HHZy7: Created page with "{{Short description|Presidential pet raccoon}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox animal | name = Rebecca | image = File:Grace Coolidge and Rebecca.jpg | image_upright = | caption = First Lady Grace Coolidge holding Rebecca | other_name = | species = Raccoon | breed = | sex = Female | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Mississippi, U.S. | deat..."

2026-09-16T06:55:21Z

Created page with "{{Short description|Presidential pet raccoon}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox animal | name = Rebecca | image = File:Grace Coolidge and Rebecca.jpg | image_upright = | caption = First Lady Grace Coolidge holding Rebecca | other_name = | species = Raccoon | breed = | sex = Female | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = Mississippi, U.S. | deat..."

New page

{{Short description|Presidential pet raccoon}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2026}}
{{Infobox animal
| name = Rebecca
| image = File:Grace Coolidge and Rebecca.jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = First Lady Grace Coolidge holding Rebecca
| other_name =
| species = Raccoon
| breed =
| sex = Female
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date = {{circa}} 1929
| death_place = [[Washington D.C.]], U.S.
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = 
| occupation =
| employer =
| role =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| tricks =
| awards =
| title = White House Raccoon<ref name="WHHA" />
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| owner = [[Calvin Coolidge]]<br>[[Grace Coolidge]]
| residence = [[White House]] (1926-1929)<br>
[[National Zoological Park (United States)|Rock Creek Park]] (1929; until death)
| parents =
| mate = Rueben (attempted)
| offspring =
| weight =
| height =
| appearance =
| named_after =
| module =
| module2 =
| module3 =
| module4 =
| module5 =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Rebecca''' was a [[raccoon]] kept as a pet by US president [[Calvin Coolidge]] and First Lady [[Grace Coolidge]].

== Life ==
Rebecca was born in [[Mississippi]].<ref>{{citation|title=Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge|first=David|last=Pietrusza|year=2008|page=195}}</ref> She had been sent to the White House to be served for the 1926 [[Thanksgiving dinner]]. Since the 1913 death of Horace Vose, the [[National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation|traditional provider of the White House Thanksgiving turkey]], numerous farmers sent animals for Thanksgiving dinner. In 1926, a Mississippi supporter sent Rebecca.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Raccoons at the White House |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/raccoons-at-the-white-house |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=WHHA (en-US) |language=en |archive-date=2022-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164945/https://www.whitehousehistory.org/raccoons-at-the-white-house |url-status=live }}</ref> Coolidge, who had never eaten raccoon and had no appetite to try it, kept Rebecca as a pet instead.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/white-house-thanksgiving-turkeys-in-the-roaring-20s|title=White House Thanksgiving Turkeys in the Roaring '20s|first=Jennifer|last=Giambrone|work=White House Historical Association|date=November 19, 2015|access-date=November 18, 2021|archive-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119001024/https://www.whitehousehistory.org/white-house-thanksgiving-turkeys-in-the-roaring-20s|url-status=live}}</ref>

For Christmas, an embroidered collar was made for Rebecca, inscribed with the title "White House Raccoon". She enjoyed participating in the annual White House [[Easter egg roll]].<ref name="WHHA" /> She was fed [[shrimp]] and [[persimmon]]s, and [[Egg as food|eggs]] were a favorite.<ref name="coolidge-pets"/> Rebecca was let loose in the White House and walked on a leash outdoors. At times, she could be mischievous and was known to unscrew lightbulbs, open cabinets, and unpot houseplants.<ref name="Truman">{{citation|title=The President's House: 1800 to the Present|first=Margaret|last=Truman|publisher=Random House|year=2007|isbn=9780307417312|page=150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIvmzQ33sm0C&pg=PT150}}</ref> She was known to nestle in Coolidge's lap when he sat by the fireplace.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Powell |first=J. Mark |date=December 4, 2022 |title=Cal Coolidge's crazy White House raccoon |newspaper=Jacksonville Journal-Courier |url=https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/holy-cow-history-17622148.php }}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

As First Lady Grace wrote:<ref name="coolidge-pets">{{cite web|last1=Pietrusza|first1=David|authorlink1=David Pietrusza|title="Wombats and Such": Calvin and Grace Coolidge and Their Pets|url=http://www.davidpietrusza.com/coolidge-pets.html|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203004613/https://davidpietrusza.com/coolidge-pets.html|archive-date=3 February 2018| website=www.davidpietrusza.com|accessdate=26 January 2018}}</ref>
{{quote|We had a house made for her in one of the large trees, with a wire fence built around it for protection. We kept her chained when out of doors, but in the house she had her liberty. She was a mischievous, inquisitive party and we had to keep watch of her when she was in the house. She enjoyed nothing better than being placed in a bathtub with a little water in it and given a cake of soap with which to play. In this fashion she would amuse herself for an hour or more.}}[[File:Mrs. Coolidge & raccoon (Rebecca), Easter egg rolling, 4-18-27 LCCN2016842994 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Mrs. Coolidge and Rebecca, at the White House Easter egg roll, 1927]]As a companion for Rebecca, Rueben, a male raccoon, was acquired by a White House police officer. However, Rebecca and Rueben did not get along. Rueben frequently escaped, being recovered by White House staff;<ref name="WHHA" /> one such instance created a traffic jam.<ref name=":1" /> He ultimately disappeared without a trace.<ref name="WHHA" /><ref name="coolidge-pets" /><ref name=":1" /> Grace Coolidge wrote about the incident:<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGraw |first1=Eliza |date=November 25, 2019 |title=This raccoon could have been a president's Thanksgiving meal. It became a White House pet instead. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/11/25/this-raccoon-could-have-been-presidents-thanksgiving-meal-it-became-white-house-pet-instead/ |access-date=25 November 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>
{{quote|Rebecca had lived alone and had her own way so long that I fear she was a little overbearing and dictatorial, perhaps reminding her spouse that he was living on her bounty. [Afterward, Rebecca] continued to live in single blessedness.}}

In March 1927, during a [[White House]] renovation, Coolidge brought Rebecca to his temporary quarters in a [[Dupont Circle]] mansion.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Klein|first=Christopher|date=November 18, 2016|title=The Thanksgiving Raccoon That Became a Presidential Pet|url=https://www.history.com/news/the-thanksgiving-raccoon-that-became-a-presidential-pet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630151126/https://www.history.com/news/the-thanksgiving-raccoon-that-became-a-presidential-pet|archive-date=2022-06-30|access-date=2020-11-08|website=HISTORY|language=en|url-status=live}}</ref> When the Coolidges took a vacation in the [[Black Hills]], they brought Rebecca along in a basket, together with two of their dogs,<ref>{{citation|title=Calvin Coolidge in the Black Hills|first=Seth|last=Tupper|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2017|isbn=9781625857668|page=37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kLFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT37}}</ref> [[Rob Roy (dog)|Rob Roy]] and Prudence Prim as well as five canaries on the 1,800-mile railroad journey.<ref name="WHHA">{{cite web |last1=Costello |first1=Matthew |title=Raccoons at the White House |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/raccoons-at-the-white-house |website=The White House Historical Association |date=June 8, 2018 |accessdate=19 December 2018 |language=en |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164945/https://www.whitehousehistory.org/raccoons-at-the-white-house |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In preparation for leaving the White House at the end of the president's term in 1929, the Coolidges donated Rebecca to the zoological quarters in Rock Creek Park (now the [[National Zoological Park (United States)|National Zoo]]) in Washington, DC.<ref name="WHHA" /><ref>{{citation|last=Otfinoski|first=Steven|title=Raccoons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pcqU9T8yrvkC&pg=PA34|page=34|year=2010|series=Animals Animals|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=9780761448419}}</ref> Rebecca died shortly after.<ref name=":1" />

[[Herbert Hoover]] was next to occupy the White House; soon thereafter, a wild [[opossum]] moved into Rebecca's vacant tree-house and was adopted by the Hoovers and was named Billy Possum.<ref name="WHHA" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Dessem|first=Matthew|date=2021-01-31|title=The Best (and Worst) Presidential Pets in American History, Ranked|url=https://slate.com/culture/2021/01/presidential-pets-best-ever-ranked.html|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|archive-date=2022-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730192531/https://slate.com/culture/2021/01/presidential-pets-best-ever-ranked.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category}}
* [[United States presidential pets]]
* [[National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1920s animal births]]
[[Category:1920s animal deaths]]
[[Category:Raccoons in popular culture]]
[[Category:Calvin Coolidge]]
[[Category:United States presidential pets]]
[[Category:Individual animals in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Individual raccoons]]
[[Category:Coolidge family]]
[[Category:National Zoological Park (United States)]]

Rebecca (raccoon) - Revision history