Voting Station

Rebecca (Raccoon)

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Animal

The Resume

Why she might be annoying:

    She had been sent to the White House to be served for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner (y’all come back now, you hear!) but the Coolidges decided to keep her as a pet, instead.
    She was mischievous; known for unscrewing light bulbs, nosing around cabinets and for digging up the houseplants.
    She aggravated the Secret Service, whose agents constantly had to chase her down through the woods any time she got loose.
    During a White House renovation, Coolidge brought Rebecca to his temporary quarters in a Dupont Circle mansion.
    The next morning, however, the president emerged with his wrist bandaged, and Rebecca was temporarily banished to the national zoo in Rock Creek Park (March 1927).
    She was gifted with a companion raccoon named Reuben who kept escaping and, one day, disappeared without a trace.
    Grace later wrote: ‘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.’

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her favorite dish was shrimp and persimmons with eggs.
    She regularly accompanied the President on vacation along with his five canaries and two dogs.
    She was the star participant at the annual White House Easter egg roll (although reporters observed she didn’t like the attention).
    She was gifted with an embroidered collar inscribed ‘White House Raccoon’ for Christmas.
    At the end of President Coolidge's term in 1929, she was donated to the zoological quarters in Rock Creek Park (now the National Zoo) in Washington, DC.
    She reportedly failed to adapt to zoo life and died shortly thereafter.
    She was the first - and most likely the last - White House Raccoon (laws since have been passed forbidding owning them in the District of Columbia).

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying