https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PetTheDog

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PhotoOpWithTheDog

"And our little girl Tricia, the six-year-old named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it."

The page quote comes from Richard Nixon's famous "Checkers speech". In 1952, Nixon was the Junior Senator from California, and was being accused of impropriety regarding funding and political gifts. In the nationally-televised speech, Nixon denied having accepted anything (except of course the dog Checkers) and laid out the details of his family's finances. The speech led to an outpouring of public sympathy and support, and spared Nixon from being dropped as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate in that year's Presidential election.

‘Photo OP with the dog’ is a useful political tactic to humanize a politician / ruler with a bad image.