profs and Pints presents: “Pets of the Presidents,” with Edward Lengel, special advisor to the White House Historical Association, former professor at the University of Virginia, and author of books such as General George Washington: A Military Life.
A delightful, and sometimes strange, menagerie has inhabited the White House since its construction in 1800. Thomas Jefferson kept bear cubs and a mockingbird. John Quincy Adams kept an alligator in the East Room. Andrew Johnson entertained mice. Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt’s children brought ponies into the house.
The real stars, however, have always been dogs and cats: From Ulysses Grant’s Newfoundland, Faithful, to FDR’s Scottish Terrier, Fala, and the Siamese Cats that roamed the Executive Mansion during the Rutherford B. Hayes and Gerald Ford administrations.
Join White House historian and storyteller Edward Lengel as he chronicles the exciting–and often hilarious–history of the nation’s “first pets.” You’ll learn how a horse named Old Whitey charmed Washington D.C., how a dog named Pete tore the pants off a French ambassador, and how even the most skilled politicians have literally faced the risk of “stepping in it.” (Tickets $10 in advance and $12 at the door.)
