Member-only story
FDOTUS!
First Dogs of the United States!
Did you know?
32 of the 46 United States presidents had one or more canine companions.
Let us discuss FDR’s famous dog Fala, a Scottish terrier.
Fala was born in 1940, & named Big Boy. The president renamed the pup Fala in honor of his ancestor, Murray, the Outlaw of Falahill.
Fala was an endearing, adorable character in the Roosevelt Whitehouse during World War Two. The pup was a gift from the president’s cousin Margaret, Daisy Suckley. He was popular with the press and the public.
He got a bone every morning when FDR had breakfast. FDR fed the dog himself. At night, the dog had a bed in a chair next to FDR’s bed. Fala could shake hands, sit, roll over, and stand on his hind legs when the national anthem played.
The dog delighted the Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Newfoundland at the 1941 Atlantic Charter Conference. He met President Camacho of Mexico, and he was with FDR at the Quebec conferences in 1943 and 1944.
Fala accompanied President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the Aleutian Islands during his re-election campaign. The rumor of the dog having to be rescued from the Aleutians by a battleship was false.
