Good Monday Morning!
Presidential Trivia
The one item of trivia I find to be the most fascinating is that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, famous enemies, both died on the same day which happened to be July 4, 1826, the 50thanniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As Adams lay dying, he muttered, “Jefferson survives.” He was unaware that Jefferson had died several hours earlier.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson opposed each other in the Presidential Election of 1800. Due to a tie in the number of electoral votes, the election was decided in the House of Representatives, one of only two such instances.
The other race that had to be decided in the House of Representatives occurred in 1824 between John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams) and Andrew Jackson. Neither candidate received the required majority of electoral votes.
Chester A. Arthur was nicknamed “Elegant Arthur” because of his fashion sense.
The first president to use the name “White House” for his residence was Theodore Roosevelt. Before his arrival, it had been called the Executive Mansion or the President’s House.
James Madison was the smallest president. He stood 5’ 4” tall and weighed only 100 pounds.
Zachary Taylor was so frugal that he refused all postage due correspondences. He was, therefore, late in receiving his presidential nomination.
Before winning the presidency, Lincoln had experienced a great deal of failure. He had failed “as a business man, storekeeper, and farmer. He also ran for a position in local government, then for Congress and the Senate, and lost. He sought the appointment to the United States Land Office and failed. And when friends sought for him the nomination for the vice-presidency, he lost.” It’s amazing that he persevered in the face of all that failure. A grateful nation is certainly glad he did.
Harry Truman woke up at 5 am every morning to practice the piano for two hours.
Zachary Taylor was the second president to die in office. Taylor spent July 4, 1850, at a ceremony at the Washington Monument. He became ill from the heat and died five days later of intestinal ailments. Recently, his body was exhumed because some believed he was poisoned, but this was proved to be false.”
William Taft weighed 332 pounds. The first time he took a bath at the White House, he got stuck. They ordered a new tub immediately.
William Henry Harrison died 32 days after he was elected.
Millard Fillmore refused an honorary degree from Oxford University because he felt he had “neither literary nor scientific attainment.”
Calvin Coolidge refused to use the telephone while in office.
Harry S. Truman’s mother, a Confederate sympathizer, refused to sleep in Lincoln’s bed during a White House visit.
Thomas Jefferson was “the first president to shake hands with guests. Previously people bowed to Presidents. Jefferson’s library of 6,000 books was purchased for $ 23.950 and formed the basis of the Library of Congress.”
At his inauguration, George Washington had only one tooth. At various times he wore dentures made of human teeth, animal teeth, ivory or even lead. Never wood.
Franklin Pierce was the only president to have no turnover in his cabinet.
Jimmy Carter is a speed reader, having been recorded reading 2,000 words per minute.
George H. W. Bush is distantly related to Benedict Arnold, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Presidents Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Gerald Ford. (I had to look that one up to verify it. I saw it repeated many times.)
In 1992, while at a formal dinner in Japan, Bush became ill and vomited on the prime minister of Japan, then fainted. (Can you imagine that?!)
Quote of the Day:
“Sit down and shut up.” – Dick Cheney as he was heckled by protesters.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member