The secret life of a dog—the dog of President Truman

The most famous presidential quotation about a dog was by President Harry S Truman: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

Ironically Truman did not seem that interested in having a friend in Washington because he had only one dog by accident and only for a short period of time.

However, recently some intriguing Presidential “covert operations” involving the dog, Feller, have come to light.

 Truman received Feller, a beautiful blonde Cocker Spaniel, as an unwanted Christmas gift from the Postmaster General in 1947. When it was reported that the Trumans would not be keeping the puppy, they were criticized for being anti-dog. For all of their admirable qualities, the Trumans were simply not dog (or cat) people.

Feller went to the home of Truman’s personal physician, Brig. General Wallace Graham. Having a dog that belonged to the President made Dr. Graham a target for the press wanting to know why the President had given his dog away.

Dr. Graham probably figured if he wanted reporters asking nosy questions, he would have run for office instead of going to medical school. He soon got tired of the press and decided to get rid of the dog. For a long time it was reported that he gave the dog to his father, and that was the end of the story.

But it was recently discovered that Feller continued to live a secret life away from reporters. Dr. Graham had Feller spirited off to the presidential retreat, Shangri-La, which is now called Camp David. The retreat, designed for presidential privacy, is off limits to the press. The idea was that Feller would live on there and the story would just fade away.

Feller was left with the chief-in-charge, George A. Poplin. When Poplin was transferred, Truman’s secretary came to the camp and told him to leave the dog there. A large permanent staff resides at the President’s retreat so we can safely assume that Feller’s needs for food and attention were easily met.

Whenever the Trumans came to the camp, the staff made sure that Feller was freshly groomed, but sadly they never asked about him.

President Truman served from 1945 until 1953. When Chief Boatswain Robert W. Lyle was being transferred from the camp in 1953, he sought permission to take Feller. Permission was granted with the condition that he never mention that the dog had once belonged to Truman. Lyle gave the dog to his father, who lived on a farm in Ohio. Feller lived there for the rest of his happy years.

ALL THE PRESIDENTS' DOGS

Washington  Lincoln  T. Roosevelt  Harding   F.D. Roosevelt  Kennedy  Nixon  Reagan  Clinton

Comments

[Jimmy]

Truman...what a scumbag!
Washington.....good
Nixon....OK
T. Roosevelt....good
Reagan.....the absolute best
Lincoln, Harding....no comment
FDR, Clinton,Kennedy....scumbags to the second power!!!!!

[Jan]

Now Jimmy, I think your politics are showing maybe.

[Khyra]

So, I think we need a Siberian in power! Turbo and I ran in 2008 but.....

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

[Jimmy]

Sorry about that. It's hard to separate them from their politics?
Grrrrrrrrrr.......change I can believe in.......give me a break!
I'd be like that poor chap in Las Vegas if I said what I wanted to say about Obammer!
Bite him "Bo"!!!!!

[Jon Gaylord]

Good for Truman. If a person doesn't like dogs the best thing to do is to find a home with someone who does. Pretending to like a dog would have been dishonest and Truman seems like someone who was very honest.

[sling]

Where do you get these wonderful stories?
I agree with Jon,Harry just wasn't the sort to pretend.

[Tom and Icy]

You really do a good job finding interesting tid bits day after day. Good work. I don't always have anything to comment, but enjoy reading them.

[gus louie and callie]

Not sure if we like that President Truman. How can he not like dogs? It is wonderful to find out that the finally got to live on a farm where we are sure he had a job. Mom says all dogs need a job.

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie

[Jill]

I have a couple of more "president and dog" stories here:
http://historyforchildren.blogspot.com/2009/05/of-presidents-and-dogs.html

I especially LOVE the George Washington story.

[jackie]

changes my feelings about truman all together..read a story from the head what ever at the white house and he told a story about the night before gwbush's dog had to be put down, he took the dog out to the white house lawn and laid down on the grass with the dog and spooned him for hours...that made me cry..still hate the asshole, but still made me sad for him..

[Blogdog]

Well, we tend to judge everyone on how they get on with dogs! When our local and European elections were taking place recently - if the canvassing policitians didn't like Clive - they most certainly weren't getting our vote!

Read back on some of your other President's Dogs - of course, we loved reading about JFK - one of our highlights visiting Boston last year was going to the Kennedy Museum.

[Big_Dave_T]

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." I love that quote. I think it's so true. A friend one day can be railing against you on talk TV or radio the next. Ask Bush. A dog on the other hand is always going to be loyal.

[Palm Springs Savant]

I posted something on my blog today that you might be interested to see! Just wanted to say hi.

Rick

[Lynn Sinclair]

The poor dog probably had some issues, considering how often he was passed around.

[cube]

I had never heard this criticism about Truman. I don't understand it and
it's not for me, but people who don't like dogs do dogs a disservice by keeping them. They did the right thing in giving it away to someone who did want the pup.

Thanks for the edification, jan.

[pam]

@Lynn: That's what I was thinking. I counted seven owners (counting collectively the staff of Camp David). Kudos for being well-traveled, but possibly a bummer for the dog. Still, I agree w/ Jon; better to let it go to a good home than keep a dog you don't want.