December 19

American Presidents have a wide range of reputations. A reputation for having unusual pets, or even particularly nice ones, is not among them. Household pets for the White House seem to be limited to rather bland ones like dogs, often ones with a tendency, like their owners, to roll around drooling on the carpet in the Lincoln bedroom. On rare occasions, the leader of the free world will choose a cat, showing better judgment in their taste in pets than in their plans for the country. There is however, at least one president who chose a pet that was practical as well as soothing. President William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, had not one but two cows as pets. Pauline Wayne, a Holstein cow, replaced Mooly Wooly in the President’s household. Miss Wayne, as she was referred to, kept the White House grounds neatly trimmed and supplied the Taft household with fresh milk. It is rather nice that, apparently, Miss Wayne did not also furnish the main course for state dinners. She was essentially a pet and people should not eat pets. This practical yet tender side of Taft explains many things. It explains why, on the 19th in 1912 he pardoned William H. Van Schaick, the captain of the steamship General Slocum, who was imprisoned for 3 ½ years in Sing Sing prison after being found liable for the deaths of over 1,000 people when the Slocum burned and sank in New York City's East River on June 15, 1904.