December 13, 1966. 12:45 PM. According to the President’s Daily Diary: in between meetings with the National Security Council and former Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, LBJ pauses to announce to all in earshot that Luci’s dog Freckles has had four puppies.  The Johnsons are unquestionably dog lovers, as this April 1966 photo in the White House Flower Garden attests. In this picture Mrs. Johnson is holding Freckles; LBJ has Kim; Luci holds Him, and Pat Nugent is paired with Blanco. Him is the sire of Kim and Freckles, who were born in October of 1965. Sadly, Him was killed about two months after this photo was taken, hit by a car on the White House driveway. Him’s other half, Her, had died after eating a rock in December 1964.  Technically, Kim and Freckles are Luci’s dogs, although after her marriage to Pat Nugent Freckles remained at the White House. With the birth of Freckles’s puppies, a new generation of Johnson beagles is born. LBJ Presidential Library photo #C1747-18, public domain. 
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December 13, 1966. 12:45 PM. According to the President’s Daily Diary: in between meetings with the National Security Council and former Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, LBJ pauses to announce to all in earshot that Luci’s dog Freckles has had four puppies. 

The Johnsons are unquestionably dog lovers, as this April 1966 photo in the White House Flower Garden attests. In this picture Mrs. Johnson is holding Freckles; LBJ has Kim; Luci holds Him, and Pat Nugent is paired with Blanco. Him is the sire of Kim and Freckles, who were born in October of 1965. Sadly, Him was killed about two months after this photo was taken, hit by a car on the White House driveway. Him’s other half, Her, had died after eating a rock in December 1964. 

Technically, Kim and Freckles are Luci’s dogs, although after her marriage to Pat Nugent Freckles remained at the White House. With the birth of Freckles’s puppies, a new generation of Johnson beagles is born.

LBJ Presidential Library photo #C1747-18, public domain. 

November 24, 1966. Thanksgiving. On her way to the LBJ Ranch to spend the holiday with her parents, Luci stops at a gas station and encounters a small white dog, a mixed breed stray. She rescues him, and names him Yuki, the Japanese word for snow. At first, Yuki lived with Luci, but while visiting the White House, Yuki won the President’s heart and became his faithful companion. We will soon see much more of Yuki, who seems also to have been a favorite subject of some of the White House photographers. This photo is from August 7, 1967, in the Oval Office. LBJ Presidential Library photo #A4591-11, public domain. 
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November 24, 1966. Thanksgiving.

On her way to the LBJ Ranch to spend the holiday with her parents, Luci stops at a gas station and encounters a small white dog, a mixed breed stray. She rescues him, and names him Yuki, the Japanese word for snow.

At first, Yuki lived with Luci, but while visiting the White House, Yuki won the President’s heart and became his faithful companion. We will soon see much more of Yuki, who seems also to have been a favorite subject of some of the White House photographers.

This photo is from August 7, 1967, in the Oval Office. LBJ Presidential Library photo #A4591-11, public domain. 

November 19, 1966. LBJ, Lady Bird, and Kim the beagle (one of the puppies in Courtenay Valenti’s basket, grown up!)  leave Washington for the LBJ Ranch. LBJ checked out of Bethesda Naval Hospital that morning and is headed home for some rest.  LBJ Presidential Library photo #3929-4a, public domain. 
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November 19, 1966. LBJ, Lady Bird, and Kim the beagle (one of the puppies in Courtenay Valenti’s basket, grown up!)  leave Washington for the LBJ Ranch. LBJ checked out of Bethesda Naval Hospital that morning and is headed home for some rest. 

LBJ Presidential Library photo #3929-4a, public domain. 

November 4, 1966. LBJ poses with Blanco and one of the beagles (Freckles or J. Edgar) on the steps of the diplomatic entrance to the White House. The beagles are very difficult to tell apart! On this day, according to the Diary, LBJ stopped for photos with Blanco and both J. Edgar and Freckles (one of Him’s puppies)—but which one is in this photo is anybody’s guess. After Him (of Him and Her) was hit by a car on the White House lawn while chasing a squirrel in June 1966, FBI Director and fellow dog lover J. Edgar Hoover gave the President another beagle. The President named the dog J. Edgar, but later dropped the J. and called  him Edgar. LBJ Library photo #C3810-17, public domain. 
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November 4, 1966. LBJ poses with Blanco and one of the beagles (Freckles or J. Edgar) on the steps of the diplomatic entrance to the White House.

The beagles are very difficult to tell apart! On this day, according to the Diary, LBJ stopped for photos with Blanco and both J. Edgar and Freckles (one of Him’s puppies)—but which one is in this photo is anybody’s guess. After Him (of Him and Her) was hit by a car on the White House lawn while chasing a squirrel in June 1966, FBI Director and fellow dog lover J. Edgar Hoover gave the President another beagle. The President named the dog J. Edgar, but later dropped the J. and called  him Edgar.

LBJ Library photo #C3810-17, public domain. 

April 22, 1966. Lady Bird records in her diary a story from a female visitor to the White House. The visitor was unable to get close enough to the President to kiss him, so she kissed one of his beagles instead. History does not record the beagle’s reaction. LBJ Library photo W216-6, public domain.  
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April 22, 1966. Lady Bird records in her diary a story from a female visitor to the White House. The visitor was unable to get close enough to the President to kiss him, so she kissed one of his beagles instead. History does not record the beagle’s reaction.

LBJ Library photo W216-6, public domain.  

February 1966. In this silent home movie, Lady Bird frolics with the beagles and the collie Blanco in the snow on the White House south lawn (about 10 seconds in). After the initial sequence, the film is spliced and the scene switches to Texas, three months later, and as different a landscape as can be imagined. This section features Lady Bird, Lynda, Lynda’s current boyfriend actor George Hamilton, and the ever-present beagles. Oh, and at 5:13 or so the President of the United States shows his guests a dead snake.

As a side note, the woman dissecting the snake at 5:45 is Mathilde Krim, a friend of the Johnsons and a fascinating woman in her own right—take a look at her biography on the Jewish Women’s Archive for more. 

Lady Bird Johnson Home Movie #37: The LBJ Ranch, The White House, Lake LBJ and Washington in 1966. LBJ Library, public domain. 

January 5, 1966. LBJ shows Courtenay Valenti (daughter of assistant Jack Valenti) a basket of puppies. Him (of Him and Her) is the dad! LBJ’s white collie Blanco is in the background. 
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January 5, 1966. LBJ shows Courtenay Valenti (daughter of assistant Jack Valenti) a basket of puppies. Him (of Him and Her) is the dad! LBJ’s white collie Blanco is in the background. 

April 27, 1964. Photographer Charles Gorry takes an infamous photo of LBJ holding up one of his beagles (Her) by the ears. On May 4, LBJ reenacts the Gorry photo for the White House photographers. This photo, above, is in the public domain, so it resides in our photo archives—earning President Johnson the gratitude of generations of LBJ Library photo archivists! Photo C311-7-WH6.
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April 27, 1964. Photographer Charles Gorry takes an infamous photo of LBJ holding up one of his beagles (Her) by the ears. On May 4, LBJ reenacts the Gorry photo for the White House photographers. This photo, above, is in the public domain, so it resides in our photo archives—earning President Johnson the gratitude of generations of LBJ Library photo archivists!

Photo C311-7-WH6.

August, 1963. LBJ now heads out on a trip to Scandinavia, while JFK goes to Hyannisport for a couple of weekend trips.This lovely photo is from August 14.
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August, 1963. LBJ now heads out on a trip to Scandinavia, while JFK goes to Hyannisport for a couple of weekend trips.This lovely photo is from August 14.

Fall, 1955: animal lovers, this one’s for you! This film (Mrs. Johnson Home Movie # 26) features beagles, baby cows, horses, and a “bronze and slim Lyndon.” He’s at home on the ranch recovering from his heart attack of July 2.