Happy Presidents' Day!

Boy it's not until you start blogging about history that you realize how many holidays are in February! Anyway, first things first, I am back from Gettysburg and I had a lovely time. There will be more blogs on that this week. Two, all last month I was really hoping to hit my largest monthly audience to date, this month I'm behind in my goal of posts and managed to break that record as of this morning! The internet is a fickle creature. 

On to today's topic! One of my more minor pet peeves is how Presidents' Day is considered "George Washington and Abraham Lincoln Day" when it really is supposed to incorporate a whole bunch of presidents...you know, like all of them, even the one's you're not so crazy about. Initially, I was going to do a Top Ten list of Ten "Other" Awesome Presidents besides Washington and Lincoln, but I feel like I'm abusing my Top Ten List category lately. So, instead, I will present you with 44 bits of trivia about the Presidents of the United States...in order...because I am in the mood to be extra history-nerdy!

44 Bits of Trivia on the Presidents of the United States: 

In Order of Terms of Service

1. George Washington: grew pot. Got your attention didn't I? Until the invention of the cotton gin, the most lucrative crop in the colonies was hemp. Also known as marijuana, it was used to make rope, clothes, and paper.
   
2. John Adams: supposedly spoke with a lisp.
   
3. Thomas Jefferson: owned roughly 6,000 books. (About 1000 more than New Jersey Smith, as I recall...)
   
4. James Madison: was the shortest president standing only 5'4".
   
5. James Monroe: had two vice presidents die while president.
   
6. John Quincy Adams: Like to skinny dip and didn't like to give interviews. A female reporter once got the best of him by waiting until he dove into the Potomac for his nude morning swim and sitting upon his clothes he left on shore in order to score an interview.
   
7. Andrew Jackson: was our first president to wear pants, before Jackson, wealthy men wore breeches.
   
8. Martin Van Buren: must not have had a very good marriage...any mention of his wife was completely omitted from his autobiography.
   
9. William Henry Harrison: elected in 1840, was considered the first victim of the curse that stated all presidents elected in a year ending with zero would die in office. When Reagan's survived his assassination attempt, the curse was presumably broken.
   
10. John Tyler: the only president considered a "sworn enemy of the United States" when, 20 years after his term, he joined the Confederacy.
    
11. James K. Polk: bought pretty much the entire United States Southwest from Mexico.
    
12. Zachary Taylor: never voted in a presidential election.
    
13. Millard Fillmore: celebrity crush of Queen Victoria. She once called him the most attractive man she'd ever seen.
    
14. Franklin Pierce: was arrested for running over an old lady with his horse.
    
15. James Buchanan: Remained a bachelor his entire life. It was heavily rumored he was gay and his close relationship to a Congressman led them to be called "Buchanan and his wife."
    
16. Abraham Lincoln: used to store things in his stovepipe hat.
    
17. Andrew Johnson: was a Democrat until the Republicans nominated him for Vice President.
    
18. Ulysses S Grant: You might have noticed there is no period after "S" in Grant's name. That's because "S" doesn't stand for anything, let alone Simpson. Truthfully, Grant's name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. He was known as "Lissie" and as he got older was embarrassed that his initials spelled "HUG." He initially referred to himself as H. Ulysses Grant. When a friend recommended him for the military academy, he assumed Ulysses had his mother's maiden name as a middle name, as was common then. Hence, Grant was enrolled as Ulysses Simpson Grant. During his military career, Grant earned the nicknames "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, "Uncle Sam" Grant (thus explaining why he was called "Sam") and "U.S." Grant.
    
19. Rutherford B. Hayes: started the traditional White House Easter Egg Hunt.
    
20. James A. Garfield: had a fascination with triangles and discovered a unique proof of Pythagorean's Theorem. His proof was included in a book on the Theorem in 1940.
    
21. Chester A. Arthur: Long before Obama's citizenship issues, Arthur was accused of being born in Canada.
    
22. Grover Cleveland: paid someone to take his place when he was drafted.
    
23. Benjamin Harrison: was the first president to have his voice recorded in 1889.
    
24. Grover Cleveland: had a secret operation while president to have part of his jawbone removed and replaced with a rubber one due to cancer.
    
25. William McKinley: and his wife Ida, almost made my Valentine's Day post. William and Ida were so close and intimate, they often came off as rude when in a large gathering as they gave each other so much attention. During his presidency, Ida's health deteriorated and she ultimately became an invalid. Upon being shot by an assassin, his immediate response to those who came to his aid were: "Be careful how you tell my wife."
    
26. Theodore Roosevelt: was the youngest man sworn into the presidency at age 42. Commonly attributed to Kennedy who was the youngest elected president at age 43.
    
27. William H. Taft: was the first president to throw the first pitch at a baseball game. Every president since has followed suit except for Jimmy Carter.
    
28. Woodrow Wilson: the only president to date to hold a PhD.
    
29. Warren G. Harding: gambled, and lost, the White House china playing poker.
    
30. Calvin Coolidge: really enjoyed playing pranks and generally deviling people. While president, he was particularly fond of ringing the White House's doorbell and running away.
    
31. Herbert Hoover: didn't want any towns named after him because he was president because during the Great Depression, shanty towns for the homeless were known as Hoovervilles.
    
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Often felt people were too self-conscious meeting him to actually listen to what he said. Therefore, he frequently started conversations with newly met acquaintances with "I murdered my grandmother this morning."
    
33. Harry Truman: would get up at 5 a.m. every morning to practice the piano for two hours.
    
34. Dwight Eisenhower: retired to Gettysburg, P.A., his house out there was the only house he and Maime ever owned. (Yes, there will be a lengthier blog post on his in the near future.)
    
35. John F. Kennedy: disliked wearing a hat, thus making hats for men go out of style. Prior to Kennedy, men seldom went outside without a hat.
    
36. Lyndon Baines Johnson: was a bit of an egomaniac, forcing his family to have the same initials as him. His wife was known as Lady Bird Johnson and his dog as Little Beagle Johnson.
    
37. Richard Nixon: liked to eat ketchup on his cottage cheese.
    
38. Gerald Ford: was the only president to have had an assassination attempt by a woman. Twice. In the same month (September 1975).
    
39. Jimmy Carter: was the first president to be born in a hospital.
    
40. Ronald Reagan: Jelly Belly's blueberry jellybean was developed for Reagan's inaugural festivities.
    
41. George H.W. Bush: became the youngest pilot in the US Navy.
    
42. Bill Clinton: was mauled by a sheep when he was eight.
    
43. George W. Bush: was a head cheerleader in high school.
    
44. Barack Obama: dislikes ice cream. The distaste is attributed to his years working for Baskin-Robbins.