It is, of
course, not the first time bugs or vermin have done battle with the humans who
work in the 213-year-old building…… much to the deep frustration sometimes of
the president of the United States. None was more frustrated than Jimmy Carter,
who battled mice from the start of his administration. To his dismay, he found
the bureaucracy unresponsive…….To make matters worse, GSA and Interior refused
to use traps, claiming humane groups had protested that in the past. But when
mice started scampering across his office in daylight and when his meeting with
the Italian prime minister was conducted amid the distinct smell of a dead
mouse, Carter erupted.
His fury
was captured in his diary entry for Sept. 9, 1977. Carter that day summoned top
officials from the White House, the Department of Interior and the GSA to the
Oval Office to unload on them about the mice overrunning the executive offices
– including the dead ones rotting away inside the walls of the Oval Office and
giving his office a very unpleasant odor. "For two or three months now
I've been telling them to get rid of the mice," Carter wrote. "They
still seem to be growing in numbers, and I am determined either to fire
somebody or get the mice cleared out – or both."….To Read More…
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