Kickass and the President of France

Kickass, the doorstop dog, often forced to listen to his keeper because it is difficult for him—Kickass, to leave the room, heard him—the keeper, relate the following:  It seems he was chasing columns for the Chicago Tribune in the 1980’s and found himself on the Illinois pig farm of John M. Brock who was then the Secretary of Agriculture.  Sec. Brock was hosting the visiting President of France Francois Mitterrand, and also on hand was Big Jim Thompson, the governor of Illinois.  No one will ever know whose idea it was—maybe the photographer’s, but the three luminaries were lined up in a pig pen and each handed a smallish pig to hold.  So there was the Secretary of Agriculture, the president of France and the Governor of Illinois grinning into the camera and each was holding a squirming pig.  It was a most memorable sight, and the keeper says he does not know why he thinks about it today, maybe because Trump is going to telephone the President of France among others..