Calvin Coolidge was a good president, but as for his taste in pets, I’m not so sure:
One of the best-known four-legged White House residents during the Coolidge years — a raccoon — had actually been meant to be eaten.
She was sent from Mississippi to be part of the White House Thanksgiving meal in 1926, but the Coolidge family found her to be friendly and docile and decided to keep her as a pet instead.The president who mistakenly called her a “he” announced the raccoon’s arrival in one of his regular press conferences. “I don’t think he is quite grown yet,” Coolidge told reporters.
“He is very playful, very interesting, and seems very well trained and well behaved.” The president also asked the press to help him come up with a name for the new pet.
Rebecca, as she came to be called on Christmas Eve of that year, soon became a favorite of the president and First Lady Grace Coolidge, and was a frequent sight at White House events, including Easter egg rolls.
Via Calvin Coolidge’s Pet Raccoon Rebecca @ The Presidential Pet Museum.