Pictures Capture the Bond Between Politicians and Their Dogs

By Gabe Bullard

PUBLISHED September 23, 2016

  
Richard Nixon pets Checkers, a dog given to him by a supporter and the namesake of his groundbreaking national television address.

Photograph by Bob Gomel, The LIFE Images Collectio, Getty Images

   

   There’s something about September 23 that brings out the dogs among politicians.

   On this day in 1952, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon made a speech that defined his career and set the tone for the next six decades of political communications—and that speech would forever be named for his pet cocker spaniel, Checkers.

   Nixon’s speech came eight years to the day after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered what would come to be called his “Fala Speech,” due to its reference to FDR’s beloved Scottie dog, Fala.

Now, in some corners of the Internet, September 23 is celebrated as Dogs in Politics Day. A double meaning, since both FDR and Nixon alluded to their pets to avoid hounding from political opponents.... 
...FDR and Nixon weren’t the only presidents with a penchant for pooches. George Washington kept hounds,  President John Adams had a pet dog named Satan, and President Obama’s dogs are frequently in the news.    
   Here, for Dogs in Politics day, we present some of our favorite photos of presidents and their dogs, plus one of Queen Elizabeth, because no list of powerful people’s pets is complete without one of Her Majesty’s famous corgis...http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/dogs-politics-gallery-presidents-animals-photos/