Did Theodore Roosevelt keep a badger in the White House?
Yes. His name was Josiah, a Kansas girl handed him to the President of the United States in 1903, and he bit people. In this episode of Talking With Pets, Josiah returns with a hundred years of theory about the man he lived with: the 230 million acres, the 44 antitrust cases, the bear he refused to shoot, the bullet he carried through a ninety-minute speech, and the one night in 1884 that explains all of it.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Talking With Pets, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee runs a most unusual practice: he contacts the pets of history's greatest figures and lets them tell what they really saw. Tonight, a badger who lived in a White House with a bear cub, a one-legged rooster, and a man who boxed every morning. True, surprising, and funnier than history has any right to be. Great for curious kids and the grown-ups listening with them.
This episode is fully scripted and has passed the Talking With Pets accuracy review. The recording is in production. The audio player and the full transcript will appear right here the day the episode goes live. Join the founding list below and we will write to you when it does.
From the episode
Moose: (carefully) Was he happy?
Josiah: (a long beat; Josiah has been thinking about this for a hundred years) He was the most alive person I ever bit.
Josiah: There's a difference.
[Prince MoRee makes two careful notes.]
What's true, what we filled in, what we imagined
Every episode of Talking With Pets is built in three honest layers. Here is how this one breaks down.
Documented in the historical record
Josiah was given to Roosevelt by a Kansas girl during the 1903 Great Loop Tour and bit multiple members of the White House household. Roosevelt read a book a day and wrote thirty-five. He boxed in the White House and kept boxing after a match blinded his left eye. He protected about 230 million acres: 5 national parks, 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, 18 national monuments. He enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act in 44 cases; Standard Oil was eventually broken into 34 companies. He refused to shoot the tied bear in 1902, which gave the teddy bear its name. He won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, the first American Nobel of any kind. In 1912 he was shot before a speech and spoke for ninety minutes anyway. And on February 14, 1884, when his mother and wife died in the same house eleven hours apart, he wrote an X in his diary and the words "the light has gone out of my life."
Grounded inference from the record
Josiah's theory of the man, that Roosevelt ran toward everything because one night in 1884 taught him how fast things can be lost, is a grounded inference from a very well documented life. That the charge at San Juan Hill was "the best day of his life" is grounded in Roosevelt's own documented enthusiasm.
Story, voice, and feeling
Josiah's voice, the séance, the hundred years of thinking, and the badger headbutting a boxing glove are imagined. A badger cannot really be reached by a cat medium. The facts he reports are real; the badger reporting them, deadpan, is the storytelling.
Sources and further reading
- Josiah the badger: given to Roosevelt by a Kansas girl during the 1903 Great Loop Tour; White House resident, 1903 to 1904; documented bites of staff, visitors, and the Roosevelt children. Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University. theodorerooseveltcenter.org
- The Roosevelt White House menagerie: bear cub, one-legged rooster, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, snakes, and more. Theodore Roosevelt Center; White House Historical Association. theodorerooseveltcenter.org
- Conservation record: 5 national parks, 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, 18 national monuments, about 230 million acres. National Park Service, “Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation.” nps.gov
- Trust-busting: 44 cases under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, including Northern Securities; Standard Oil ordered broken into 34 companies in 1911, in proceedings Roosevelt's case initiated. Historical records of the antitrust era.
- The 1902 bear, the Clifford Berryman cartoon in the Washington Post, and Morris Michtom's “Teddy's bears.” Documented origin of the teddy bear.
- Nobel Peace Prize, 1906, for mediating the Portsmouth peace ending the Russo-Japanese War; the first Nobel Prize won by an American. The Nobel Foundation. nobelprize.org
- Milwaukee, October 14, 1912: bullet slowed by glasses case and fifty-page manuscript; “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose”; the ninety-minute speech; the bullet never removed. Theodore Roosevelt Center. theodorerooseveltcenter.org
- Diary of February 14, 1884: the X across the page and “the light has gone out of my life,” after his mother and wife died in the same house, hours apart. Documented in Roosevelt's own diary, held by the Library of Congress. loc.gov
All historical claims above were checked in the Talking With Pets accuracy review, most recently the full editorial pass of July 2026.
Did Theodore Roosevelt keep a badger in the White House?
Yes. Josiah the badger was given to Roosevelt by a young girl in Kansas during his 1903 Western trip, the Great Loop Tour, and lived at the White House in 1903 and 1904. He bit White House staff, visitors, and the Roosevelt children. The Roosevelt White House had more animals than any other in American history, including a bear cub and a one-legged rooster. Source: Theodore Roosevelt Center.
Why is the teddy bear named after Theodore Roosevelt?
On a 1902 hunting trip in Mississippi, Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree, calling it unsportsmanlike. Clifford Berryman drew the moment for the Washington Post, and shop owner Morris Michtom made stuffed bears he called Teddy's bears. They have been teddy bears ever since. Source: documented 1902 accounts and the Berryman cartoon.
What did Theodore Roosevelt do for national parks?
As president from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt established 5 national parks, 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, and 18 national monuments, protecting about 230 million acres of public land. His argument was that some things belong to everyone, including people not born yet. Source: National Park Service.
Was Theodore Roosevelt really shot during a speech?
Yes. In Milwaukee in 1912, a would-be assassin shot him in the chest before a campaign speech. The bullet was slowed by his steel glasses case and a folded fifty-page speech manuscript. He told the crowd "It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose," spoke for about ninety minutes, and carried the bullet for the rest of his life. Source: Theodore Roosevelt Center.
What is Talking With Pets, and is it good for kids?
Talking With Pets is an educational history podcast for curious kids ages 6 to 10 and the grown-ups listening with them. A brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee contacts the pets of history's greatest figures, who tell the true story of the person they knew. Every episode is sourced and divided into what is documented, what was filled in, and what was imagined, which makes it a quiet lesson in how to weigh sources. It is a Talking With Pets production.
Talking With Pets · the true stories only the animals saw.
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