scottish terrier

Before he had Fala, our nation’s best-known Scottish terrier, President Franklin Roosevelt had another Scottish terrier named Meggie.

In fact, Meggie — along with the Roosevelts’ other dog at the time, Major, a German shepherd — rode along with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on a six-hour car trip to the White House after FDR was first elected.

“Someone will have to take the dogs and the car to Washington,” Mrs. Roosevelt said, “and I shall enjoy doing it myself. I love to drive.”

Meggie was 8 years old when she arrived at the White House. The Associated Press reported that she was “very fat,” hated baths, liked to sleep in fireplaces, and made a big stink any time Eleanor Roosevelt was around. Meggie was said to go everywhere with the First Lady, even press conferences — where she would bark to announce her presence.

“Terrorized the Housemaids”

According to Stanley Coren in his book The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, Mrs. Roosevelt refused to let anyone discipline Meggie, and the dog pretty much was able to have full run of the White House living quarters.

Meggie “terrorized the housemaids by chasing them down the halls and biting at their brooms, mops and dusters,” Coren writes.

A March 1933 article from the United Press said, “Meggie is strictly a ‘one-person’ dog” — that one person being Mrs. Roosevelt. The article went on to call the dog “possessed of plenty of nerve and fighting spirit.”

Even Major, a former police dog, “knows better than to pick a scrap with her,” the article continued.

“Have You Been a Naughty Dog?”

When word of the little dog’s rambunctious behavior got out, newspaper reporter Bess Furman decided to get to the bottom of the story. During an interview with the president on more pressing matters, Furman asked about FDR Meggie’s reign of terror. Roosevelt responded by laughing and saying, “I am not with her all the time. Perhaps you had better ask her about these reports.”

Because Meggie was right there in the room, Furman patted the sofa seat next to her, and Meggie jumped up beside her. “Meggie, have you been a naughty dog?” the reporter asked the dog, adding: “Come now and confess to the public what you have really done.”

Yes, She Has Been Naughty

Right on cue, Meggie gave the reporter a sharp bite on her nose!

The First Lady, “eager to make amends,” recounted columnist Alice Hughes, “offered to cover the story for The Associated Press, for whom Bess was working. In the pressure of the moment, the AP rejected the offer. Afterward, they could have bitten themselves with chagrin over failing to have a story covered and signed by the wife of the president of the USA.”

Several reports say Eleanor Roosevelt banished Meggie from the White House after the incident, sending the Scottie to stay with a family friend in late December 1933.

“The president and Mrs. Roosevelt decided that they did not have the time to enjoy their pets in the White House,” says the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Then again, other pets would go on to join the First Family — including, of course, the famous Fala.

FALA BIOGRAPHY
Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

• BORN: April 7, 1940
• DIED: April 5, 1952 and was buried in the Rose Garden next to the sundial near FDR on April 7, 1952

Fala, a Scottish terrier, was given to the president by Mrs. Augustus G. Kellog of Westport, Connecticut through Franklin Roosevelt’s cousin, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley. At first his name was Big Boy. Franklin renamed him Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, after a Scottish ancestor.

Fala had a bone every morning brought up on the president’s breakfast tray. Fala got a full dinner every night. During the day, Fala would beg for food from the White House staff. He was so cute that he was fed all the time and became sick. The staff was asked not to feed him extra food. At night, he slept in a special chair at the foot of the president’s bed. Fala traveled with the president on long and short trips by train, car, or boat.

He , of course, met many famous visitors and entertained them with his tricks. He could even curl his lip into a smile for them.

Here are some trips and people that he met:

• In August 1941, Fala was at the Atlantic Charter Conference in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland with the president and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England.
• In September 1942 and April 1943, Fala went on inspection trips of defense plants and visited Monterey, Mexico and President Camacho.
• In August 1943 and September 1944, he went to the Quebec Conferences.
• In 1944, Fala was with the President on a sea trip to the Aleutian Islands. Rumors spread that Fala was accidentally left on one of the islands. During the 1944 presidential campaign, the Republicans accused him of spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars in sending a destroyer back for him. The President answered the attack in his famous Fala speech while talking to the Teamsters Union. Roosevelt defended his Scottie, saying, that he, Roosevelt, expected such criticism aimed at himself, and that even his family expected negative talk about themselves. However, Fala had not been the same. Since the charge was made: “His Scotch soul was furious.”
• There was another incident on a sea trip aboard the ship Tuscalosa in the West Indies. It was a hot day. The sailors were trying to cool off. They were lying on the deck stretched out in a row. Their bare feet were lined up. Fala caused quite a commotion by moving quickly along the row licking and tickling their feet.
• And yet another time, Fala was with the President on a fishing trip to Florida. As the fish were caught, they were thrown in a pile on the deck. Quite a pile accumulated. They were all flip-flopping in the air as fish do. Fala began to flip-flop, too. It was such a fun game that he did it for several days.

In April 1945, President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia. Fala attended the funeral. He went to live with Mrs. Roosevelt at Val-Kill. He never really adjusted to the loss of Roosevelt. Even so, Val-Kill was in the country. It was a great place to run, play, chase squirrels, and even cats sometimes. Mrs. Roosevelt brought his grandson, Tamas McFala to live at Val-Kill, too, and be Fala’s playmate. Sometimes they would run off together and get into trouble. They came home hours later covered with burrs and mud. By the end of such a busy day, he was an exhausted dog. Sometimes he slept on his back with his feet in the air.

He was so popular that he received thousands of letters from people. He even needed to have a secretary appointed to him to answer his mail. One letter dated August 5, 1947, was from a poodle named Abigail. Fala chased a skunk once, which was very unpleasant for everyone. The poodle scolded Fala for not acting with more intelligence and dignity. Abigail hoped that Fala would never, ever let that unfortunate incident be repeated.

In 1942, a movie was made about Fala and his life in Hyde Park. Children and other visitors who come to the Roosevelt Museum and Library in Hyde Park, New York still enjoy watching it today.

Fala is probably the only president pet to be memorialized in statuary. A statue of Fala stands next to one of FDR at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.

Additional Resources

The following sources contain references about Fala:

• The New York Times index contains many references to Fala from November 1940 to his death in April of 1952. An article in the Times appeared in January 11, 1942, VII, p. 11.
• The Reader’s Digest, March 1941, in an article titled “Presents for the President,” states that Fala “is the only dog FDR has accepted and given the run of the White House…”
• The most famous remarks made by FDR about Fala were in his speech to the Teamsters Union, on September 23, 1944, which is available in The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, edited by Samuel I. Rosenman.

Some books with references to Fala include:

• Working With Roosevelt, by Samuel I. Rosenman. Harper Brothers, New York. 1952.
• Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park, by Olin Dows. American Artists Group, Inc., New York.
• Roosevelt and Hopkins, by Robert E. Sherwood. Harper Brothers, New York. 1948.
• FDR, My Boss, by Grace G. Tully, pp. 128-132. Charles Scribner & Sons, New York. 1949.
• Off the Record With FDR 1942-1945, by William Hassett. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey. 1958.
• The True Story of Fala, by Margaret ” Daisy” Suckley. Scribner & Sons, New York. 1942. This volume may be purchased through the Museum Store at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.