Pauline Wayne

President William Howard Taft's cow, Pauline, poses in front of the Navy Building, which is known today as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
President William H. Taft

Pauline Wayne was a Holstein cow which belonged to William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Also known as "Miss Wayne", Pauline was not Taft's first presidential cow: she replaced the lesser-known "Mooley Wooly", who provided milk for the First Family for a year and a half. Taft and his wife, Helen Herron Taft, had growing children, and Taft was a notoriously large eater. Accordingly, Mooley Wooly was replaced by Pauline Wayne, because the former could not produce enough milk for the Taft's growing family. Wisconsin senator Isaac Stephenson bought Pauline Wayne for Mrs. Taft.[1]

From 1910 to 1913, Miss Wayne freely grazed the White House lawn.[2] She was the last presidential cow to live at the White House and was considered as much a Taft family pet as she was livestock. When Taft left office, she was shipped to Wisconsin.[3] Her Bovine Blue Book number was 115,580. The origins of the name "Pauline Wayne" are unknown.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anthony, Carl Sferrazza (2005). Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era, pp. 239-40. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-051382-9.
  2. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B06E6D71F39E333A25757C0A9679D946196D6CF
  3. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A04E3DD133BE633A25751C0A9649C946296D6CF

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