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WORK TITLE: The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines
WORK NOTES:
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BIRTHDATE:
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STATE: CT
COUNTRY: United States
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PERSONAL
Born 1959.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Animal trainer and author. Member, John F. Kennedy Library and Museum President’s Council; board member, James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, Cornell University.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Animal trainer Margaret Reed is the coauthor, with journalist Joan Lownds, of The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines. “It may come as a surprise to learn that JFK had … nine dogs living with him and his family during their time at the White House,” said Haley Cote in Cape Cod Life. “It’s a part of JFK’s presidency, and his life, that, in the five decades since his assassination, hasn’t received much attention. That is, until now.” In fact, as Reed and Lownds reveal, the Kennedys had a close relationship with many of their dogs, ranging from the German Shepherd named Clipper who became a favorite of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, to the Welsh terrier named Charlie who helped President Kennedy relax during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, to the puppy known as Pushinka, a gift from Premier Khruschev of the Soviet Union. The puppy, “whose mother was one of the dogs sent into space as part of the Russian space program,” wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “proved wildly popular in the United States.” Pushinka’s mother, a stray called Strelka, was one of the first Russian space dogs. She was taken from the streets of Moscow and trained for a space mission, and she and her companion Belka orbited the Earth in August, 1960, blazing a path followed by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Pushinka and Charlie later had pups, contributing to the canine population in the White House during the Kennedy years.
Reed had a personal encounter with Jacqueline Kennedy’s Clipper while staying in Hyannis Port in 1963 (the dog had brought her a ball for him to fetch) and as a result she was invited to the Kennedy’s summer place to meet Pushinka and the puppies. Years later, she began to wonder what had happened to all the dogs after the president was assassinated, and she enlisted Lownds’ assistance in finding out. “In addition to accessing photos and documents from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Reed and Lownds spoke to many who witnessed firsthand the Kennedys’ loving relationships with their dogs.” “The authors conducted an extensive interview with former White House gardener Irvin Williams,” explained Rich Kirby in the Wilton Patch, “who adopted the Kennedy dog Pushinka.” “The photos and accounts,” wrote John Woestendiek in Ohmidog!, “provide a deeply revealing look into the Kennedys, their character and compassion, and the role dogs played in their lives.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Cape Cod Life, August, 2018, Haley Cote, review of The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines.
Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2018, review of The Dogs of Camelot, p. 71.
ONLINE
Ohmidog!, http://www.ohmidog.com/ (July 26, 2018), John Woestendiek, review of The Dogs of Camelot.
Wilton Patch, https://patch.com/ (May 11, 2018), Rich Kirby, “Wilton Senior Center Hosts Kennedy Dogs Author.”
The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines
Publishers Weekly.
265.15 (Apr. 9, 2018): p71+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines Margaret Reed and Joan Lownds. Lyons,
$19.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4930-3161-0
Animal trainer Reed and coauthor Lownds (Man Overboard) explore a lighter side of Camelot in this charming, photo-filled account of the pets that occupied the Kennedy White House. During that brief time, the first family hosted an assortment of pets that included "nine dogs at one time,
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a cat, parakeets, hamsters, rabbits, deer, and seven horses." The family's fondness for dogs even played a role in foreign diplomacy: in 1961, the Kennedys received a puppy named Pushinka (which in Russian means "little bit of fluff') as a gift from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Pushinka, whose mother was one of the dogs sent into space as part of the Russian space program, proved wildly popular in the United States, and her celebrity provided a brief respite from Cold War tensions in the months leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Later, Pushinka had a litter sired by Charlie, the Kennedys' Welsh terrier. The book offers a glimpse into the family's quieter moments with snapshots of a young Caroline playing with Pushinka's offspring; Jackie Kennedy running with Clipper, the German Shepherd, on the White House lawn; and JohnJr. with Shannon, the cocker spaniel, in the Oval Office. This lighthearted book finds an irresistible mix of two popular subjects--the Kennedys and dogs. Photos. (May)
Caption: Before Marlon Bundo, there was Charlie, one of nine dogs that lived with the Kennedys during JFK's presidency, as seen in The Dogs of Camelot (reviewed on p. 71).
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines." Publishers Weekly, 9 Apr. 2018, p. 71+.
Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A535100009 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=83d6604e. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A535100009
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community corner
Wilton Senior Center Hosts Kennedy Dogs Author
Dr. Margaret Reed is the co-author of "The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines"
By Rich Kirby, Patch Staff | May 11, 2018 2:13 pm ET
Wilton Senior Center Hosts Kennedy Dogs Author
WILTON, CT --- Dr. Margaret Reed has been a Wilton resident for 49 years. She is also a nationally acclaimed animal training professional, and coauthor of the recently published book, "The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines." She will visit the senior center on Thursday, May 17, at 11:00 a.m.
Co-authored with Joan Lownds, the book traces President Kennedy's profound bond with animals from his early childhood to his presidency when he brought an unparalleled canine corps to the White House.
Through comprehensive and detailed study, the authors set the historical record straight for the first time about the origins of all the pets of Camelot and what happened to them after the president's assassination.
The authors conducted an extensive interview with former White House gardener Irvin Williams, who adopted the Kennedy dog Pushinka after the family left the White House. These tales shed new light on the life of the Kennedys, their compassion, and their character.
Dr. Reed recalls meeting President Kennedy and his dogs when she was a little girl on vacation in Hyannis Port. Today she is a member of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum President's Council and she sits on the board of Cornell University's James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health.
Lunch will be served in the senior center café at noon. Reservations may be made by calling 203-834-6240.
A newly published book reveals that John F. Kennedy had nine of them.
No, not mistresses. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) We’re talking dogs, of course — a topic that, when it comes to U.S. presidents, has always been one of great public interest, though it has never gotten quite the media attention that their extra-marital dalliances receive.
The 35th president’s pack is the focus The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines, which features a number of previously unpublished photos and never-before-told stories.
Through cooperation with the Kennedy Library, authors Margaret Reed and Joan Lownds were able to present the compilation of stories and photos about the Kennedy’s canines, who never got the publicity other White House dogs did, due mainly to Jackie Kennedy’s penchant for privacy.
The photos and accounts provide a deeply revealing look into the Kennedys, their character and compassion, and the role dogs played in their lives — both at the White House and at their home in Cape Cod, where they were when the photo at top, featuring most of the pack, was taken.
One account in the book relates to how JFK, before making a decision on the Cuban Missile Crisis, asked to see his favorite dog, Charlie, a Welsh terrier, pictured below in front of the White House with Pushinka, gifted to the Kennedy’s by Nikita Krushchev curing the Cold War.
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If you are wondering how Charlie and Pushinka got along, this next picture provides a clue. It’s Pushinka with the litter she had, sired by, you guessed it, Charlie. (And you thought this post was going to be sex free.)
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The newly released photos include one of a young John Jr., playing with one of the Charlie-Pushinka pups.
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Many include the camera-shy Jackie, including this one of her at the White House with Clipper, the German shepherd who was her constant companion.
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(Photos: Courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Posted by John Woestendiek July 26th, 2018 under Muttsblog.
Tags: animals, books, books on dogs, camelot, cape cod, charlie, clipper, cuban missile crisis, dog books, dogs, jackie kennedy, jfk, joan lownds, john f. kennedy, john kennedy jr., kennedy, kruschev, margaret reed, pets, photos, pushinka, the dogs of camelot, unpublished, white house, white house dogs
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Kennedy Kennel Club
August 2018 Cover
Cape Cod Life / August 2018 / History
Writer: Haley Cote
Dogs of Camelot
JFK’s dogs Charlie and Pushinka sit companionably in front of the White House. They had a Cold War romance!
‘Dogs of Camelot’ reveals never-before-seen photos and stories of the Kennedys’ canine companions
John F. Kennedy once said, “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” He would’ve also undoubtedly believed that it is important to recognize the impact our four-legged friends have on our lives as well.
It may come as a surprise to learn that JFK had not one, not two, but nine dogs living with him and his family during their time at the White House. It’s a part of JFK’s presidency, and his life, that, in the five decades since his assassination, hasn’t received much attention. That is, until now, thanks to Dr. Margaret Reed and Joan Lownds. Their new book, “The Dogs of Camelot,” sheds light on Kennedy’s affinity for dogs, revealing stories and photos of his pet pups that have never been published before.
Had it not been for a chance encounter when she was a young girl, Reed, a nationally recognized animal trainer, might’ve never known there was even a story to tell about the Kennedy dogs. While summering in Hyannis Port in 1963, Reed says she was sitting outside one day and saw a German Shepherd walk into the driveway. “I was so thrilled, because he had a ball in his mouth and he kept asking me to throw it,” she recalls. “My mother was looking from the kitchen window and she started screaming and yelling, ‘Stay put, don’t move!’ She was concerned the dog was going to attack me. And then shortly after that, two men came up the driveway calling to the dog, and the dog picked up the ball and left with them.” The next day, one of those men returned, asking Reed and her mother if they wanted to see their puppies. Reed pleaded with her mother to go, so they went, finding themselves at the Kennedy Compound.
“President Kennedy was standing there with a group of children. I remember they asked us how we liked the puppies,” Reed says. “When you’re a young person, you don’t think about who people are—I was just interested that there were so many dogs there, and I was just a kid in a candy shop.”
Fast-forward to 2010, and Reed says she decided to finally find out what happened to the dogs following Kennedy’s death, and learn more about their lives. She enlisted Connecticut journalist Joan Lownds, author of “Man Overboard: Inside the Honeymoon Cruise Murder,” to help her tell the stories she had begun to uncover through her extensive research. “I grew up Irish-Catholic in New Haven, Connecticut, so of course JFK was my hero,” Lownds says. “When Dr. Reed mentioned this project, I was fascinated because I’ve read so many books about him, but I never knew that he loved dogs so much. It was just a whole new perspective.”
JFK’s love of dogs, as Reed and Lownds detail, started when he was a boy, having grown up with his family dog Buddy. Before he became president, Kennedy would periodically show up, unannounced and in a business suit, at the farm of his mother-in-law, Janet Auchincloss, to play with Tippy, a Golden Retriever. Reed and Lownds found that Janet once said her son-in-law “loved animals desperately.”
In addition to accessing photos and documents from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Reed and Lownds spoke to many who witnessed firsthand the Kennedys’ loving relationships with their dogs—including Jacqueline Kennedy’s Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, who wrote the forward to the book, and former White House gardener Irvin Williams, who took Pushinka after the Kennedys left the White House. Pushinka—a gift from Premier Khrushchev of the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War—and Charlie—JFK’s favorite dog, who is pictured on the book’s cover and helped calm the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis—had a litter of puppies together, and Jacqueline Kennedy held a contest for children around the country to write letters to get a puppy. Lownds says Jacqueline was particularly close with Clipper, the dog Reed met as a child. “It’s interesting to me that Jacqueline Kennedy, who was so beautiful and so refined, took such a liking to Clipper, this rambunctious German Shepherd,” Lownds says. “They just bonded.”
So why did JFK have such a strong connection to dogs? “I have asked that question to so many people,” Reed says, “and I think it’s because they held his confidence. He could be himself—he didn’t have to perform or put on airs when he was with the dogs.”
It’s this kind of connection that rings true for many dog lovers. “Dogs are important in our lives,” Reed says, “regardless of whether you’re a working man or President of the Unites States.”
Learn more about “The Dogs of Camelot” from the authors and get a signed copy of the book at the Hyannis Library on Wednesday, August 15, from 5-6 p.m.
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