Laddie Boy with His Birthday Cake

In this black and white photograph, the Hardings family pet Airedale terrier, Laddie Boy, was the recipient of a huge birthday cake with three candles, each tipped with a tiny American flag. Hardings presidential campaign slogan was "Return to Normalcy" following the end of World War I, and Laddie Boy was the perfect representation of this shift. He even sat in on meetings and had his own cabinet chair. This photograph is from the Herbert E. French Collection, of the National Photo Company at the Library of Congress, which captured life in Washington, D.C., from the Wilson to the Hoover administrations.