Every Pet In The Kennedy-Era White House

Not all of the Kennedy-era pets were kept on the grounds of the White House, and according to Vanity Fair, stabling a few of Jackie Kennedy's horses in a manner she felt befitting to them caused some problems. When JFK was elected, Jackie had two horses: Rufus, and Bit of Irish. They were kept at a nearby estate in Glen Ora, and yes, it was the sort of place that had a private heliport.

Surprisingly, there's not that much information available about either horse, likely because they were kept away from the prying public eyes that were on the White House. Interestingly, there's so little that's known about them that there's information listed by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum that's wrong: Rufus is described as a palomino, but he wasn't — he was the brown-and-white piebald pictured above. (Bit of Irish was a bay gelding.)

Rufus gets a small mention in Vicky Moon's "The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider." He was the result of an accidental breeding and was named after the local vet, but ended up being such a solid riding horse that he was credited with giving her confidence as a rider, and confidence to also ride with John Jr. in front of her. Bit of Irish gets less of a mention: He was named in honor of JFK's Irish heritage, and was the horse she was riding when she took a high-profile fall during a fox hunt.

It's safe to say that not many people will argue with the idea that the Kennedy family is pretty much America's version of the royals, and their herd of horses didn't help matters, even when they reached the White House. According to Vicky Moon's "The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider," longtime Kennedy adviser Fred Dutton said that they were well aware of just how it looked to have the first lady keeping a stable full of very expensive horses: "From the view inside, we thought Mrs. Kennedy's horses were pretty aristocratic, and didn't play well with Joe Sixpack."

That led to an official recommendation that they not accept any more horses gifted from overseas, but that didn't keep the herd from growing. A wild buckskin yearling (right) was added to the menagerie when he was gifted to the family by Lyndon B. Johnson, after being bred on the ranch belonging to John B. Connally. (Connally would famously be wounded during JFK's assassination.) 

Originally named Little John, he was renamed Tex and came with a massive caveat: Do not let the children ride him until he's been through some extensive and professional training. When he was handed over to a trainer, he was described as being pretty much impossible to even handle. But it wasn't long until — under the guidance of professional trainers — Tex was at a point where he'd been turned into a children's pony, often seen trotting around the White House lawn with a young rider.

It was Caroline Kennedy who later explained how — at the height of the Cold War — her family had ended up with a Russian dog in the White House. She told the BBC that her mother had been at a state dinner in Vienna when she found herself seated next to Nikita Khrushchev. "She ran out of things to talk about, so she asked about the dog, Strelka, that the Russians had shot into space. During the conversation, my mother asked about Strelka's puppies. A few months later, a puppy arrived and my father had no idea where the dog came from, and couldn't believe my mother had done that."

If it seems like a gift from Russia would raise eyebrows, it definitely did. In his book "Dog Days at the White House," Traphes Bryant revealed that before Pushinka was allowed to join her new family, she had to undergo a thorough inspection that included scanning for listening devices.

While Pushinka passed her security clearance and officially became one of the highest-profile members of the Kennedy-era White House, Bryant says that he still didn't trust her. He described her as the sort of dog that was likely to snap, and did — not only did she snap at the face of one visiting child, Bryant was worried enough that he voiced his concerns to others. They were brushed aside, but Caroline Kennedy later said they believed her unpredictable nipping was rooted in her early days: She'd been raised in a laboratory.

Many people have an overly optimistic view of how well their dogs are trained, and according to Traphes Bryant (via "Dogs Days at the White House”), that was kind of the case with the Kennedys, too. Jackie Kennedy was always adamant that her dogs didn't need to be leashed because they absolutely and unconditionally listened to her, but Bryant always insisted — thankfully. When she and JFK would take them on walks, it was invariably Charlie and Clipper, the German shepherd that was gifted to Jackie by her father-in-law.

And Clipper had a wild streak. Bryant recalled him taking out a screen door in an attempt to flee from the sound of a helicopter, and also wrote that it was Clipper who had gotten him in trouble. He was exercising the big dog by playing fetch when he was summoned into the White House from the yard and told to never, ever do that again.

"Later, I found out why the President had gotten so excited. The President had been practicing his golf swing and Clipper had leaped for the club when he had it over his shoulder. Clipper had almost succeeded in dislocating the presidential arm. The President ended up swinging club and dog." Bryant also recalled JFK's response when he tried to warn him about security in crowds: Clipper had a particular dislike for one of the family's other dogs, and JFK suggested that getting between the two animals was more dangerous than any crowd could ever be.

The Kennedy family's connection to Ireland is pretty well documented, so it's not really surprising that when it came time to add another pony to the mix, they looked across the Atlantic ... sort of. When Irish President Eamon de Valera offered to gift the family not only a Connemara pony, but also two deer and an actual person to care for the pony, the initial gift was refused when some in the Kennedy camp pointed out that it might not look well in a diplomatic sort of way. 

The offer was eventually accepted, and the pony was appropriately (if not predictably) named Leprechaun. He joined Macaroni on the White House lawn, and he didn't make the trip alone: He was accompanied by the two deer, who were also destined for White House lawn life.

Macaroni's original owner and trainer, Barney Brittle, was setting up a shed that was going to act as a stable for the two deer when a Secret Service agent told him about what had just happened in Dallas. "That was before it hit the radio," he said in Vicky Moon's "The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis." "I know something nobody knows," he continued. "They were going straight to the farm to spend more time together. That's not hearsay; she told me that directly, it didn't come from the servants. ... It looked like they were going to get it together."

The downside to Irish wolfhounds is that they only have an expected lifespan of between six and eight years, which means that getting one implies heartbreak isn't too far down the road. They're typically known for being not just massive (weighing up to 180 pounds), but also for being gentle giants. They're great dogs, but the Irish wolfhound gifted to the Kennedy family and — again, predictably — named Wolf, was fine with most people ... but hated other dogs. 

Wolf was a gift from a Dublin priest, and when it came time for Traphes Bryant to find places for the dogs at the Kennedy homestead in Hyannis Port, Wolf was relegated to the garage. He and Charlie didn't get along, and when Brant recounted a particularly harrowing experience in his memoir, "Dog Days at the White House," he was holding the leashed of Wolf and the German Shepherd, Clipper, as they growled and snarled at each other. 

It was Wolf who featured in Bryant's last memories of JFK. He wrote that he had been walking the wolfhound when JFK told him that Charlie had snapped at Jackie Kennedy: "That was the last time I heard his voice. Two days later he was dead. I thought I could never feel emotion about a President again, never laugh with one, never feel close to one. ... At first everything reminded me of Kennedy."

In his memoir, "Dog Days at the White House," Traphes Bryant revealed that it was Jackie Kennedy who decided that she wanted to get ducks to add to the White House's menagerie. A small flock was brought in and installed around the South Fountain, but it very quickly became clear that it wasn't a good idea — not with the presence of a Welsh terrier who not only liked to swim, but who also liked to chase ducks.

It turns out that the famously peaceful picture of the little flock of white ducks waddling their way across the White House lawn was the exception, and not the norm. Bryant confirmed that yes, there were times that Charlie didn't just chase the ducks, but at least once, he grabbed one and refused to let it go. Nearby security was able to grab the dog and rescue the duck, but that particular duck never took a dip in the fountain again, understandably traumatized by the experience.

The Kennedy children also had rabbits, and let's be honest here: Rabbits aren't actually easy-as-pie children's pets, either. Although there seems to have been multiple rabbits, the one that gets the most mentions in various sources is Zsa Zsa. She was obviously named after the actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, which isn't odd in itself. What is odd is that Gabor herself has spoken about her relationship with JFK, saying (via ET), "When I was in America he took me out for three months. I never slept with him. He slept with everybody. He took me out because he liked to be with me."

Don't worry, this gets weirder. In 1961, LIFE questioned Kennedy press secretary Pierre Salinger about the rabbit, he claimed that the rabbit wasn't going to be staying with the family, and was instead going to be sent on to an orphanage. Oh, and that she had been a gift from a Pittsburgh magician who claimed she could play patriotic tunes on a trumpet.

Vicky Moon's "The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis" suggests that instead, the rabbits — including Zsa Zsa — were kept in a hutch in the White House's private school. Moon also names another one of the little group, and says that it was Annabelle who taught the children a very important lesson about the circle of life when she killed and ate her four baby bunnies. Moon wrote, "It was a very perplexing situation to explain to the children."

Jackie Kennedy and her children left the White House two weeks after the assassination of JFK: What happened to their pets is, in some cases, difficult to track down. Let's talk about what we do know, starting with the pets that remained with the family. According to coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, two cages with Caroline and John Jr.'s parakeets were moved into their new Georgetown home ahead of them.

Jackie opted to keep only a single one of their dogs: Shannon. In his memoir, "Dog Days at the White House," Traphes Bryant wrote that he had wholeheartedly disagreed with the decision, saying that it had been cruel to take the dogs away from the children while they were grieving their father's loss. He wrote, "It had been strictly Jacqueline's decision. ... [She] made it clear she didn't want the trouble or the expense of taking all the dogs." Where did they go? According to animal trainer Dr. Margaret Reed, author of "The Dogs of Camelot" (via The Cape Cod Times), they were rehomed with close friends and professional associates.

It's unclear exactly what happened to the Kennedy's horses, but in her book "The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis," Vicky Moon says that Jackie found at least some comfort — or solitude, away from prying eyes — while regularly riding Sardar. Coverage from The New York Times in 1964 reveals that the deer were donated to the Central Park Children's Zoo.