Fala

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier

Washington, D.C., 1943 — the White House smelled of pipe smoke and wet wool. Fala padded beside Roosevelt’s wheelchair, claws clicking on marble. Wherever the president went — campaigns, conferences, war rooms — the little Scottish terrier followed, tail like punctuation. He had his own press secretary, his own fan mail. When a rumor claimed government funds were spent retrieving him from Alaska, FDR turned it into a speech, joking that Fala “resented the libel.” The crowd roared; the dog slept through it. He outlived his master by seven years. His statue now sits beside Roosevelt’s at the memorial — bronze beside bronze, loyalty outlasting politics.