In August 1979, Brooks Jackson, a reporter for The Associated Press, broke the news that a “killer rabbit” had attacked President Jimmy Carter.
It was a “throwaway story,” he said, but one that took on a life of its own and, in a strange way, became emblematic of Mr. Carter’s problems at home and abroad.
According to the story told by White House staff members, Mr. Carter had been fishing on a pond near his home in Plains, Ga., in April 1979, when he spotted an animal swimming toward his boat.
That animal, it turned out, was a rabbit — an enraged swamp rabbit, according to the White House press secretary, Jody Powell — that was “making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth,” and was intent on climbing into the president’s boat.
But Mr. Carter, the commander in chief, repelled the attack. As confirmed by Mr. Carter himself in subsequent interviews, he dipped a paddle into the water and splashed the oncoming rabbit, driving it to the opposite end of the pond.
The tale did not come to light until months later, when the story was leaked to Mr. Jackson. The Washington Post put the A.P. story on the front page on Aug. 30, 1979, under the headline: “Bunny Goes Bugs. Rabbit Attacks President.” It was accompanied by a cartoon showing a large bucktoothed rabbit emerging from the water like a shark. “Paws,” read the caption.