Fala (dog)

The most politically useful dog in American history. Born on April 7, 1940, the Scottish terrier first went by Big Boy before Roosevelt renamed him Murray the Outlaw of Falahill. In 1944, Republicans charged that Fala had been left behind in the Aleutian Islands and fetched at great cost, a story the FDR Library calls false. Roosevelt answered in a speech to the Teamsters, saying Fala "does resent them," and the Fala speech became a campaign landmark. MGM even made a 1943 short showing the wartime home front from Fala's point of view. He outlived his master, died on April 5, 1952, and was buried in the Rose Garden at Hyde Park near the Roosevelts' graves.