A nasty little dog

Eleanor and Franklin are buried on the grounds of Springwood.  Buried near them are two of their dogs, one of whom is Fala.

According to the ranger, Fala's reputation as a beloved national icon is undeserved.  He was a nasty little dog.  Nobody liked him except FDR.  Nobody.  The Secret Service especially hated him.  They called him "the Informer."

This is why.

FDR usually travelled by train.  Fala went with him, of course.  Every hour or so Fala needed a walk.  The train would have to be stopped so that a Secret Service man could get off and walk the dog.  People along the route between Washington and Hyde Park knew what to look for.  Whenever they saw a train stopped along the tracks and a large man carrying a tommy gun and holding a little dog by the leash they knew the President was in their neighborhood.

The Secret Service felt this compromised security.  I think they thought Fala was in the pay of the enemy.

Comments

[CJColucci]

When I was last at Hyde Park (good beer-pub restaurant across Route 9, by the way), I asked if anyone had kept track of Fala's progeny. People might enjoy a chance to own a descendant of FDR's dog. The tour guides didn't know, but one thought the question worth looking into.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

A dog needing to walk every hour must have an undiagnosed bladder problem. For a puppy, the rule of thumb is that the dog can go n+1 hours between trips outside, where n is the puppy's age in months. That usually worked for my dog.

The Secret Service must've had some other beefs....