Presidential Pet Museum

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JFK’s Parakeets, Bluebell and Marybelle

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First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her children, Caroline and John Jr., play with parakeets Bluebell and Maybelle in John’s nursery, Nov. 27, 1962.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her children, Caroline and John Jr., play with parakeets Bluebell and Maybelle in John’s nursery, Nov. 27, 1962.

President John F. Kennedy wasn’t just a dog and horse owner — the Kennedy family also had a pair of parakeets while in the White House.

Named Bluebell and Marybelle, the two birds were John Jr.’s pets, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

The parakeets lived in cages, although First Lady Jackie Kennedy was seen playing with John Jr. and Caroline in the nursery with the parakeets. Both children seemed to genuinely enjoy the birds, and when the family had to move out of the White House after the assassination of JFK, the parakeets went with them.

Carolyn and John Jr. with their pet birds.
Carolyn and John Jr. with their pet birds.

Neighbors in the Georgetown neighborhood spotted the parakeets arriving in their pink-covered cages just before the First Family.

Not much is known about Bluebell and Marybelle. Unlike some of their more boisterous co-pets, such as Charlie and Pushinka, the birds seem to have lived quietly and not made a fuss!

Polly Want a WHAT?! Andrew Jackson’s Pet Parrot

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Andrew Jackson's pet bird, Poll, swore like a sailor.
Andrew Jackson’s pet bird, Poll, swore like a sailor.

The story of a presidential parrot cursing at a funeral is almost too unbelievable to be true.

So we thought we had better check out the persistent story that President Andrew Jackson’s pet parrot started uttering obscenities during the former president’s own funeral and had to be removed.

Here is a quote attributed to the Rev. William Menefee Norment, who was presiding at the service, and found in Volume 3 of Samuel G. Heiskell’s Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History:

“Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house.”

The Rev. Norment goes on to report that the presidential parrot was “excited by the multitude and … let loose perfect gusts of ‘cuss words.’” People were “horrified and awed at the bird’s lack of reverence.”

Parrots, intelligent birds that can live to be 75 years old, are known for their ability to learn words and to mimic other sounds they hear, including phones ringing and babies crying.

Parrots do not have vocal chords but instead produce sounds by pushing air out of their tracheas. Jackson bought Poll, an African grey parrot, for his wife, Rachel, but took care of the bird himself after she died.

Old Hickory was one tough man. Not only was Jackson a war hero, but when a man tried to shoot him at a speaking engagement and the gun misfired, President Jackson, 67 at the time, beat the would-be assassin almost senseless with his walking stick.

Jackson outfitted the White House with a dozen spittoons, fought duels, and was the first president to open the White House for public visits. So it seems natural that his language might have been kind of, um, salty — but what did his parrot say exactly? No one seems to $%&! know.

U.S. Presidents Who Have Had Pet Birds

Andrew Jackson wasn’t the only American president to have a bird as a pet. The long list includes:

It has been nearly 50 years since a pet bird called the White House home.

Thomas Jefferson’s Mockingbird Named Dick

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“N.O. [New Orleans] mockg. bird begins to sing.”

  • 1806 Feb. 19. “2d. Mockg. bird sings.”
  • 1806 Feb. 25. “The old bird begins to sing.”
  • 1806. March 3. Dick sings.

As the above journal entries and others like them suggest, Thomas Jefferson had a passion for mockingbirds. Our third president had several mockingbirds, but Dick — the only one he mentions by name — appears to have been his favorite.

Margaret Bayard Smith, a Jefferson friend and an early American historian, wrote that Dick’s cage was “suspended among the roses and geraniums in the window recesses of the presidential cabinet.”

Smith wrote that Jefferson cherished Dick “with peculiar fondness, not only for its melodious powers, but for its uncommon intelligence and affectionate disposition.”

Free Range in the White House

thomas-jefferson-mockingbird-at-white-house1806 Jan. 22. Jefferson often left Dick’s cage open in the While House and allowed him free range of his office (now the State Dining Room).

Dick would perch on Jefferson’s couch or sit on the president’s shoulder as he worked. Jefferson sometimes put a piece of food between his lips, and the bird would take it from him.

According to Smith, when Jefferson took out his violin and began to play, Dick would “pour out his song along with the violin.”

“How he loved the bird!” she continued. “He could not live without something to love… his bird and his flowers became the objects of his tender care.”

“A Superior Being in the Form of a Bird”

In 1793, Jefferson wrote to his friend Thomas Mann Randolph:

“I sincerely congratulate you on the arrival of the Mocking bird. [Teach] all the children to venerate it as a superior being in the form of a bird, or as a being which will haunt them if any harm is done to itself or its eggs.

“I shall hope that the multiplication of the cedar in the neighborhood, and of trees and shrubs round the house, will attract more of them.”

Gabby, Eisenhower’s Parakeet

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The real Gabby might have looked something like this cute parakeet from 2014.
The real Gabby might have looked something like this cute parakeet.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower kept a parakeet named Gabby at the White House for his handful of grandchildren.

Not much is known about this pet bird, which joined the Eisenhower family in early 1954. We do know that Gabby, despite his name, wasn’t known to speak. Apparently the parakeet wanted to let the president do all the talking.

Gabby died in 1957 and was buried by the gardener at the southwest corner of the executive mansion.

Back then, the grave was “marked with an asbestos shingle on which [was] stenciled the name Gabby,” according to news reports. Yes, the presidential bird’s burial made the news, albeit several months after the fact.

One newspaper reported that 9- or 10-year-old David Eisenhower, the president’s grandson, “made two or three trips to see the grave” and “even thanked the gardener who buried the bird.”

Five years later, another pet bird would be buried at the White House — the yellow canary belonging to President John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline. (A pair of parakeets also lived in the Kennedy White House.)

Robin, Caroline Kennedy’s Pet Canary

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caroline-kennedy-canary-robinIn the back yard of the White House is buried a yellow canary belonging to President John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline.

The story goes that in spring 1962, when the Queen Farah of Iran was visiting Washington, Caroline Kennedy, 4 years old, insisted that her mother take the queen to the burial site.

“That was the one thing Caroline wanted the empress to see,” said Jackie Kennedy.

An article in The Miami News reported: “The empress, fighting back a smile, expressed suitable sorrow at the grave.”

The canary’s name was Robin, and the bird had died the day before, on April 10, 1962. Burial took place, at Caroline’s request, near her play area.

Cause of death: Unknown. “It’s hard to tell with a canary,” said Jackie Kennedy.

According to The New York Times, the canary got its name because Caroline “likes robins.” It was about 2 years old when it died. Young Caroline Kennedy’s favorite pet, though, was probably her pony Macaroni.

Eli Yale

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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Eli the Hyacinth macaw, June 17, 1902. Library of Congress photo.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Eli the Hyacinth macaw, June 17, 1902. Library of Congress photo.

The White House was definitely a lively place during Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt, our youngest president, took the oath of office in 1901 after the death of President William McKinley. He and his wife, Edith, moved to Pennsylvania Avenue with six children and a veritable menagerie of well-loved animals (see full list of their pets below this article).

One of the more colorful — and noisy – of the Roosevelt pets was Eli Yale, a Hyacinth macaw parrot. Apparently named after Elihu Yale, the 18th-century British merchant and philanthropist who is the namesake of Yale University, the colorful macaw is best known for being in a photograph on the arm of a well-dressed and serious-looking Teddy Jr., only 14 at the time.

This 1902 portrait was taken in the White House conservatory, where the bird must have enjoyed spending time.

Unfortunately, the White House greenhouses were torn down that same year to make room for an office annex that evolved into the West Wing.

Loud? Sure, Maybe Just a Little Loud …

“Loud” is the first word that comes to mind when macaw owners describe their pets. In fact, you can hear macaws in their native rainforest habitat from at least five miles away.

Playful and active, Hyacinth macaws have a lively personality to go along with their size, which can reach up to 42 inches in height and 3 to 4 pounds in weight. The largest parrot by length in the world, the Hyacinth macaw is a striking bird with vibrant blue feathers, a large black curved beak, and bright yellow accents on its face.

The Roosevelt kids – and their pet-loving dad — undoubtedly enjoyed the fact that macaws are very good at mimicking speech and sounds. Macaws require quite a bit of interaction from their owners and can get especially noisy when they are bored.

Chances are, however, that Eli was well entertained by the rowdy Roosevelt family.

President Roosevelt himself kept a sense of humor about the bird. He wrote in June 1902, “Eli [is] the most gorgeous macaw, with a bill that I think could bite through boiler plate, who crawls all over Ted, and whom I view with dark suspicion.”

Here is a video explaining more about Hyacinth macaws:

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