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1944 - Fala figures in campaign
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s small Scottie dog, Fala, figured in the 1944 presidential campaign when FDR was seeking a fourth term. The issue stemmed from Republican critics spreading a claim that the president had accidentally left the dog behind after visiting the Aleutian Islands earlier in the year and sent a Navy destroyer to retrieve it. Speaking at a Teamsters Union dinner in Washington, Roosevelt said sarcastically that his dog had been libeled. “I don’t resent attacks. My family doesn’t resent attacks. But Fala does resent attacks,” he said. (Tulsa World)
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How could you overlook FDR’s Fala?
Letter to the editor (Washington Post, May 4, 2012):
“I was surprised when reading the lineup of other presidential pets in the May 1 front-page article on Bo, the first dog [‘The dog days of a reelection bid’], to see no mention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s beloved Scottish terrier, Fala.
“Fala was of such transcendent importance that not only is he the only presidential pet immortalized in our city’s monumental core, next to his master at the FDR Memorial near the Tidal Basin, but he also was invoked by Roosevelt in a campaign speech on Sept. 23, 1944, when the president declared to laughter and applause: ‘These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife or on my sons. . . . [T]hey now include my little dog, Fala, as well. Well, of course, I don’t resent attacks . . . but Fala does resent them… . 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!’”
Emily S. Goldman, Washington
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Even During WWII, Dogs Mattered in Campaigns
America faced challenges even more urgent in 1944, when President Roosevelt was running for re-election against his Republican opponent Thomas Dewey.
President Roosevelt’s dog was a Scottish Terrier that he named Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, and nicknamed Fala. The rumor at the time, spread by Republicans, was that the dog had accidentally been left on one of the Aleutian islands during a presidential visit — and that Roosevelt had ordered a Navy destroyer to retrieve the stranded pooch at great expense to the treasury.
On September 23, 1944, Roosevelt immortalized the kerfuffle by addressing it during a nationally broadcast radio speech: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 20 million dollars — his Scotch soul was furious. (laughter) He has not been the same dog since.(laughter) I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself — such as that old, worm-eaten chestnut that I have represented myself as indispensable. But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog!Dewey foolishly tried to respond with a point by point rebuttal of Roosevelt’s speech, prompting the Democratic National Committee to put out a statement declaring the election “between Roosevelt’s dog and Dewey’s goat,” and Roosevelt himself wrote in a private letter soon after, “I deliberately wrote out a speech with the objective in mind of making Governor Dewey angry. It worked.” (The Atlantic)
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Fala Still In The News
References to Fala continue to be found in the modern media. The latest is this Businessweek story about pets in presidential politics (think President Obama’s Portuguese water dog Bo and Mitt Romney’s former car-roof-riding pet Seamus).
The magazine’s Julianna Goldman writes:
Dogs have played a significant role in presidential culture, helping to humanize the nation’s top executive for people by making him seem more like themselves or their neighbors. They also serve as best buds: former President Harry Truman, who had Feller, a cocker spaniel, stated: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”
George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel, Millie, was the first presidential pet to write a book. Richard Nixon had King Timahoe, an Irish setter. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had Fala, a Scottish terrier he defended against a Republican attack in the 1944 “Fala Speech,” saying: “These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or on my wife or on my sons. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Fala.”
“It creates the picture of the family man who has a pet and is kind and gentle,” said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. “The contrast being made is that Romney is a rather stiff-back, harsh character, and he made the dog ride on the roof of his car.”
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![The President’s Speech
To support President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 re-election campaign,Syd Hoff, Crockett Johnson, Lynd Ward, Hugo Gellert, William Gropper, and fourteen other artists illustrated this booklet, called The President’s Speech.
The text is FDR’s speech made before the Teamsters Union on September 23rd, 1944 — also known as the “Fala speech,” since it features his dog, Fala.
[Shown here] is Crockett Johnson’s page. You’ll note that he drew the famous Fala himself. (Nine Kinds of Pie / Artists for FDR)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzaixm1y9D1qlqojoo1_500.jpg)
The President’s Speech
To support President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 re-election campaign,Syd Hoff, Crockett Johnson, Lynd Ward, Hugo Gellert, William Gropper, and fourteen other artists illustrated this booklet, called The President’s Speech.
The text is FDR’s speech made before the Teamsters Union on September 23rd, 1944 — also known as the “Fala speech,” since it features his dog, Fala.
[Shown here] is Crockett Johnson’s page. You’ll note that he drew the famous Fala himself. (Nine Kinds of Pie / Artists for FDR)
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![The Most Photographed Dog In The World
It was Franklin Roosevelt’s Fala, a Scottie, who epitomized the title of first dog. Called the “most photographed dog in the world,” Fala was [Franklin Roosevelt]’s constant companion, traveling all over the globe with the president. This “tail-wagging busybody” is said to have won FDR a million votes due to the famous “Fala” speech in the 1944 campaign. Responding to Republican attacks, including reports he sent a destroyer to the Aleutians to retrieve the dog, Roosevelt said, “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.” Fala further enhanced Roosevelt’s popularity when he fathered two pups, Meggy and Peggy. — The Washington Post, 1989](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxlow97K511qlqojoo1_400.jpg)
The Most Photographed Dog In The World
It was Franklin Roosevelt’s Fala, a Scottie, who epitomized the title of first dog. Called the “most photographed dog in the world,” Fala was [Franklin Roosevelt]’s constant companion, traveling all over the globe with the president. This “tail-wagging busybody” is said to have won FDR a million votes due to the famous “Fala” speech in the 1944 campaign. Responding to Republican attacks, including reports he sent a destroyer to the Aleutians to retrieve the dog, Roosevelt said, “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.” Fala further enhanced Roosevelt’s popularity when he fathered two pups, Meggy and Peggy. — The Washington Post, 1989
![The Most Photographed Dog In The World
It was Franklin Roosevelt’s Fala, a Scottie, who epitomized the title of first dog. Called the “most photographed dog in the world,” Fala was [Franklin Roosevelt]’s constant companion, traveling all over the globe with the president. This “tail-wagging busybody” is said to have won FDR a million votes due to the famous “Fala” speech in the 1944 campaign. Responding to Republican attacks, including reports he sent a destroyer to the Aleutians to retrieve the dog, Roosevelt said, “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.” Fala further enhanced Roosevelt’s popularity when he fathered two pups, Meggy and Peggy. — The Washington Post, 1989](http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/37/3727/WBRAF00Z/art-print/us-president-franklin-d-roosevelt-and-his-dog-fala-early-1940s.jpg)
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Listening To His Master’s Voice
On Sept. 23, 1944, during a speech to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a recent political attack against his dog, Fala. He defended his dog’s honor by saying:
“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 had left him behind on the Aleutian Islands 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 — such as that old, worm-eaten chestnut that I have represented myself as indispensable. But I think I have a right to resent, to object to libelous statements about my dog.” (PBS)
See also: My Little Dog, Fala
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A Real Hound
In the wake of what became known as the Fala Speech, the Scottie became an icon as well as a “personage.” At a White House Conference on Rural Education that drew 200 educators to the East Room on October 5, Austin R. Meadows of Alabama abruptly laid aside his text in mid-speech and said, “The folks back home really only wanted me to say hello to Fala.” After 15 minutes, Fala appeared, accompanied by a steward who gave Eleanor a plate with pieces of sponge cake while the educators scattered chairs, clapped, laughed and squealed with delight. “A group of dignified school officials had suddenly become a bunch of care-free high school kids,” the New York Times reported. Fala ignored Eleanor until he got a snort of the cake, and then came running. He rolled over and stood up on his legs to beg, but the floor proved too slick for him to jump successfully. (via Fala, the Presidential Dog | The Bark)
Photo: Still from 1944 video; FDR Presidential Library
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My little dog, Fala
September 23, 1944: FDR gives a campaign speech to the Teamsters Union denouncing Republican attacks that he had sent a U.S. Navy destroyer to retrieve his dog Fala after leaving him behind on the Aleutian Islands. (In Roosevelt History)
See Also: Listening To His Master’s Voice
