The First Cat of the White House: A Feline Political Tradition

The White House holds an unwritten tradition: nearly every president has kept a cat. The earliest to be remembered by name is Tabby, a tabby cat that belonged to Abraham Lincoln, who fed her by hand and said she reminded him of home. Hayes had Siam; Truman had Mike; the Kennedys had a small black cat called Tom Kitten; and Bill Clinton's Socks became the most famous First Cat of the 1990s, with press appearances of his own. White House cats have always been more than pets — they are a kind of soft power. In the most serious room in America, a cat is what makes every visitor smile first.