Tonight, we are watching the new X-Men Movie.  So far it is pretty dang good.

But two things have come up during this cinematic event.

1.  I would like to have Mutant Powers.  I would want to be the really fast guy… or the blue lady.
2.  Richard Nixon is in this movie.  They show him as having 3 dogs in the White House.  I didn’t think of Nixon as being a dog-lover.  But as it turns out…. he was.  Yes.  I looked it up.  The 3-dog thing was accurate.

So, let’s talk about Presidential Pets.  This movie made me wonder which of our country’s head honcho’s had a dog, cat, or otherwise in the White House.

A lot of the First Gents & Ladies… did.  A lot.  I found everything from Wallabies to Elephants.   Some of interest:

Thomas Jefferson had a pet Mockingbird… named  Dick… of all things.  Tommy J also had a couple of bear cubs and a horse.  I guess he and this Dick guy were pretty good friends.

John Quincy Adams had Silkworms.  I hear those have HUGE personalities.  Way to go, Quincy boy.  Worms?

Andrew Jackson… unfortunately had Fighting Cocks.  Can I call him a Dick?

Now, old James Garfield had a dog named Veto.  That’s funny, I don’t care who you are.

The big pet owners, by far, were Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and John F. Kennedy.  They had 29, 26, and 21 respectively.  However, the big winner may go to Benjamin Harrison.  He owned two opossums, named Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection.

Of course, my favorite was George Washington with his pet parrot named… Polly.

I’m just glad I don’t have to be a President to have a pet.

Like our little girls Ollie… Max …. and Frances.

Hold the Possums.  Please.
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” ― Will Rogers