Laddie Boy, Warren Harding's Airedale
With his own cabinet seat Laddie Boy was a
White House favorite
MetPet.com Staff Writer
Laddie Boy the Airedale (1919-1929) was President Warren G. Harding's
(tenure 1921-1923) famous White House dog. He would retrieve golf balls on
the White House lawn and greet official delegations. He would have dogs
over for play and even received a
birthday cake made from biscuits. Laddie Boy had his own hand-carved
chair to sit upon during Cabinet meetings and was quoted by reporters in mock
interviews.
When the Teapot Dome scandal errupted, it is said that Harding used Laddie
Boy for photo ops to present a picture of normalcy to the american public.
Laddie Boy showed up at the annual Easter Egg Roll greeting children and
performing tricks while the Hardings looked on.
In 1923 President Harding died, possibly from heart disease, in San Francisco
when he became ill on his 'Voyage of Understanding' to the western states.
Laddie Boy had reportedly howled for three days before Harding passed away
possibly sensing that something was wrong.
The Hardings had been newspaper publishers before coming to the White House
and, as a gift to Mrs. Harding, 19,000 members of the Newsboys Association each
donated a penny, 103.5 pounds worth, to be melted down and shaped into a
sculpture of Laddie Boy.
The bronze statue by artist Bashka Paeff was given by the Roosevelt Newsboys
Association of Lynne, MA to the Smithsonian in 1927. Laddie Boy died two
years later in January of 1929. The statue is now in the Smithsonian
collection and is displayed in the Ceremonial Court of the National Museum of
American History.
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