Historic Photo: LBJ and a basket of puppies.
Presidents have dogs and grandchildren too!
If you need an “Awww!” moment today, try this one. That’s Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States, posing with a basket of beagle puppies. The child is, I believe, one of his many grandchildren. The dog in the background was named Blanco, a white collie that was given to President and Mrs. Johnson in December 1963. This photo was taken on January 5, 1966. You don’t often see U.S. Presidents like this, which is why it’s a noteworthy photo.
Johnson loved dogs and beagles were his particular favorite. The most famous of his many pets were the male and female beagles, named Him and Her; these puppies are presumably their offspring. LBJ got some flak from the press in 1964 for holding up one of the beagles by his ears, which he claimed, probably correctly, that the dog enjoyed. Him died later in 1966, and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover gave the President another male beagle, which he named J. Edgar and eventually just Edgar. The Johnsons also later got a mixed-breed white dog they called Yuki.
