How Bo and other 'first dogs' contribute to White House Easter Egg Roll
| Washington
When you鈥檙e the first dog, indignity comes with the territory. That was our thought when we saw the Obama family鈥檚 Portuguese water dog, that advertises the 2012 White House Easter Egg Roll.聽
Bo is wearing pink bunny ears in the spot. At one point there鈥檚 a squawk and he pretends to, um, produce an Easter egg. 鈥淭here will be games,鈥� says the closing tag line.
It鈥檚 cute. But here鈥檚 our point: Presidential pets are often used as props. Bo is not the first White House dog forced to wear funny headgear for an Easter image.聽
No, Barney wasn鈥檛 the first, either. Remember Barney, George W. Bush鈥檚 Scottish terrier? 鈥溾�� was the pioneering series of videos that mixed White House pets with real administration officials in scripted entertainment. Barney never had to don fake ears. But he did have to suffer a headdress made from roses in the classic 2007 film 鈥淢y Barney Valentine.鈥� The plot had him deliver the flowers to his valentine, consort Miss Beazley.
Then there was King Timahoe, Richard Nixon鈥檚 Irish setter. 鈥�,鈥� a 1971 CBS News special, showcased Timahoe 鈥渞omping on the sitting room floor鈥� with his owner, according to a program review. Nixon鈥檚 chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, had a different view of this relationship. In his diary he wrote that Timahoe was so nervous around Nixon he wouldn鈥檛 go near him even when tempted by dog treats.聽
But to identify the first canines to serve as administration Easter overlords, we鈥檒l have to聽set the way-back machine聽to the early 1900s. Calvin Coolidge had lots of pets, including a raccoon he walked on a leash, and at one point his collie Prudence Prim wore a bonnet for the Easter Egg Roll. A is at Washington鈥檚 Newseum. The collie looks unembarrassed. Coolidge looks dour.
And in 1923, Warren Harding鈥檚 Laddie Boy served as Easter Egg Roll host in the Harding family鈥檚 absence. A handsome Airedale terrier, was the first presidential pet to receive extensive news coverage. After Harding鈥檚 death in office, newsboys around the country donated 19,000 pennies for a聽memorial. These coins were melted down and cast into a life-size Laddie Boy sculpture, today owned by the Smithsonian.
