FDR's Fala

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's constant companion, Fala, a Scottish Terrier, was the most famous dog in the world. A beloved witness to history, Fala was also the center of political controversy. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-27218231-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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Fala Roosevelt - being Flawless

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Scottish Terrier “Fala” sitting up and begging for Prince Harold of Norway, September 26, 1944.

photo by Bert Morgan

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It’s National All-American Pet Photo Day! While this isn’t a photo, we can’t help but share this adorable video of Fala at the White House.

[fdrlibrary]

You can’t get more All-American for #AllAmericanPetPhotoDay than a presidential pet! Everyone’s favorite Scottish Terrier, Fala, has a playful moment with President Roosevelt in this photo. Learn more about “Murray the Outlaw of Falahill”: https://fdrlibrary.org/fala

Photo #NPx 53-227 (96)

[fdrlibrary]

On September 23, 1944 FDR gave what has become one of his best known campaign speeches - a speech to the Teamsters Union in which he defended Fala from attacks made by the Republican Party:

These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife, or on my sons. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Fala. Well, of course, I don’t resent attacks, and my family doesn’t resent attacks, but Fala does resent them. You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I’d left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him—at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars—his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself … But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog.

You can read more about the speech in today’s blog post from Library Director Paul Sparrow: http://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/…/defending-fala-a-lesson-in…/

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Fala, the beloved dog of F.D. Roosevelt.

[fdrlibrary]

Happy National Puppy Day!

Here is FDR with a 4 month old Fala on a picnic at “Sunset Hill,” August 8, 1940.

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Biography of Fala D. Roosevelt

(via the FDR Library and Museum)

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FDR with Fala at Top Cottage, Hyde Park, New York, October 1942

[historicaltimes]

Newspaper cameramen photograph Fala, Roosevelt’s pet Scotty, who accompanied the President to the Quebec conference on August 20, 1943 -

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[fdrlibrary]

Did you know that FDR named his beloved Scottish terrier after a distant Scottish ancestor? Upon receiving the pet as a gift in 1940, Roosevelt changed the dog’s name from “Big Boy” to “Murray the Outlaw of Falahill” — “Fala” for short — in homage to the famous John Murray of Falahill.

Fala became Roosevelt’s constant companion and the most famous dog in America.  

#Scotland

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With both the Scottish Independence Referendum and The Roosevelts documentary in the news this week, here’s a little piece of Rooseveltian-Scottish trivia, courtesy of our colleagues at the fdrlibrary.

Fala Photographing the Photographers at the White House, Washington, DC, 04/07/1942

What are you following this week, The Roosevelts, or the referendum?

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FDR sits with Fala in the White House Oval Study, Dec. 20, 1941.

Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum

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Eleanor Roosevelt gives a treat to Fala as he performs for Prime Minister MacKenzie King during the Second Quebec Conference. September 1944.

Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum

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Margaret Suckley, known as Daisy, and Fala at Top Cottage during the summer of 1941. This photo was taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum

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Fala’s Grave

Fala, FDR’s famous Scottish terrier, died on April 5, 1952, and is buried in the Rose Garden at the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum

[fdrlibrary]

On this day - August 8, 1940

FDR at a picnic on “Sunset Hill” near Pine Plains, NY.  Fala is 4 months old.  The doll next to the president is a handmade shaker doll made by Mary Garettson of Rhinebeck, NY.

[historicaltimes]

Newspaper cameramen photograph Fala, Roosevelt’s pet Scotty, who accompanied the President to the Quebec conference on August 20, 1943 -

Read More