President Wilson

Presidential Pets: Herbert Hoover’s Dogs

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President Hoover and his wife enjoyed having dogs in the White House. They had some trouble keeping pets in the busy executive mansion, however.

Hoover’s favorite dog was a Belgian shepherd named King Tut. King Tut met the future US President while Hoover was on assignment in Belgium for President Wilson. Hoover adopted the dog and brought him back to the US.

When Hoover ran for president in 1928, his political advisors looked for a way to soften the public servant’s stiff image. Hoover fished wearing a full suit, so his advisors had their work cut out for them. Their solution was to photograph Hoover with King Tut. In the photograph, a smiling Hoover holds up the dog’s front paws, as if he were begging for votes. After Hoover autographed the photo, it was sent to thousands of voters. King Tut and his master became more popular as a result. The New York Times called it “one of the happiest photos ever made” of Hoover. With the help of man’s best friend, Hoover was elected president.

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Herbert Hoover with his dog King Tut before the 1928 election

After he arrived at the White House, King Tut took on the responsibility of guarding both the president and the grounds around his new home. The White House security chief considered Tut “a sergeant, not merely a sentry” as Tut made his rounds each night.

Unfortunately, being on guard 24/7 started to stress the dog out. Tut sulked and stopped eating. Hoover sent him to a quieter residence in the hope that King Tut would improve, but he died in late 1929.

Hoover didn’t make the dog’s death public for several months. The stock market had already crashed and people were feeling the effects of what would be called the Great Depression. Under those circumstances, Hoover didn’t think it was appropriate to grieve publicly over a dog.

Like her husband, First Lady Lou Hoover also liked dogs. She received an Irish wolfhound from a breeder and school friend when she moved into the White House. The friend thought the dog’s enormous size would make him a good guard dog for the president and his family. Sadly, the dog, whose name was Patrick, passed away from an infection shortly after his arrival.

To compensate for this loss, Mrs. Hoover’s friend sent another Irish wolfhound named Patrick II. A contemporary newspaper reported that Patrick was “sensitive, shy, and shaggy.” Mrs. Hoover decided the dog was too shy for the busy White House and traded him for Shamrock, another Irish wolfhound. Shamrock was definitely not shy, but he wasn’t friendly, either. He bit one of the Marine guards at Camp Rapidan. The Hoovers eventually gave Shamrock to a colonel.

Ultimately, neither President Hoover or his dogs stayed long at the White House. In 1932, Hoover ran for reelection without King Tut and lost to fellow dog lover Franklin Roosevelt.

 

The Presidency of Warren Harding

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Although his presidency was marred by scandal after his death, Warren Harding was a popular president in his day. Even as a young boy Harding avoided conflict in order to please his peers. That habit caught up with him when he became president.

Before he got into politics Harding was a successful businessman who bought a bankrupt newspaper and made it profitable. His wife Florence served as his business partner. He called her “The Duchess” and feared rather than loved her. Their complex relationship pushed him into politics. His new profession allowed him to be away for long periods. It also enabled him to have affairs with other women. He had a magnetic personality and a great speaking voice.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Warren Harding

During the Republican national convention in 1920, the party could not decide on a candidate. Party leaders looked for a compromise, so they asked Harding if there was any reason they shouldn’t nominate him. Though he didn’t actually want to be president, Harding told them there was nothing in his past that would prevent him from running. In the first presidential election in which women could vote, Harding won.

Harding promised voters that his presidency would mark a return to “normalcy,” or to the days before World War I. Fortunately the country didn’t face any major crisis during his presidency.

Unlike President Wilson who always thought his opinion was the right one, Harding was indecisive. After listening to both sides of an issue he often thought that each side was just as right as the other. Even Harding admitted that he was in over his head as president. Later historians would agree with him when he remarked, “I never should have been here.” Still, Harding remained a popular president until he died of food poisoning during his third year in office.

After his death rumors about his private life and corruption in his cabinet came out. Harding had always been a womanizer, and one woman claimed he had fathered an illegitimate son. His desire to be popular had caused him to cover up rather than publicize the scandals that plagued his administration.

An illegal oil-rigging scheme led to the eventual arrest of his former secretary of the interior. It was the first time a cabinet member had been convicted of a crime. Ironically, the president who wanted to be loved by everyone became one of the country’s least respected presidents.

US Presidents in the News: President Warren G. Harding

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I was planning to do my series of blog posts on the presidents in chronological order, but as President Harding’s personal affairs have been making headlines lately I decided to move him up.

Although his presidency was marred by scandal after his death, Warren Harding was a popular president in his day. Even as a young boy Harding avoided conflict in order to please his peers. That habit caught up with him when he became president.

Warren G. Harding, circa 1920

Warren G. Harding, circa 1920

Before he got into politics Harding was a successful businessman who bought a bankrupt newspaper and made it profitable. His wife Florence served as his business partner. He called her “The Duchess” and feared rather than loved her. Their complex relationship pushed him into politics. His new profession allowed him to be away for long periods; it also enabled him to have affairs with other women. Perhaps the photographs don’t do him justice because women seemed to think he was very attractive. He did possess a magnetic personality and a great speaking voice.

During the Republican national convention in 1920, the party could not decide on a candidate. Party leaders looked for a compromise, so they asked Harding if there was any reason they shouldn’t nominate him. Though he didn’t actually want to be president, Harding told them there was nothing in his past that would prevent him from running. In the first presidential election in which women could vote, Harding won.

Harding promised voters that his presidency would mark a return to “normalcy,” or to the days before the war. Fortunately the country didn’t face any major crisis during his presidency. Unlike President Wilson who always thought his opinion was the right one, Harding was indecisive. After listening to both sides of an issue he often thought that each side was just as right as the other. Even Harding admitted that he was in over his head as president. Later historians would agree with him when he remarked, “I never should have been here.” Still, Harding remained a popular president until he died of food poisoning during his third year in office.

After his death rumors about his private life and corruption in his cabinet came out. Harding had always been a womanizer, and one woman claimed he had fathered an illegitimate son. Recent DNA evidence revealed he had an illegitimate daughter named Elizabeth Ann with his mistress Nan Britton.

His desire to be popular had caused him to cover up rather than publicize the scandals that plagued his administration. An illegal oil-rigging scheme led to the eventual arrest of his former secretary of the interior. It was the first time a cabinet member had been convicted of a crime. Ironically, the president who wanted to be loved by everyone became one of the country’s least respected presidents.

The American Soldier in World War I

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When the U.S. joined forces with Britain and France against Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917, it had a small army. Unable to get volunteers to fight in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted the draft so that the army would have more soldiers. In July, a drawing was held to determine which men would go to the warfront. By the end of the day, over 1 million men were chosen to fight. Despite being the largest army in American history, the new recruits didn’t know much about twentieth century warfare.

MACHINE GUNS

New technology led to a new kind of warfare during World War I. During the Civil War, hundreds of men charged toward the enemy in battle. The invention of the quick firing machine gun made traditional warfare impossible. With the use of machine guns, the charging soldiers died within minutes. In order to defend themselves against these weapons, the European armies dug trenches, or holes in the ground, to defend the territory they gained. The trenches got so big that they accommodated both the armies and their supplies. When U.S. soldiers arrived, however, they quickly learned that the trenches and new equipment that were supposed to protect them from bullets also caused problems.

DISEASE

Living in the dirt of the trenches made it impossible for soldiers to keep clean. Without regular baths, disease spread through the army. Parasites, referred to as “the cootie” by soldiers, caused fevers. One soldier described the parasite, “The vermin were about the size and color of small grains until they would gorge themselves on the blood of their victims…It was a standing joke that there was no point in scratching since the little buggers had legs on both sides.” Unsurprisingly, seventy percent of the time that soldiers spent off duty was caused by illness.

POISON GAS

Another hazard for World War I soldiers on both sides was the invention of mustard gas, a poison chemical fired in a shell at the enemy. It was called mustard gas because of its scent. Exposure to mustard gas produced blisters on the skin and lungs. A nurse described the suffering of these soldiers, “[they were] burnt and blistered all over with great mustard-colored blisters, with blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, and always fighting for breath.” Soldiers exposed to mustard gas often became blind or died.

MUD

In addition to being shot at or gassed, soldiers also died by getting stuck in mud. Much of the western front in France was low-lying land, and rain turned the trenches into pools of mud. Wounded soldiers fell into the mud and drowned. Soldiers also got “trench foot” by standing in the water for hours or days. The soldier’s toes numbed and his foot rotted. To save the soldier’s life, medics amputated, meaning cut off, the foot.

One soldier tried to explain the hazards of World War I this way: “Have you ever fought half madly through days and nights and weeks unwashed, with feverish rests between long hours of agony, while the guns boom…and the bullets zip-zip-zip ceaselessly along the trench edge that is your skyline—and your deathline, too, if you stretch and stand upright?”

The History of Mother’s Day

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Maybe you’re planning to go out to brunch with your mom on Mother’s Day or buy her flowers. Whatever your plans are, you probably don’t know how Mother’s Day came into existence.

The first Mother’s Day celebrations occurred in ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece. In those days, people didn’t honor their human mothers. Instead, they held festivals in honor of goddesses. For example, the Greeks used the occasion to celebrate Rhea, the mother of many other Greek gods.

In seventeenth century England, Mothering Sunday was celebrated each year on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40 days of fasting before Easter). Christians honored the church in which they were baptized, known as their Mother Church. Mothering Sunday soon began to honor human mothers, too. British servants and employees who worked far from home received time off to visit their moms and share a family meal.

American colonists didn’t adopt the tradition of Mother’s Day, possibly because they were busy trying to survive in their new homes. The idea of celebrating Mother’s Day in the U.S. began with Julia Ward Howe, who became famous during the Civil War as the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Howe thought wars were a waste of young men’s lives, and she called on mothers to protest the killing of their children in wars. In her Mother’s Day Proclamation, Howe wrote, “we women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”  In the 1870s, women’s groups in over a dozen American cities observed Howe’s holiday, but the idea didn’t really catch on until the following century.

In 1908, Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for an official Mother’s Day in memory of her own mother, an activist and social worker who hoped that the contributions of mothers would someday be recognized. Anna Jarvis was determined to make her mother’s wish come true. She petitioned the superintendent of the church her mother had attended and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at a church service in Grafton, West Virginia. Jarvis gave carnations—her mother’s favorite flower—to each mother at the service. Later Jarvis and her supporters lobbied for the creation of an official Mother’s Day. In 1914 her dream came true when President Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.