Jimmy Carter rabbit incident

The Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, sensationalized as a "killer rabbit attack" by the press, involved a swamp rabbit (''Sylvilagus aquaticus'') that swam toward then–U.S. President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat on April 20, 1979. The incident caught the imagination of the media after Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell, mentioned the event to a correspondent months later.

Background

President Carter was fishing in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on April 20, 1979, alone in a flat-bottomed boat while staff were on land nearby. Carter said a rabbit being chased by hounds "jumped in the water and swam toward my boat. When he got almost there, I splashed some water with a paddle."

When Carter returned to his office, his staff did not believe his story, saying rabbits could not swim or that one would never approach a person threateningly. However, a White House photographer had taken a picture of the incident, which was released by a later administration.

Media accounts

Associated Press correspondent Brooks Jackson's story on the incident was published August 30, 1979, in various newspapers, including on the front page of ''The Washington Post'' with the title "Bunny Goes Bugs: Rabbit Attacks President." The White House did not publicly release a photograph of the event until much later, and the ''Post'' printed a cartoon parody of the ''Jaws'' poster labeled "PAWS" as its illustration. The White House declined to release the photo to the media until it turned up during the Reagan administration and the story saw a revival.

In his 1986 book ''The Other Side of the Story'', Powell recounted the story:

The incident with the rabbit became fodder for political and ideological opponents who wanted to label Carter's presidency as hapless and enfeebled, although the event's proximity to the U.S. release of the comedy feature film '' Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', which includes scenes of a killer rabbit slaying humans, led to some people describing Carter as having "fended off a killer rabbit" instead. This incident has also made its way into popular culture, as evidenced by its use as a minor theme in the webcomic xkcd.

See also

* Jimmy Carter UFO incident
* George H. W. Bush vomiting incident
* Bill Clinton haircut controversy
* Dick Cheney hunting incident
* Rabbit of Caerbannog
* Bush shoeing incident
* Obama tan suit controversy

References

{{Jimmy Carter

1979 in Georgia (U.S. state)
Animals in politics
April 1979 events in the United States
Rabbit incident
Individual rabbits
Rabbit incident