US Presidential Fun Facts

2008-07-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

...or ordinary stuff about men serving in an extraordinary position. Nutty!

1. George Washington: Loved horses. Before riding he insisted that the horse be cleaned from head to hoof. He even had his helpers brush the horses teeth.

2. John Adams: Most of Adam’s teeth had fallen out. He refused to wear dentures, and thus, talked with a lisp.

3. Thomas Jefferson: Originated the custom of shaking hands with the President of the U.S. Before his term people bowed to the President.

4. James Madison: Was the first President to regularly wear trousers instead of knee breeches.

5. James Monroe: Was the first President that was inaugurated outdoors.

6. John Quincy Adams: In warm weather, customarily went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River before dawn.

7. Andrew Jackson: Had a pet parrot named Poll. The parrot screamed curse words at his funeral.

8. Martin Van Buren: Autobiography does not mention his wife once.

9. William Henry Harrison: Was inaugurated on a bitterly cold day and gave the longest inauguration speech ever. The new president promptly caught a cold that soon developed into pneumonia. Harrison died exactly one month into his presidential term, the shortest in U.S. history.

10. John Tyler: Fathered 15 children (more than any other president)--8 by his first wife, and 7 by his second wife. Tyler was past his seventieth birthday when his 15th child was born.

11. James Polk: Sedated only by brandy, survived gall bladder surgery at the age of 17.

12. Zachary Taylor: Didn't vote until he was 62 years old and didn't even vote in his own election because he was a soldier & moved so often he couldn't establish legal residency until he retired.

13. Millard Fillmore: Was the first President to have a stepmother.

14. Franklin Pierce: Had a long battle with alcoholism. Heavy drinking over the years undermined his health.

15. James Buchanan: Is the only unmarried man ever to be elected president. Buchanan was engaged to be married once; however, his fiancée died suddenly after breaking off the engagement, and he remained a bachelor all his life.

16. Abraham Lincoln: Often depicted wearing a tall black stovepipe hat, carried letters, bills, and notes in his hat.

17. Andrew Johnson: Never attended school. His future wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him to write at the age of 17. (Bonus fact about Andrew Johnson: He only wore suits that he custom-tailored himself.)

18. Ulysses S. Grant: Died of throat cancer. During his life, Grant had smoked about 20 cigars per day.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes: Had the first telephone installed in the White House. Then he talked to Alexander Graham Bell, who was 13 miles away.

20. James Garfield: Both ambidextrous and multilingual, could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

21. Chester Arthur: Had quite a wardrobe: 80 pairs of pants.

22, 24. Grover Cleveland: Underwent a secret operation aboard a yacht to remove his cancerous upper jaw in 1893.

23. Benjamin Harrison: Was so afraid of electric lights that he used to have White House staff turn them on and off.

25. William McKinley: Was the first man in his hometown to volunteer when the Civil War broke out. He worked in a regiment commanded by another future president, Rutherford B. Hayes.

26. Theodore Roosevelt: The teddy bear reference derived from refusal to shoot a bear with her cub while on a hunting trip in Mississippi.

27. William Taft: Weighed more than 300 pounds and had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House.

28. Woodrow Wilson: Is the only U.S. president to this day to receive an earned Ph.D. His degree was in History from Johns Hopkins University.

29. Warren Harding: Played poker at least twice a week, and once gambled away an entire set of White House china. His advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the president in his poker

30. Calvin Coolidge: Had chronic stomach pain and required 10 to 11 hours of sleep and an afternoon nap every day.

31. Herbert Hoover: Published more than 16 books, including one called Fishing for Fun-And to Wash Your Soul.

32. Franklin Roosevelt: Was related, either by blood or by marriage, to 11 former presidents.

33. Harry S Truman: The letter "S" comprises his full middle name. It represents two of his grandfathers, whose names both had "S" in them.

34. Dwight Eisenhower: Military leader loved to cook; he developed a recipe for vegetable soup that is 894 words long and includes the stems of nasturtium flowers as one of the ingredients.

35. John F. Kennedy: Had a sister, Rosemary, who was mentally retarded. She had a lobotomy, at that time not known to be that bad. She is still living and is eighty-five years old.

36. Lyndon B. Johnson: Was notorious for taking guests on 90-mph rides around his 415-acre LBJ Ranch in Texas in his Lincoln.

37. Richard Nixon: Received more votes than any other person in American history. His three Congressional terms, two terms as Vice-President, his narrow defeat by JFK in the 1960 presidential, his run for the California Gubenatorial, his first election to the Presidency in 1968 and his landslide deafeat of Geroge McGovern (the largest in Presidential history until that time) makes Nixon the most voted for American politician ever.

38. Gerald Ford: Once worked as a fashion model. Ford was a model for Cosmopolitan and Look magazines in the 1940's.

39. Jimmy Carter: Was the only president who commanded a submarine.

40. Ronald Reagan: Broke the so-called "20-year curse," in which every president elected in a year ending in 0 died in office.

41. George Bush: Was the captain of the baseball team at Yale University.

42. Bill Clinton: Brought a First Cat--Socks--from Arkansas when they moved into the White House. Socks was the first White House pet with a web site.

43. George W. Bush: He and his wife Laura got married just three months after meeting each other.

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US Presidential Fun Facts