Richard Nixon and Checkers
In a last-ditch effort to salvage his place on the ballot for vice president, Richard Nixon, then a junior U.S. senator from California, gave his famous "Checkers" speech live on television, on Sept. 23, 1952. Nixon's story of how happy the small cocker spaniel (which a supporter in Texas had sent as a gift for the candidate's children) had made his family, and his determination to keep the dog even if it was a crime, pulled at America's heartstrings. In the end, Nixon's speech won over the country and secured his political career.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Fala
Fala, Franklin D. Roosevelt's beloved Scottish terrier, stayed close to Roosevelt's side, becoming an important part of his public image. Fala was mentioned in numerous speeches by the president, and a bronze statue of him is included in the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. Fala succeeded Roosevelt by seven years, and according to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in her memoir On My Own, the little dog never really readjusted. "When Fala heard the sirens, his legs straightened out, his ears pricked up and I knew that he expected to see his master coming down the drive as he had come so many times ... Fala always near the dining-room door, where he could watch both entrances just as he did when his master was there."
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Balto and Gunnar Kaasen
In January 1925, a diphtheria epidemic posed a serious threat to the residents of Nome, Alaska. The small town was without an antitoxin serum to treat the spreading disease, and the arctic winter made it impossible to fly the medication to Nome. The only means of transporting the serum was to dog-sled over the frozen tundra. Balto, a Siberian husky, led the team of dogs tasked with delivering the medicine across Alaska when Kaasen, the last sled driver on the run, almost succumbed to the brutal weather. A sculpture of Balto in New York's Central Park commemorates the team's 600-plus-mile journey through the unyielding blizzard.
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Paul Revere's Horse Ride
While some Americans can't tell you exactly what the patriot Paul Revere is famous for, everyone knows a horse was involved. In 1775, during the height of the Revolutionary War, Revere, who was employed as a courier, had instructions to ride at midnight from Boston to Lexington to warn of the British advancements and their intention to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. To fulfill his duty, Revere borrowed a horse from his friend, Deacon John Larkin. Revere's ride, which was immortalized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow almost 100 years later, actually saved the two founding fathers.
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Greyfriars Bobby
John Gray of Edinburgh, Scotland, had little in his possession other than a Skye terrier named Greyfriars Bobby when he died in 1858 from tuberculosis. When Gray was laid to rest in the Greyfriars cemetery, Bobby stuck by his side. The little dog was caught lying on his master's grave and chased out numerous times. However, the curator felt bad for the small pup and allowed him to stay. Bobby guarded his master's grave for 14 years, until the day he died. A statue of the faithful pet was made almost immediately following his death and placed by the graveyard's entrance, and in 1981, the Dog Aid Society of Scotland erected a tombstone on his grave. It reads: "Greyfriars Bobby - died 14th January 1872 - aged 16 years - Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all."
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Elsa the Lioness
Elsa, the lioness made famous in the book Born Free (1960), proved animal experts wrong when she developed a bond with game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy. When Elsa was only weeks old, George was forced to kill her mother during one of his safaris. Elsa had two other siblings, but she was the only cub that stayed with the couple. Determined to teach Elsa how to hunt and survive on her own, the Adamsons eventually reintroduced her back into the wild. However, when the lioness was 3, she returned to them with three of her own cubs. Elsa died at the age of 5 from a blood disease and was buried at Meru National Park in Kenya.
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Alexander McQueen
High-end fashion designer Alexander McQueen bequeathed almost $82,000 of his $26 million estate to his three dogs before his death. McQueen, who committed suicide in February 2010, wanted to make sure his dogs -- Minter, Juice and Callum -- would be pampered for the rest of their lives. The talented, yet emotionally troubled, McQueen had a very strong bond with his pets and at one point said, "My dogs are the only thing in the world I really trust."
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