Kennedy John Fitzgerald - The dogs of camelot: stories of the Kennedy canines

The Kennedy family on Cape Cod in 1963, with eight of the nine dogs they brought to the White House. CECIL W. STOUGHTON, WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHS. JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.

Dedicated to my Mom, who taught me that nothing was impossible. Margaret Reed, PhD

Dedicated to my dear friend Mary Ann Haran Quinn, the likes of which we will never see again. Joan Lownds

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Copyright 2018 Margaret A. Reed and Joan Lownds

Shannon Gets His Papers (pages 1079) was originally published in the November 1999 AKC Gazette and was reproduced at AKC.org in 2013 under the title Shannon Gets His Papers. American Kennel Club, reprinted with permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reed, Margaret A., 1959- author. | Lownds, Joan, author.

Title: The dogs of camelot : stories of the Kennedy canines / Margaret Reed and Joan Lownds ; foreword by Clint Hill, Assistant Director (retired) U.S. Secret Service.

Description: Guilford, Connecticut : Lyons Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017049365 (print) | LCCN 2018001482 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493031627 (e-book) | ISBN 9781493031610 (hardback) | ISBN 9781493031627 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963. | DogsAnecdotes. | Dog ownersAnecdotes. | Human-animal relationshipsAnecdotes.

Classification: LCC SF426.2 (ebook) | LCC SF426.2 .R44 2018 (print) | DDC 636.7dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049365

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Most homes in the United States have a pet of one type or another, and the White House is no exception. Presidents of the United States beginning with George Washington have had one or more pets, from the common sort horses, dogs, cats, and canariesto the more exoticbobcats, black bears, silkworms, goats, and alligators. No animal seemed to be exempt. During my tenure as a Secret Service agent from 1958 to 1975, I witnessed a vast variety of pets come and go.

I was assigned to Mrs. John F. Kennedy shortly after the election in 1960. The Kennedys lived in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC, and had a pet dog named Charlie and a cat named Tom Kitten. Charlie, a wire-haired Welsh Terrier, was quite protective of his master and mistress until he got to know you. I had to be very careful not to surprise him or he would snarl and appear ready to attack. Tom Kitten was a little sneaky and stayed out of the way most of the time.

On January 20, 1961, President and Mrs. Kennedy moved into the White House. They brought with them Tom Kitten. Their daughter, Caroline, and son, John Jr., remained in Palm Beach, Florida, because their rooms were not ready. Charlie stayed with Mrs. Kennedys mother, Mrs. Janet Auchincloss, until the children made the move to the White House in early February. President Kennedy was allergic to cat dander, so it was only a short stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for Tom Kitten. Mrs. Kennedy arranged for her personal secretary, Mary Gallagher, to host the cat. This made it possible for Caroline to go see him on occasion, and the president did not have to suffer from his allergies.

In June 1961, President and Mrs. Kennedy went to Vienna, Austria, for a meeting with Austrian President Adolf Schrf and talks with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviets had had a recent successful space launch that sent some plants and animals into space, including Strelka, a female dog. In a conversation with Premier Khrushchev, Mrs. Kennedy mentioned Strelka, and Khrushchev indicated the dog had recently delivered puppies. Mrs. Kennedy expressed an interest, and a short time later, Pushinka, one of Strelkas pups, arrived at the White House as a gift for the Kennedy family. The puppy was a complete surprise to President Kennedy, who had not been a part of the conversation in Vienna. Charlie, the Welsh Terrier, became very fond of Pushinka, and in the spring of 1963 four mixed-breed pups were added to the Kennedy K-9 corps. Caroline named them Blackie, White Tips, Butterfly, and Streaker.

President and Mrs. Kennedy, Caroline, and Vice President Johnson and his daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson, visit Tex, a pony given to Caroline by the vice president, on the White House grounds in 1962. An unidentified boy sits astride Tex. CECIL W. STOUGHTON, WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHS. JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.

This gift of an animal by a foreign leader to the Kennedy White House became contagious, because from that point on, it seemed everyone had something to give. When I was in India with Mrs. Kennedy in 1962, the Indian government presented her with two tiger cubs. She had visions of them roaming the White House grounds, but they ended up in the National Zoo. We traveled on to Pakistan and President Ayub Khan gleefully presented Mrs. Kennedy with a horse named Sardar, which she loved. Sardar was sent to Middleburg, Virginia, and Mrs. Kennedy rode him frequently.

Irelands president, Eamon de Valera, sent the Kennedys a Connemara pony named Leprechaun and a black-and-white Cocker Spaniel named Shannon, as well as two spotted deer, which ended up in the National Zoo. A priest in Ireland sent an Irish Wolfhound as a gift. Even the presidents father, Joseph P. Kennedy, gifted Mrs. Kennedy with a German Shepherd named Clipper.

A common misconception is that Carolines pony Macaroni was a gift from Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Actually, Caroline already had Macaroni and the pony the vice president gave her was a Yucatan Bay named Texa nod to Johnsons home state of Texas.

As the number of canines in the Kennedy kennel increased, it became apparent someone had to be responsible for them. They needed a dog keeper. The chief usher of the White House is responsible for the domestic staff and the maintenance personnel working in the White House. J. B. West, the chief usher at the time, selected Traphes Bryant from the electrician staff to add dog keeper to his duties. His job was to see to their grooming, diet, exercise, and overall health.