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Book Review|Why Kristi Noem Is in the Doghouse

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/books/review/kristi-noem-president-pet-dogs.html
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After this photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson lifting his pet beagle by the
ears appeared in Life magazine in 1964, a public outcry ensued.Credit...Cecil
Stoughton/LBJ Presidential Library

Critic’s Notebook


WHY KRISTI NOEM IS IN THE DOGHOUSE

Americans like their politicians to be dog people. Gov. Noem broke the mold.

After this photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson lifting his pet beagle by the
ears appeared in Life magazine in 1964, a public outcry ensued.Credit...Cecil
Stoughton/LBJ Presidential Library

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By A.O. Scott

 * Published May 6, 2024Updated May 8, 2024, 12:10 a.m. ET

In April 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson was photographed lifting one of his
beagles (he had two, named Him and Her) by the ears. The picture, published in
Life magazine, caused widespread public outcry. Johnson apologized — and after
leaving the White House released an EP called “Dogs Have Always Been My
Friends.” But the episode became part of his legend and legacy.

The immediate political fallout, though, was minimal. Johnson won the 1964
presidential election in a landslide. There’s no indication that manhandling his
dog helped him defeat Barry Goldwater, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt.

Kristi Noem is no L.B.J. The South Dakota governor, frequently mentioned as a
potential running mate for Donald J. Trump, wrote in “No Going Back,” her
just-published memoir, about shooting Cricket, her family’s 14-month-old German
wirehair pointer. The criticism has been ferocious, including from within Noem’s
party. Trump, whose non-love for dogs is well-documented, has expressed his
revulsion, as has Mitt Romney, who dealt with a canine-mistreatment scandal of
his own during the 2012 campaign.

Appearing on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Noem was unapologetic. She insisted
that Cricket, whom she described in her book as an “untrainable” chicken-killer,
got what was coming. More than that, she tried to reclaim political advantage by
giving the issue a partisan, culture-war spin.



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What about Joe Biden? Not that he’s a puppy killer. Quite the contrary: Noem
criticized the president for not euthanizing — or just plain blowing away —
Commander, a German shepherd and serial biter who has attacked, according to
Noem, “24 Secret Service people.” “How many people is enough people to be
attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?” she said. In
her book, she implies that, were she in the executive branch, she’d take out
Biden’s dog herself: “Commander, say hello to Cricket for me.”

All of this has been portrayed as a career-detonating political blunder, a
monumental failure to read the room, which in mid-2020s America is strewed with
dismembered chew toys. We may not like one another all that much these days, but
red or blue, MAGA or woke, we sure do love dogs.

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A.O. Scott is a critic at large for The Times’s Book Review, writing about
literature and ideas. He joined The Times in 2000 and was a film critic until
early 2023. More about A.O. Scott

A version of this article appears in print on May 8, 2024, Section A, Page 19 of
the New York edition with the headline: Americans Like Their Leaders to Be Dog
People. One Governor Broke the Mold.. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: Lyndon B. Johnson
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