Sunny, Ike The Ram, Checkers The Dog, And More Presidential Pets

Though his time as president was tragically cut short, JFK had enough pets for ten presidents during his three-year tenure in the White House. A multitude of dogs, cats, ponies, rabbits, hamsters, and even a horse all could have conceivably laid claim to the title First Pet—although Pushinka, the mutt given to Kennedy by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, was born in the USSR, so her eligibility is questionable.

Pushinka's mom, by the way, was the Soviet space dog Strelka, and when Pushinka had four puppies of her own, JFK referred to them as the "pupniks."

Photo credit: TIME Life / Corbis

Lucky, a Bouvier des Flandres, was given to the Reagans in 1984 when she was just a pup. The problem was that apparently, the Great Communicator didn’t understand that this particular breed of dog ultimately grows to be huge — too huge, in fact, for the President to handle. After about a year, Lucky was sent — or “banished,” as People Magazine put it at the time — to Reagan’s Santa Barbara ranch. She was replaced by Rex, a much smaller King Charles Spaniel.

Technically speaking, Checkers wasn’t a presidential pet, as he passed away before Nixon ascended to the presidency. However, the cocker spaniel deserves mention for the significant role he played (at least, significant for a dog) in the 1952 presidential election.

After being tapped as Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate, Nixon faced accusations of financial impropriety relating to campaign funds, and was almost booted from the ticket. In a last-ditch move, Nixon went on prime-time TV, defended the integrity of his financial dealings directly to voters (TV was new back then, so this was a big first in U.S. politics), and proclaimed that the only undisclosed campaign gift he’d received was a black and white dog named Checkers, whom he and his children intended to keep.

The gambit worked. Eisenhower kept Nixon on the ticket, both soon moved into the White House, and the address that saved Nixon’s political career is forever known as “The Checkers Speech.”

India “Willie” Bush — we love that the cat had a nickname — was acquired by the Bush family in 1990, remained with it during Bush’s years as Texas Governor, and soon became First Cat. In 2004, the American Shorthair became the subject of controversy in Thiruvananthapuram, India, where protesters interpreted cat’s name as an insult to the country and burned an effigy of Bush in response.

Photo: Paul Morse/The White House

Wilson was creative in his penny-pinching. In order to save on groundskeeping costs during World War I, for example, he acquired a flock of sheep and had them graze the White House lawn (seriously). He also raised almost $53,000 for the Red Cross by selling the sheep’s wool, and in order to ensure that there was a constant supply of sheep, recruited a ram, named Old Ike, to roam the lawn as well. Sadly, Ike died after eating one too many cigarette butts (seriously).