Buddy Clinton (August 7, 1997 – January 2, 2002), a male chocolate-colored
Labrador Retriever, was one of two pets kept by the Clinton family while
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
was President of the United States. The Clintons' other pet was a cat named
Socks
A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...
.
Life
![Clinton Buddy 120597](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Clinton_Buddy_120597.jpg)
Clinton acquired Buddy as a three-month-old puppy from
Caroline County, Maryland
Caroline County is a rural county located in the U.S. state of Maryland on its Eastern Shore. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,293. Its county seat is Denton.
Caroline County is bordered by Queen Anne's County to the north, Talb ...
, in December 1997. He named him after his late great-uncle, Henry Oren "Buddy" Grisham, who had died the previous June and whom Clinton often cited as a major influence on his life.
Socks did not get along with the frisky Buddy, so the White House had to keep the two in separate quarters. Since this arrangement would be no longer possible in the Clintons' smaller home in New York, Socks was left under the care of Bill Clinton's secretary,
Betty Currie
Betty Grace Currie (née Williams; born November 10, 1939) is an American government official who served as the personal secretary for Bill Clinton during his tenure as president of the United States. She became well known as a figure in the Lew ...
.
Death
According to a police report, Buddy was killed by a car while "playfully chasing a contractor" who had left the Clinton home in
Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro- ...
, on January 2, 2002. The Clintons were not home at the time of the accident; their home was being watched by
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
agents. The agents rushed Buddy to an animal hospital where he was pronounced dead.
In June 2002, Clinton acquired another chocolate Lab whom he named "Seamus".
Cultural references
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
wrote a children's book called ''
Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets'' in 1998. It included excerpts from more than 50 letters written to the First Pets by children and more than 80 photographs of Socks and Buddy.
Buddy was a central character in
Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright, and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series '' Six Feet Under'' and NBC's ''The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama televis ...
's 2005 one-man show ''My Buddy Bill'',
[
] relating the writer's fictional friendship with Bill Clinton, which began when both men discovered their common interest in dogs.
See also
*
United States presidential pets
Most United States presidents have kept pets while in office, or pets have been part of their families. Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office. However, Johnson did take care o ...
*
List of individual dogs
This is a list of individual famous actual dogs; for famous dogs from fiction, see List of fictional dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Axelrod, Basset Hound, appeared in commercials and print ads for Flying "A" Service Station advertisements in ...
*
List of Labrador Retrievers
This list of Labrador Retrievers covers notable individual dogs that belong to this breed. The Labrador retriever is the most popular breed of dogs (by registered ownership) in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The breed is except ...
*
Socks (cat)
Socks Clinton ( – February 20, 2009) was the pet cat of the Clinton family, the first family of the United States from 1993 to 2001. As an adopted stray cat, he was the only pet of the Clintons during the early years of the administration, and ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddy
1997 animal births
2002 animal deaths
Bill Clinton
Caroline County, Maryland
Hillary Clinton
Road incident deaths in New York (state)
United States presidential dogs