It’s not every day a raccoon becomes a White House celebrity, but Rebecca—Calvin and Grace Coolidge’s unexpected pet—earned her place in presidential history through a story equal parts quirky and charming.
Rebecca’s tale began in Mississippi, where she was born before being shipped to the White House in 1926. Her intended purpose? Thanksgiving dinner. At the time, it was common for private citizens to send holiday turkeys to the president. From 1873 to 1913, Rhode Island farmer Horace Vose had the honor of supplying a beautifully prepared bird each year. But after Vose’s death, the tradition became a bit of a free-for-all, with farmers across the country hoping their turkey would grace the president’s table.
By the time Calvin Coolidge entered office in 1923, he was so overwhelmed by the sheer number of turkey donations that he briefly suspended the practice and simply bought his own. When he reinstated the custom in 1925, the floodgates opened—not just for turkeys, but for other “edible” gifts as well. That’s how Rebecca the raccoon ended up on the Coolidges’ doorstep.
While raccoon meat had once been a common food source for Native Americans and early settlers—and even appeared in the first edition of The Joy of Cooking in 1931—President Coolidge wasn’t interested in sampling it. He’d never eaten raccoon and wasn’t about to start. So instead of becoming the guest of honor at Thanksgiving dinner, Rebecca became a member of the family.
And what a life she lived.
Grace Coolidge adored her. Rebecca received an embroidered Christmas collar reading “White House Raccoon,” roamed freely inside the mansion, and strolled the grounds on a leash. She had her own little house in a large White House tree—complete with protective fencing. Her diet included shrimp, persimmons, and eggs (her favorite), and she delighted in joining the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
She also developed a reputation for mischief. Rebecca was known to unscrew lightbulbs, rummage through cabinets, and dig up potted plants. Yet she was equally affectionate, often curling up in President Coolidge’s lap by the fire. Grace Coolidge reported that Rebecca’s favorite pastime was splashing in a half-filled bathtub with a bar of soap.
The Coolidges even took her on vacation. When they traveled to the Black Hills, they brought Rebecca along in a basket, accompanied by two dogs—Rob Roy and Prudence Prim—and five canaries on an 1,800-mile train trip.
Hoping to give Rebecca a playmate, a White House police officer later acquired Reuben, a male raccoon. Unfortunately, the raccoons didn’t get along. Reuben frequently escaped, once causing a traffic jam, and eventually vanished altogether.
As the Coolidges prepared to leave the White House in 1929, they donated Rebecca to the National Zoo. Sadly, she died shortly afterward. Her tree-house didn’t stay vacant for long, though—a wild opossum moved in and was soon adopted by the Hoover family. They named him Billy Possum, after former President William Howard Taft’s old nickname.
One thing’s certain: the era of raccoon residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is long gone. Today, it’s illegal to keep a raccoon as a pet in Washington, D.C., making Rebecca a truly one-of-a-kind chapter in presidential pet history.