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Presidential Oddities (1 Viewer)

Facecow

Footballguy
Like you have anything better to do.

George Washington was a consistent disappointment to his mother, Mary. She complained frequently to anyone who would listen that he was lax in supporting her and, much to his embarrassment, once begged the Virginia legislature for a little spending money.

John Adams spoke with a lisp because he stubbornly refused to wear dentures.



Thomas Jefferson, despite his otherwise refined tastes, was a notoriously lousy dresser with poor posture. He once shocked a British minister with his slovenly appearance.

"Hail to the Chief" was written written specifically for James Madison, because he was so short that no one ever noticed when he entered the room.



James Monroe was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by his spendthrift wife and daughters; Monroe’s wife then compounded matters by developing an expensive, and eventually fatal, illness.

Partial to skinny-dipping in the Potomac, J.Q. Adams was once surprised mid swim by an enterprising female reporter, who forced him into a naked interview.

Andrew Jackson made his wife, Rachel, a bigamist by illegally marrying her before she’d divorced her first husband.



Martin Van Buren liked to gamble on the outcome of elections.



William Henry Harrison was the biggest vote getter in the American history if calculating by what percentage of eligible voters chose him - but was only president for 31 days.

John Tyler holds the presidential paternity record. He had 14 children live to maturity, the youngest born when Tyler was 70.



James K. Polk was plagued with diarrhea throughout his single term. He eventually died of what he described as a "derangement of the stomach and bowels."

Zachary Taylor received so much fan mail after his Mexican War victories that he started refusing all postage-due letters. As a result, he didn’t find out he’d won the Whig nomination for president for almost a month.



Millard Fillmore had a historic audience with the pope shortly before being nominated for president on a violently anti-Catholic ticket.



Franklin Pierce was pals with author Nathaniel Hawthorne. In fact, the two were vacationing together in the White Mountains when Hawthorne died in his sleep.

James Buchanan had one eye set higher in his head than the other, so he walked around with his neck cocked to one side.

Abraham Lincoln had a twangy high-pitched voice - nothing at all like Sam Waterston’s.

Andrew Johnson loved the circus.

Ulysses S. Grant changed his name from Hiram Ulysses because he was ashamed of the initials H.U.G. Also, he hated music. All music.

Rutherford B. Hayes was a huge fan of croquet.

James A. Garfield, a former classics teacher, could simultaneously write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.

Chester A. Arthur had over 80 pairs of pants and insisted on changing several times a day.

Grover Cleveland had a prosthetic jaw and an illegitimate daughter, neither of which seriously affected his popularity. He’s also the only president to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms.

Benjamin Harrison had the first electric lights in the White House, but was scared to turn them on or off for fear of electrocution. Instead, he made the servants do it.

William McKinley’s wife was an epileptic whose contorted face he sometimes covered up with a handkerchief during formal dinner parties.

Theodore Roosevelt’s mother and first wife died on the same day, in the same house, on the fourth anniversary of his engagement, which was also Valentine’s Day. Rough.

As president, William Howard Taft weighed 326 pounds and got stuck in the White House bathtub. He had a bigger one installed.

Woodrow Wilson was a gifted mimic fond of telling racist jokes in Irish dialect. He also liked to imitate drunks.

Warren G. Harding kept his romantic trysts in the closet - literally. He often met his mistress in a closet off the presidential office.

Calvin Coolidge, while president, enjoyed riding on a mechanical horse and whooping like a cowboy. He also thought it was great fun to hit the buzzer for the servants and then hide.

Herbert Hoover and his wife were both proficient in Chinese and would often use it to talk privately in the presence of guests.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had a collection of 25,000 stamps. He added to it by simply having the Postmaster General and State Department mail him every new issue.

Harry S Truman once wrote a threatening letter to the music critic of the Washington Post in response to a negative review of his daughter’s voice recital, stating "I never met you, but if I do, you’ll need a new nose …" His entire middle name, incidentally, was S.



Dwight D. Eisenhower hated cats. In retirement in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he enjoyed shooting at any that came near his house.

John F. Kennedy only watched the first halves of movies. Then he’d get bored.

Lyndon B. Johnson proposed to his wife, Lady Bird, on their first date, a breakfast, then bought her a wedding ring for $2.50.



Richard M. Nixon loved football. As president, he’d occasionally called up NFL coaches to chat and offer strategic advice.



Gerald R. Ford was originally named Leslie Lynch King Jr. after his biological father, who abandoned the family when Ford was an infant. The next time Ford saw him was 15 years later, when Leslie Sr. showed up without warning and gave the kid 25 bucks.

Jimmy Carter wrote a children’s book called "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer."

Ronald Reagan’s 1965 personal memoir, Where’s the Rest of Me? opens with the line, "The story begins with the close up of a bottom."



George H.W. Bush was the first president to use any of the following words in his inaugural addresses: "cocaine," bacteria," and "easygoingness."

Bill Clinton was eight years old when he was beaten up by a sheep. That was the day, according to his autobiography, that he learned that he could take a hard hit.

George W. Bush was the first sitting president to acquire an iPod and correspondingly the first to admit a weakness for Blackie & the Rodeo Kings.

 
Lyndon B. Johnson proposed to his wife, Lady Bird, on their first date, a breakfast, then bought her a wedding ring for $2.50.

Jimmy Carter wrote a children’s book called "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer."

Ronald Reagan’s 1965 personal memoir, Where’s the Rest of Me? opens with the line, "The story begins with the close up of a bottom."



George H.W. Bush was the first president to use any of the following words in his inaugural addresses: "cocaine," bacteria," and "easygoingness."

Bill Clinton was eight years old when he was beaten up by a sheep. That was the day, according to his autobiography, that he learned that he could take a hard hit.
These are some of my favorite things.
 
Calvin Coolidge, while president, enjoyed riding on a mechanical horse and whooping like a cowboy. He also thought it was great fun to hit the buzzer for the servants and then hide.
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: I'm voting for him next election.
My presidential oddity. I'm distant friends with Andrew Jackson's great great great (I forget how many greats) grandson - Andy Jackson. He's a judge here in East Tennessee. If it's not tough enough being named Andrew Jackson, his wife is named Janet.... Extremely nice people, both of them.And I'm also friends with Millard Fillmore's great great (again, I forget how many greats) grand daughter. She's super nice too.

Both are very regular people. I don't know how far down the "line" that Secret Service people stop protecting the families but both these folks are just "regular" people. I remember being really surprised to find out their family history. :shrug:

J

 
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Chester A. Arthur had over 80 pairs of pants and insisted on changing several times a day.
Sounds like he shared Polk's affliction. :toilet:
William McKinley’s wife was an epileptic whose contorted face he sometimes covered up with a handkerchief during formal dinner parties.
:o :lmao:
 
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III. His father died before his birth, and he changed his last name upon his mother's remarriage.

John Tyler was the only president to die in a foriegn country--the CSA. He was elected to office in the Confederate Congress and died en route to the CSA House of Representatives... being the first president elected to serve in another country's government. For his betrayl of the Union, he was refused the ceremony of a Presidential burial. He did not lie in state nor did flags fly at half mast, his passing wasn't recognized at any federal level.

 
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Calvin Coolidge, while president, enjoyed riding on a mechanical horse and whooping like a cowboy. He also thought it was great fun to hit the buzzer for the servants and then hide.
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: I'm voting for him next election.
My presidential oddity. I'm distant friends with Andrew Jackson's great great great (I forget how many greats) grandson - Andy Jackson. He's a judge here in East Tennessee. If it's not tough enough being named Andrew Jackson, his wife is named Janet.... Extremely nice people, both of them.And I'm also friends with Millard Fillmore's great great (again, I forget how many greats) grand daughter. She's super nice too.

Both are very regular people. I don't know how far down the "line" that Secret Service people stop protecting the families but both these folks are just "regular" people. I remember being really surprised to find out their family history. :shrug:

J
I think it'd be pretty sweet to have the name Andrew Jackson if you were one of his great grandkids. On the other hand, if my parents named me Millard, I'd be pretty upset, even if my dad was the actual President, Millard Fillmore.
 
Warren G. Harding kept his romantic trysts in the closet - literally. He often met his mistress in a closet off the presidential office.

Bill Clinton was eight years old when he was beaten up by a sheep. That was the day, according to his autobiography, that he learned that he could take a hard hit.
did these two get mixed up?
 
As a child, my uncle used to play with Gerald Ford. In fact, one of their games was jumping off of the garage (a fact kept quiet as the press snooped around when the bumbling Ford became president).

 
I once shook hands with a guy who shook hands with a guy who shooks hands with a guy who shook hands with Abraham Lincoln. Seriously.

 
Andrew Jackson made his wife, Rachel, a bigamist by illegally marrying her before she’d divorced her first husband.
Not entirely true. There are mixed reports, but it appears that his wife truly believed that she was divorced properly from her estranged husband. However, he returned several months after she married Jackson, and it was then found out that he never completed the divorce as he said he did. It was completed properly, and Jackson remarried her in another ceremy to ensure that it was legal.And if you had said what you said in earshot of Mr. Jackson, he would beat you with his cane and liekly challenge you to a duel - things he did repeatedly in his life when anyone questioned the honor of his wife.

 
I don't know how far down the "line" that Secret Service people stop protecting the families but both these folks are just "regular" people.
My grandmother's grandfather was Franklin Pierce (her maiden name was even Pierce). I've never seen a secret serviceman (that I know of).
 
Andrew Jackson made his wife, Rachel, a bigamist by illegally marrying her before she’d divorced her first husband.
Not entirely true. There are mixed reports, but it appears that his wife truly believed that she was divorced properly from her estranged husband. However, he returned several months after she married Jackson, and it was then found out that he never completed the divorce as he said he did. It was completed properly, and Jackson remarried her in another ceremy to ensure that it was legal.And if you had said what you said in earshot of Mr. Jackson, he would beat you with his cane and liekly challenge you to a duel - things he did repeatedly in his life when anyone questioned the honor of his wife.
Old Hickory didn't take any crap... ;) J

 
TheIronSheik said:
Facecow said:
Calvin Coolidge, while president, enjoyed riding on a mechanical horse and whooping like a cowboy. He also thought it was great fun to hit the buzzer for the servants and then hide.
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: I'm voting for him next election.
If you vote for me, I promise I'll do this, and more. Perhaps call press conferences and then let the press corps wait all day. :thumbup:
 
Facecow said:
William McKinley’s wife was an epileptic whose contorted face he sometimes covered up with a handkerchief during formal dinner parties.
:lmao: That's just AWESOME! :lmao:

 
FDR privately joked about his Secretay of State's (Cordell Hull) lisp and loved to impersonate him, crying, "Jesus Chwist!"

True story. :)

 
Yankee23Fan said:
Facecow said:
Andrew Jackson made his wife, Rachel, a bigamist by illegally marrying her before she’d divorced her first husband.
Not entirely true. There are mixed reports, but it appears that his wife truly believed that she was divorced properly from her estranged husband. However, he returned several months after she married Jackson, and it was then found out that he never completed the divorce as he said he did.
That was funny when Rachel told the judge that her husband was gay and addicted to heroin. :D
 
Grover Cleveland had a prosthetic jaw and an illegitimate daughter, neither of which seriously affected his popularity. He’s also the only president to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms.
He had to have half of his jaw removed as a result of dipping/chewing.GB Tobacco, and random trivia remembered from 6th grade research projects. :bowtie:
 
Herbert Hoover - During Prohibition, Hoover would visit the Belgian Embassy in Washington D.C. for drinks. It was considered foreign soil, so drinking was legal there.

My kind of dude.

 
Grover Cleveland had a prosthetic jaw and an illegitimate daughter, neither of which seriously affected his popularity. He’s also the only president to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms.
He had to have half of his jaw removed as a result of dipping/chewing.GB Tobacco, and random trivia remembered from 6th grade research projects. :bowtie:
It was his whole upper jaw, which was replaced with a rubber one, and it was done in secret aboard a yacht because it was in the midst of an economic panic and he didn't want his potential health crises to make the economy even worse. No one except the people on the yacht knew about the operation until years after he left the White House.
 
Three assassinated Presidents all had the same close assistant/advisor/friend who was extremely loyal to all three and mourned each death as if it were his own brother who died.

Who were the President's and who was the person?

 
Franklin Pierce was pals with author Nathaniel Hawthorne. In fact, the two were vacationing together in the White Mountains when Hawthorne died in his sleep.

Brokeback?

 
It is what it is said:
Dwight Eisenhower absolutely despised his nickname "Ike" due to the negative publicity Ike Turner received.
:unsure: Eisenhower died in 1969. Ike Turner didn't have any negative publicity until the early '70s.
 
Three assassinated Presidents all had the same close assistant/advisor/friend who was extremely loyal to all three and mourned each death as if it were his own brother who died.Who were the President's and who was the person?
Hmmm....not sure if we're thinking of the same person, but there was one guy who had been invited to the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.
 
Three assassinated Presidents all had the same close assistant/advisor/friend who was extremely loyal to all three and mourned each death as if it were his own brother who died.Who were the President's and who was the person?
Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley.John Hay.
 
A true story about Coolidge: two WH reporters bet that Coolidge (notoriously laconic) wouldn't say three words once. When he was leaving, Coolidge was told by one of the reporters that he bet that Coolidge would say at least three words. Coolidge's reply: "You lose." I've always liked that one.

Slight hijacking but I read that Hitler had nonstop and uncontrollable breaking of the wind.

 
Facecow said:
Richard M. Nixon loved football. As president, he’d occasionally called up NFL coaches to chat and offer strategic advice.
Presidential FBG. :thumbup:
Nixon and Sports Chronology--1971--

December 26

The Washington Redskins lose in the playoffs to the San Francisco 49ers, 24-20. The Redskins lose 13 yards on a play that Allen says that the President suggested. This statement is false; it is an effort on Allen's part to inspire the team. He, however, tells the team that Nixon designed the play only after getting the President's approval. After the game, Nixon calls Allen and tells him that the entire city is proud of the team.

--1972--

January 3

Nixon calls Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula at 1:30 a.m. During the phone conversation, the President suggests that the Dolphins use a quick slant pass play in the Super Bowl. Their talk lasts roughly 10 minutes.

January 4

Press coverage of the Nixon-Shula conversation gives the misleading impression that Nixon actually designed a play for the Dolphins.

January 16

The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI by the score of 24-3. The Dolphins use a quick slant pass on the eighth play of the game, which results in an incompletion.

Also, classic Joe Paterno quote: "I've wondered how President Nixon could know so little about Watergate in 1973 and so much about college football in 1969."

 
A true story about Coolidge: two WH reporters bet that Coolidge (notoriously laconic) wouldn't say three words once. When he was leaving, Coolidge was told by one of the reporters that he bet that Coolidge would say at least three words. Coolidge's reply: "You lose." I've always liked that one.
When news that Silent Cal died reached contemporary writer and humorist Will Rogers, Rogers' famous reply was "How can you tell?"
 
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Three assassinated Presidents all had the same close assistant/advisor/friend who was extremely loyal to all three and mourned each death as if it were his own brother who died.

Who were the President's and who was the person?
Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley.John Hay.
Also:Lincoln invited his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, to attend the play the night he was assasinated, but Robert declined. Robert Lincoln also served as Secretary of War under Garfield, and was present at the DC train station, at Garfield's invitation, when Garfield was assasinated by Charles Guiteau. Robert Lincoln was also invited to, and in attendence at, the Pan American Exhibition in 1901 by President McKinley when McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz. After that, he refused to attend any event where a President was there also, since he was invited to the assasinations of three presidents.

The really, really weird part? In 1863 or '64, prior to his father's assasination, Robert Todd Lincoln was travelling by train from New York to Washington DC. He was waiting to change trains in Jersey City and was walking too close to the edge of the platform craning his neck to see when the train would arrive--not realizing the incoming train was coming from the other direction. He was pulled away at the last second and his life was saved by...

 
:diamond:

William Henry Harrison was the biggest vote getter in the American history if calculating by what percentage of eligible voters chose him
I would not have guessed this one in a million years.

 
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