Dog Days at the White House by Traphes Bryant
Bryant, Traphes. Dog Days at the White House, The Outrageous Memoirs of the Presidential Kennel Keeper. Third Printing. 1975. Co-written with Frances Spatz Leighton. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition.
In Washington, a dog may be man’s best friend, but a kennel keeper is often the one who knows where the bones are buried. Traphes Bryant served as White House kennel keeper during the administrations of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon, placing him in an unusual position to observe not only the presidents but also the people around them. Ostensibly a memoir of presidential pets, this entertaining and surprisingly revealing book quickly expands into something more. Bryant recounts the routines, personalities, and private habits of the First Families, while also preserving stories that more conventional biographers tended to ignore or suppress at the time. He dishes generously, though rarely maliciously. Read between the lines, and one finds not only tales that have since entered the historical record—such as Kennedy’s extracurricular poolside activities—but also intriguing glimpses into corners of White House life that historians have largely neglected. Is it a political memoir, gossip column, or social history? It is probably all three. In any case, this Trojan Horse of a book offers a perspective on the presidency unavailable almost anywhere else.
“Knowing how JFK loved stories that laughed at death, I really think he must have looked down and shaken his head over all the tears that fell when he died and all the mourning and show and sorrow.”
--Traphes Bryant