Quick Histories | Why did Nikita Khrushchev give John F Kennedy a pet dog?

Big news from the USA! The White House will have a new resident: the rescue dog Major… and his owner Joe Biden. Major isn’t the first Presidential hound to make a mark (bark?) on history though. This week we meet Pushinka: a small dog who played a big role in Cold War relations!

LINKS & FIND OUT MORE:

- ‘Real Life at the White House’, by John Whitcomb, Claire Whitcomb

IMAGE CREDITS:
Image 1: Delaware Humane Association @Delawarehumane
Image 4 & 19: John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum / NARA
Image 5: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Image 7: Library of Congress
Image 12: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

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[bakeface_]

BRO this is the definition of a powermove. DAMN.

You tell these facts so well, they're so digestible and i love them so much!!!!

[endersdragon]

While being a powermove I do think it helped to calm tensions a bit because Kennedy was definitely an animal lover (just checked, 3rd most pets in the White House, only Roosevelt and Coolidge had more pets than he did, Washington too... but not in the White House obviously) and it was an incredibly adorable dog. So after the initial shock of the powermove, it probably was seen as a bit of a nice gesture between two political rivals.