In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt was gifted a Scottish Terrier puppy by a cousin. He named the dog Murray the Outlaw of Falahill after a Scottish ancestor. Thankfully, the little dog was nicknamed Fala. FDR and his pet became fast friends. After Fala had a health scare because he was going to the White House kitchen to get snacks, FDR insisted on being the only one to feed him. Fala often traveled with the president. He rode on the Presidential plane, Sacred Cow. He traveled on the President’s railroad car called Ferdinand Magellan. He was asea for the Atlantic Charter conference between FDR and Churchill. He became famous and was featured in a documentary film about a day in the White House. Millions of Americans saw the film as a newsreel at the movies. Fala was an honorary Private in the US Army. During the Battle of the Bulge, American soldiers tried to identify German soldiers in disguise by asking anyone suspicious questions like “What is the name of the President’s dog?”
Fala became historically famous when FDR responded to press lies about how when FDR made a visit to the Aleutian Islands to visit the troops, Fala was accidentally left behind and the President supposedly sent a destroyer to retrieve the dog, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. FDR took advantage of the story by using it for humor against his opponents. He gave a speech to the International Teamsters Union on Sept. 23, 1944. The speech was heard over radios by millions of Americans. The segment of the speech where FDR talked about Fala became famous. Here is the segment:
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 don’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.
The crowd roared at one of the funniest jokes ever told by a President. By the way, the joke was suggested to FDR by a supporter – Orson Welles.
After FDR’s death, Fala lived with Eleanor. Eleanor loved the little dog. He died at age 12 in 1952. He was buried near his master. You can see a statue of him next to the statue of FDR at the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/fala.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fala_(dog)
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