Andrew Jackson's pet parrot is removed from his funeral for excessive swearing - June 10th, 1845

On this day in 1845, President Andrew Jackson’s funeral was rudely interrupted when his pet parrot began squawking profanities during the service.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class as a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that pays tribute to the parrots of the
past by telling their stories. Today, I'm Gay Bluesier and
in this episode, we're talking about the time when an

(00:20):
ex president's pet parrot livened up his memorial service by
giving a rather of scene eulogy. The day was June tenth, eighteen.
President Andrew Jackson's funeral was rudely interrupted when his pet

(00:42):
parrot began squawking profanities during the service. It's possible the
bird was upset by the large crowd, or maybe he
was just grieving more vocally than his fellow mourners. In
either case, the parrots outburst was so disruptive that he
was eventually taken outside hide where he could curse more freely.

(01:03):
The bird in question was an African gray parrot named Paul,
as in Polly Wanna Cracker. It wasn't the most inspired
name for a parent, but we'll talk more about that
a little later. Andrew Jackson had originally bought Paul as
a gift for his wife, Rachel. Unfortunately, she died of
a heart attack in December of eighteen twenty eight, shortly

(01:26):
after Jackson was elected president. He was so grief stricken
that he reportedly had to be pulled away from his
wife so that the undertaker could prepare the body for burial.
It's no surprise, then, that Jackson continued caring for the
parrot after his wife's passing, and since parrots can live
to be fifty years or older, that relationship lasted all

(01:48):
the way up to Jackson's own death seventeen years later.
That's a long time to spend together with a pet,
and it gave Paul plenty of opportunity to pick up
some of the salty or language which used by one
of history's most hot tempered presidents. Parrots, of course, are
notorious mimics, capable of memorizing and reproducing the sounds they hear,

(02:10):
whether it be a baby crying or a president swearing.
Paul eventually earned a reputation for cursing and visitors who
came to the White House, So while we can't say
for certain that he got his foul mouth from his owner,
it seems like a safe bet. After all, Jackson was
the guy who installed a dozen spittoons in the White House,

(02:32):
participated in more than a hundred armed duels, and orchestrated
the Indian removal process that forced tens of thousands of
Native Americans off their land. The fact that he was
a bad influence, even on a parrot, isn't all that surprising. Still,
for all his shortcomings and controversial policies, Old Hickory was

(02:53):
a celebrated military commander and the seventh President of the
United States. He had been out of office eight years
by the time of his death on June eighteen forty five,
but you never would have known it from the size
of the crowd at his funeral. The service was held
two days later at the Hermitage, his family home in Tennessee.

(03:14):
More than three thousand people gathered to pay their respects,
and among them was an African gray parrot named Paul.
It's unclear who decided the pet parrot should be present
in the crowded room, but whoever it was, quickly regretted
the decision when Paul started loudly chirping, squeaking, and swearing.

(03:35):
Reverend William Menifee presided over the funeral and later described
the scene that day, writing quote before the sermon and
while the crowd was gathering. A wicked parrot that was
a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud
and long as to disturb the people, and had to
be carried from the house. The reverend went on to

(03:56):
say that Paul had quote let loose perf gusts of
cuss words, and that the mourners were horrified and odd
at the bird's lack of reverence. The biggest question in
all this is, of course, what exactly did the parrots say? Sadly,
Reverend Menafee failed to transcribe the bird's tirade, though I

(04:19):
imagine it was something to the effect of and you
can keep your crackers too. Speaking of Polly Wanna cracker,
let's talk about that old cliche. The name Paul has
acted as a generic name for a parrot since at
least the early sixteen hundreds. The earliest written record of

(04:42):
its usage is in a satirical play called Volpone written
by Ben Johnson in sixteen oh six. Many of the
play's characters are described as animals that somehow reflect their
key character traits. For example, the title character Volpone is
likened to a fox due to his slyness and cunning.

(05:02):
Johnson also included to parrot like characters in the play
Mr and Mrs Politic would be or Paul for short.
The English couple tries to curry favor in Venetian high
society by mimicking the words and actions of Volpone and
his crew. Johnson describes this as parrot like behavior, since

(05:23):
they're essentially repeating what they hear without knowing what any
of it means. No one knows for sure if Johnson
was the first to apply the term Paul to parrots,
but his play certainly helped popularize the name. Some British
bird owners later adapted Paul into the much cuter, friendlier Polly,
but both versions of the name eventually crossed over to

(05:45):
the United States and into stories about pirates, so the
name wasn't as played out in Jackson's day as it
is in our own. And even if it was an
unimaginative name for a parrot, it was still nothing to
swear about. So Paul apparently disagreed. I'm gay, bluesier, and

(06:10):
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, why
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you can write to me directly at this day at

(06:31):
I heart media dot com. Special thanks to guest producers
Joey Pat and Casey Pegro, and thanks to you for listening.
I'll see you back here again soon for another day
in history class