George Washington, 1st President: 1789-1797 Political Party: Federalist
Nickname: "Father of His Country"
• The Electoral College elected Washington unanimously in 1789, and again in the 1792 election; he remains the only president to receive 100% of the electoral votes. At his inauguration, he insisted on having Barbados Rum served.[1]
• Washington never lived in the White House. The nation’s capital was located in Philadelphia, as well as several other cities, prior to its move to Washington, D.C.
• George Washington was the only president who did not represent a political party.
• At his inauguration, Washington had only one tooth. At various times he wore dentures made of human teeth, animal teeth, ivory or even lead, but never wood.

John Adams, 2nd President: 1797-1801 Political Party: Federalist
Nickname: "Atlas of Independence"
• John Adams was the first president to reside in the White House, moving in November 1800 while the paint was still wet. Mrs. Adams would hang her laundry in the East Room to dry.
• When Adams and his family moved to Washington to live in the White House, they got lost in the woods north of the city for several hours.
• John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1826. Not knowing that Thomas Jefferson has already passed John Adams was quoted as saying "Jefferson survives," when he whispered his last words.

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President: 1801-1809 Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Nicknames: "Man of the People"; "Sage of Monticello"
• Thomas Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence.
• Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
• Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph never mentioning that he served as president. His epitaph read, "Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the Father of the University of Virginia.
• Jefferson is credited with several inventions, including the swivel chair, a pedometer, a machine to make fiber from hemp, a letter-copying machine, and the lazy susan.

James Madison, 4th President: 1809-1817 Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Nicknames: "Father of the Constitution"
• James Madison was one of two (George Washington was the other), American presidents to sign the Constitution. Madison’s contributions towards the development of the Constitution earned him the title "Father of the Constitution."
• Madison was the first president to wear trousers rather than knee breeches.
• James Madison was the shortest and lightest president at 5 feet, 4 inches and about 100 pounds.
• During the War of 1812 Madison was under enemy fire. He was the first president to be in that situation.

James Monroe, 5th President: 1817-1825 Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Nicknames: "The Last Cocked Hat"; "Era-of-Good-Feeling President"
• James Monroe was the first president to ride a steamboat.
• Monroe’s daughter was the first to be a bride in the White House.
• Monroe was wounded during the Revolutionary War.
•He was the first president to have been a U.S. senator.
•In the election of 1820 Monroe received every electoral vote except one. A New Hampshire delegate wanted Washington to be the only president elected unanimously.
•The bride in the first White House wedding was Monroe's daughter.
•The U.S. Marine Band played at Monroe's 1821 inauguration and at every inauguration since.

John Quincy Adams, 6th President: 1825-1829 Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Nickname: "Old Man Eloquent"
• John Quincy Adams dug the first spade of dirt near Little Falls to begin the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal on July 4, 1828.
• John Quincy Adams regularly swam nude in the Potomac River. The first American professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams’ 5:00 a.m. swims. After being refused interviews with Adams many times, she went to the river, gathered his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.
• John Quincy Adams was the son of a former president and the first to be photographed.
•Adams is the only president to be elected to the House after his presidency.

Andrew Jackson, 7th President: 1829-1837 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Old Hickory"
• Andrew Jackson was the first president born in a log cabin (South Carolina).
• Andrew Jackson was the first president to ride in a train.
• Andrew Jackson was the first American president to experience and survive an assassination attempt. Jackson was at the Capitol when an unemployed house painter fired a pistol at him. The pistol misfired. The would-be assassin drew a second pistol, which also misfired.
•Jackson was the only president who served in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
•Jackson was the only president to have been a prisoner of war. He was thirteen when he joined the South Carolina militia to fight in the Revolutionary War. After his capture, he was ordered to clean the boots of a British officer. Jackson refused. The officer then drew his sword and slashed Jackson across the forehead, leaving a scar.

Martin Van Buren, 8th President: 1837-1841 Political Party: Democrat
Nicknames: "The Little Magician"; "The Red Fox of Kinderhook"
• The term "O.K." is credited to Van Buren who was raised in Kinderhook, New York. After he went into politics, Van Buren became known as "Old Kinderhook." Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren and the word "okay" was derived.
• Van Buren was the first U.S. president born in the United States. The presidents preceding Van Buren were born in colonies that later became states. Van Buren was the first to be born after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
• Martin Van Buren was the first president of Dutch ancestry. He and his wife spoke Dutch at home.
• His autobiography does not mention his wife once.

William Henry Harrison, 9th President: 1841-1841 Political Party: Whig
Nicknames: "Old Tippecanoe"; "Old Tip"
• William Henry Harrison was the only president who studied to become a doctor.
• William Henry Harrison served the shortest presidency.
• Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address, and was the first president to die in office, about 32 days after elected. On March 4, he gave a 105 minute speech and did not wear an overcoat or hat. He developed pneumonia and died in the White House exactly one month after giving his speech, on April 4.

John Tyler, 10th President: 1841-1845 Political Party: Whig
Nicknames: "Accidental President"; "His Accidency"
• John Tyler was the first vice president to ascend to the presidency upon the death of a president. He did not make an inaugural address, and he never ran for the office of the Presidency.
• Tyler was the president with the most children—he had 15.
• The tradition of playing "Hail to the Chief" whenever a president appeared at a state function was started by Tyler’s second wife.
• Five years after leaving office, Tyler was so poor he was unable to pay a bill for $1.25 until he had sold his corn crop.

James K. Polk, 11th President: 1845-1849 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Young Hickory"
• The first president to have his inauguration reported by telegraph.
• The first annual White House Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by Polk’s wife, Sarah.
• James Polk fulfilled all his campaign promises. During his administration Polk acquired California from Mexico, settled the Oregon dispute, lowered tariffs, established a sub-treasury, and retired from office after one term.
• Sarah Polk was a devout Presbyterian. She banned dancing, card-playing and alcoholic beverages in the White House.

Zachary Taylor, 12th President: 1849-1850 Political Party: Whig
Nickname: "Old Rough and Ready"
• Zachary Taylor received his nomination for presidency late because he refused all postage due correspondences.
• Taylor did not vote until the age of 62. Until that time, he had not established an official place of residence because he had moved many times as a soldier.
• 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.
• November 7, 1848 was the first time a presidential election was held on the same day in every state.
• Visitors to the White House would take souvenier horse hairs from Whitey, Taylor's old Army horse that he kept on the White House lawn.

Millard Fillmore, 13th President: 1850-1853 Political Party: Whig
Nickname: "The American Louis Philippe"
• Millard Fillmore was the last president born in the 18th century.
• Fillmore and his cabinet helped fight the Library Congress fire of 1851.
• Fillmore refused an honorary degree from Oxford University because he felt he had "neither literary nor scientific attainment."
• Fillmore was the first president to have a stepmother.

Franklin Pierce, 14th President: 1853-1857 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Young Hickory of the Granite Hills"
• Franklin Pierce gave his 3,319-word inaugural address from memory, without the aid of notes.
• Pierce was the only president to have no turnover in his cabinet.
• Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House.
• One of the Democratic party's slogans during Pierce's campaign for president was: "We Polked you in 1844; we shall Pierce you in 1852."
• Pierce was the only elected President who sought but did not win his party's nomination for a second term.

James Buchanan, 15th President: 1857-1861 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Old Buck"
• The only president that never married. The White House hostess was his niece, Harriet Lane. In 1819, Buchanan became engaged to Ann Coleman. A misunderstanding took place and their engagement was broken. A short time later, Ann died. Buchanan vowed he would never marry.
• When England’s Prince of Wales visited the White House in 1860, so many guests accompanied him that Buchanan had to sleep in the hall.
• Upon the election of his successor, Buchanan sent him a note saying, "My dear sir, if you are as happy on entering the White House as I on leaving, you are a happy man indeed."

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President: 1861-1865 Political Party: Republican
Nicknames: "Honest Abe"; "Illinois Rail Splitter"
• Abraham Lincoln was a man of perseverance. Before Lincoln’s election as the 16th president of the United States he failed as: a business man - as a storekeeper, failed as a farmer - he despised this work, failed in his first attempt to obtain political office, he failed when he sought the office of speaker, he failed in his first attempt to go to Congress, he failed when he sought the appointment to the United States Land Office, he failed when he ran for the United States Senate and he failed when friends sought for him the nomination for the vice-presidency in 1856.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first president to wear a beard and the tallest president at 6’ 4".
• Lincoln was the first president to die by assassination. On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
• Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The same play was also running at the McVerick Theatre in Chicago on May 18, 1860, the day Lincoln was nominated for president in that city.
• Abe Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died when the family dairy cow ate White Snakeroot and she drank the milk.
• He was the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. John Wilkes Booth (his assassin) can be seen standing close to Lincoln in the picture.
• His son, Robert, who was in Washington when his father was killed, was also on the scene when tiny U.S. flag Garfield was shot in 1881 and tiny U.S. flag McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be born outside of the original thirteen colonies.

Andrew Johnson, 17th President: 1865-1869 Political Party: Democratic
Nickname: None listed.
• Andrew Johnson had no formal education. His wife taught him reading, writing and math.
• Johnson was impeached for removing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton during the turbulent Reconstruction Period but was acquitted by one vote in the Senate.
• Johnson was buried beneath a willow tree that he planted. His head rests on a copy of the Constitution.
• He is one of five Presidents who were never inaugurated.

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President: 1869-1877 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Hero of Appomattox"
• Ulysses S. Grant was the victorious Union commander of the Civil War. He received General Lee’s sword at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
• Grant finished his memoirs in 1885, a few weeks before his death from throat cancer. The book earned over $450,000 for his family after his death.
• Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the nation's first national park on March 1, 1872.
• Grant did not believe in holding formal councils of war. He felt that they "divided a responsibility that would at times prevent a unity of action." He listened to the advice of his staff, and then, upon reflection, made the final decision himself. No one knew of his decision until it was put into effect.
• During his lifetime General Grant suffered intense migraine headaches which were sometimes reported as bouts of drunkenness.
• Before the Battle of Fort Donelson, Grant was a light smoker. During the battle a reporter spotted him holding an unlit cigar given him by Admiral Foote, and soon ten thousand cigars were sent to him in camp. Although giving away as many as he could, he started the habit of cigar smoking that became one of his trademarks.
• During the War, General Grant wrote most of his own dispatches. His style was clear and concise and no one ever had to be told twice what his wishes were.
• Ulysses Grant was a devoted family man and had his family with him whenever he could during the War. His oldest son Fred was with his father often. During the Battle of Black River Bridge, thirteen year old Fred was wounded when a musket ball struck him in the left thigh.
• On the day Lincoln was assassinated, Grant's wife Julia was stalked by John Wilkes Booth. If the general had accepted the invitation to go to Ford's Theater with the presidential party, there may have been a double tragedy. They went instead to Burlington, New Jersey, to see their children.

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President: 1877-1881 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Dark-Horse President"
• While Rutherford B. Hayes was still in the Union Army, Cincinnati Republicans ran him for the House of Representatives. He accepted the nomination, but would not campaign, explaining, "an officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer... ought to be scalped."
• To set a good example for the country Rutherford B. Hayes banished liquor and wine from the White House.
• Hayes held the first Easter egg roll on the White House lawn.
• He signed the act that permitted women to plead before the Supreme Court.
• The first White House telephone was installed, by Alexander Graham Bell himself, during the Hayes administration.

James A. Garfield, 20th President: 1881-1881 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: None listed.
• James A. Garfield was the last of seven presidents to be born in a log cabin.
• President-elect Garfield campaigned for the American presidency from the front porch of his house.
• Garfield was the second president to die by assassination. Two months after being sworn into office, Garfield was shot in a Washington railroad station. Doctors repeatedly probed for the bullet with non-sterile instruments and unwashed fingers, the president died 80 days later.
• James Garfield could write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other, at the same time.

Chester A. Arthur, 21st President: 1881-1885 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "The Gentleman Boss"; "Elegant Arthur"
• Chester A. Author was diagnosed with Bright’s disease, a fatal kidney disease; a year after he succeeded to the presidency. Arthur ran for a second term in 1884 in order not to appear that he feared defeat, though he knew the more active he was the greater his chance was of succumbing to the disease. He did not gain his party’s nomination and died in 1886.
• Nicknamed "Elegant Arthur" because of his fashion sense.
• Arthur is credited with saying, "I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damned business."

Grover Cleveland, 22nd President: 1885-1889 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Veto Mayor"; "Veto President"
• Grover Cleveland personally answered the White House phone.
• Cleveland was the only president married in a ceremony at the White House, June 2, 1886.
• President Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty on October 28, 1886.
• Cleveland is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
• While sheriff of Erie County, New York, Cleveland was also the public executioner and personally hanged two murderers.

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President: 1889-1893 Political Party: Republican
Nicknames: "Kid Gloves Harrison"; "Little Ben"
• Benjamin Harrison was the only president to be a grandson of a president (William Henry Harrison) and great-grandson to a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Benjamin Harrison).
• Harrison made 140 completely different speeches in 30 days.
• Benjamin Harrison was the first president to use electricity in the White House. After he got an electrical shock, his family often refused to touch the light switches and sometimes would go to bed with the lights on.

Grover Cleveland, 24th President: 1893-1897 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Veto Mayor"; "Veto President"
• The only president to be elected two nonconsecutive terms. (22nd President)
• Grover Cleveland was the first president to have a child born in the White House; his daughter Esther in 1895.
• The public believed Cleveland went on a fishing trip in July 1893, but he was actually having surgery for a cancerous growth in his mouth. It was not until 1917 the truth was revealed.


William McKinley, 25th President: 1897-1901Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Idol of Ohio"
• First president to ride in an automobile.
• First president to campaign by telephone.
• The third president to die from an assassin’s wound. He was shot during the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. He died of his wounds about a week later.

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President: 1901-1909 Political Party: Republican
Nicknames: "TR"; "Trust-Buster"; "Teddy"

• Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to call his residence in Washington, D.C. the "White House". Prior to his term, it had been called the Executive Mansion or the President’s House.
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the prize in 1906 for his role as peacemaker in the Russo-Japanese War.
• The name "Teddy" bears for stuffed animals was coined in 1903 when a stuffed toy bear was given to the noted outdoorsman Roosevelt.
• In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt became president at the age of 42, taking office at the youngest age of any U.S. President in history.

William H. Taft, 27th President: 1909-1913 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: None listed.
• William Taft was the first president to own a car.
• Taft is the only president to also serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930).
• First of two presidents to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. John F. Kennedy is the other.

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President: 1913-1921 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Schoolmaster in Politics"
• Woodrow Wilson was the first president to have earned a Ph.D. He received a degree in political science in 1886.
• During his presidency a flock of sheep was raised on the White House lawn. The wool was used to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I.
• The only president buried in Washington, D.C. Wilson is interred at the Washington National Cathedral.

Warren G. Harding, 29th President: 1921-1923 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: None listed.
• Warren Harding was the first president to speak over the radio.
• Harding was the first newspaper publisher to be elected into the presidency.
• Harding had the largest feet of any president. He wore size 14 shoes.
• He suffered nervous breakdowns at the age of 24 and had to spend some time in a sanitarium.
• Harding was the first president to visit Canada and Alaska.
• While president, Harding played golf, poker twice a week, followed baseball and boxing, and sneaked off to burlesque shows. His advisors were known as the "Poker Cabinet" because they all played poker together.

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President: 1923-1929 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Silent Cal"
• Coolidge lit the first national Christmas tree in 1923 on the White House lawn.
• Coolidge refused to use the telephone while in office.
• A man of few words, a dinner guest made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. When she told the president of her wager, he replied, "You lose."

Herbert Hoover, 31st President: 1929-1933 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: None listed.
• Herbert Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi River.
• Hoover approved "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem.
• Donated his salary to charity.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President: 1933-1945 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "FDR"
• Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only American president to be elected four times and the first American president to be inaugurated in January (1937). After FDR, the 22nd Amendment ratified in 1951, limited the presidential office to two terms. [No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.]
• FDR was the first president whose mother was eligible to vote for him.
• Roosevelt was paralyzed from the disease polio; he served his entire presidency without the use of legs.

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President: 1945-1953 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Give 'Em Hell Harry"
• Harry S. Truman was the first president to travel underwater in a submarine.
• Truman was the first president to give a speech on television.
• Harry Truman use to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to practice the piano for two hours.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President: 1953-1961 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Ike"
• Dwight Eisenhower was in charge of the D-Day invasion during World War II.
• Eisenhower played football at West Point and was injured trying to tackle Olympic and NFL star Jim Thorpe.
• Eisenhower was the only president to serve in both World War I & World War II.

John F. Kennedy, 35th President: 1961-1963 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "JFK", "Jack"
• John F. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic president and the first president born in the 20th century.
• JFK was the first president to hold a press conference on television.
• JFK was the youngest American elected president and the youngest to die in office. (Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest non-elected president)
• Kennedy's speech to the students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 14, 1960 was the start of the Peace Corps.
• In 1965, the report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (also known as the Warren Commission) found that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, fatally shot Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Three other government investigations were later conducted. All three agreed with the Warren Commission's conclusions that Oswald's shots did kill Kennedy. However, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1979 also concluded that another shooter fired upon Kennedy from the Dealey Plaza grassy knoll and missed. The existence of a second shooter and many other conclusions in these investigations are very controversial.

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President: 1963-1969 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "LBJ"
• Vice President Johnson was riding two cars behind President Kennedy's car when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Johnson was administered the presidential oath aboard Air Force One.
• Before becoming a politician, Lyndon Johnson taught school in Texas.
• Johnson was the first American president to name an African American to his cabinet.

Richard Nixon – 37th President: 1969-1974 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: None listed.
• Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states and the first president to visit China.
• Richard Nixon talked to astronauts on the moon from the White House by radio-telephone on July 21, 1969.
• Nixon is the only U.S. president to resign.

Gerald R. Ford, 38th President: 1974-1977 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Jerry"
• Gerald Ford became vice president and president without being elected to either office.
• Ford once worked as a fashion model.
• Ford is the only president who was employed by the National Park Service. He served as a Yellowstone park ranger in 1936.
• Ford was on the University of Michigan football team from 1931 to 1934. He was offered tryouts by both the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.
• He was the first president to release to the public a full report of his medical checkup.
• Ford was the only president whose two assassination attempts against him were made by women.
• Ford was the first president to pardon a former president.

Jimmy Carter, 39th President: 1977-1981 Political Party: Democrat
Nickname: "Jimmy"
• Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital.
• Carter studied nuclear physics at Annapolis.
• Carter was a speed reader, having been recorded reading 2,000 words per minute.

Ronald W. Reagan, 40th President: 1981-1989 Political Party: Republican
Nicknames: "The Gipper"; "The Great Communicator"; "Dutch"
• At age 69, Ronald Reagan became the oldest person ever elected U.S. president.
• Reagan was twice named TIME magazine's "Man of the Year."
• Ronald Reagan was the first actor elected president. He acted in 53 films before becoming president.
• In the 1980 election, Reagan won in 46 out of 50 states. The only states he did not win in were Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, or West Virginia. He also did not win the District of Columbia.
• In the 1984 election, Reagan won in 49 out of 50 states. The only state he did not win in was Minnesota, and he lost by a very small margin there. He also did not win the District of Columbia.

George H.W. Bush, 41st President: 1989-1993 Political Party: Republican
Nickname: "Poppy"
• George Bush was the first vice president elected president since Martin Van Buren and also the first vice president to lose re-election since Van Buren.
• Bush is distantly related to Presidents Pierce, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ford, and Winston Churchill.
• George Bush was one of the youngest U.S. naval carrier pilots in the WWII Pacific Theatre.

William J. Clinton, 42nd President: 1993-2001 Political Party: Democrat
Nicknames: "Bill"
• As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, Clinton met President Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden in 1962. The encounter led him to enter a life of public service.
• Bill Clinton was the first president to be a Rhodes Scholar.
• Clinton was the first U.S. Democratic president to win reelection since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• On November 16, 2000, President Clinton was the first president to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

George W. Bush, 43rd President: 2001-2009 Political Party: Republican
Nicknames: "W"
• First son of a president to become president since John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams.
• Pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 until 1973.
• First managing general partner of a Major League baseball team (Texas Rangers) to become president.
• Of the 6 million votes cast in Florida in the 2000 election, Bush won the state's 25 electoral votes by 537 votes.

Barack Obama, 44th President: 2009-Present Political Party: Democrat
Nicknames: None listed.
• First African American to be elected president.
• Winner of 2 Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album; Dreams for My Father (2005) and Audicity of Hope (2008).
• Obama was the first president born outside of the contiguous United States.

 

BARACK OBAMA is our 44th president, but there actually have only been 43 presidents: Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice, as our 22nd and 24th president.

EIGHT PRESIDENTS were born British subjects: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison.

EIGHT PRESIDENTS never attended college: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, and Cleveland. The college that has the most presidents as alumni (seven in total) is Harvard: J. Adams, J. Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Rutherford B. Hayes, J. F. Kennedy, and George W. Bush.

PRESIDENTS WHO would be considered "Washington outsiders" (i.e., the 18 presidents who never served in Congress) are: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.

THE MOST COMMON religious affiliation among presidents has been Episcopalian, followed by Presbyterian.

THE ANCESTRY of all 44 presidents is limited to the following heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, German , and Africian.

THE OLDEST president inaugurated was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president——he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated.

THE TALLEST president was Lincoln at 6'4"; at 5'4", Madison was the shortest.

FOURTEEN PRESIDENTS served as vice presidents: J. Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Nixon, L. Johnson, Ford, and George Bush.

VICE PRESIDENTS were originally the presidential candidates receiving the second-largest number of electoral votes. The Twelfth Amendment, passed in 1804, changed the system so that the electoral college voted separately for president and vice president. The presidential candidate, however, gradually gained power over the nominating convention to choose his own running mate.

FOR TWO YEARS the nation was run by a president and a vice president who were not elected by the people. After Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973, President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as vice president. Nixon resigned the following year, which left Ford as president, and Ford's appointed vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, as second in line.

THE TERM "First Lady" was used first in 1849 when President Zachary Taylor called Dolley Madison "First Lady" at her state funeral.  It gained popularity in 1877 when used in reference to Lucy Ware Webb Hayes. Most First Ladies, including Jackie Kennedy, are said to have hated the label.

JAMES BUCHANAN was the only president never to marry. Five presidents remarried after the death of their first wives——two of whom, Tyler and Wilson, remarried while in the White House. Reagan was the only divorced president. Six presidents had no children. Tyler——father of fifteen——had the most.

PRESIDENTS LINCOLN, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy were assassinated in office.

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS were made on the lives of Jackson, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.

EIGHT PRESIDENTS died in office: W. Harrison (after having served only one month), Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy.

PRESIDENTS ADAMS, Jefferson, and Monroe all died on the 4th of July; Coolidge was born on that day.

KENNEDY AND TAFT are the only presidents buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

LINCOLN, JEFFERSON, F. Roosevelt, Washington, Kennedy, and Eisenhower are portrayed on U.S. coins.

WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, Lincoln, Jackson, Grant, McKinley, Cleveland, Madison, and Wilson are portrayed on U.S. paper currency.

More US presidents have died on July 4 than any other day. Source

 

Consecutive Executives

Since 1860 the Democrats have never put more than two consecutive presidents into the White House. The only times the Democrats have had two presidents in a row were when Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman served between 1933 and 1953, and when John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were in office from 1961 to 1969.

The Republicans have had better luck than their rivals. They hold the record for the most consecutive presidents, with four in a row: Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield and Chester Arthur. Twice the GOP has had three consecutive presidents: William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft; and Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.

Broke Presidents

Thomas Jefferson was good at so many things. He was a brilliant political thinker, authors of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, architect, inventor, scientific farmer, and musician. He founded the prestigious University of Virginia, created the decimal system of coinage for the U.S., and was an effective president and one of the great figures in American history. But he was not good at managing money. Jefferson enjoyed fine living and often outspent his income to support his lavish lifestyle.

Jefferson had done so much for his country that many around him tried to help with his financial problems. Congress overpaid Jefferson for his book collection, and members of the public, who often had much less than Jefferson, made contributions to his cause. But all this help was too little, too late. When he died in 1826, he had racked up more than $100,000 in debt. In today’s terms, that would be akin to approximately 1.5 million dollars! Jefferson’s family, stuck with his debt, had no choice but to sell his beloved Monticello to help settle the debt.

James Monroe was so broke when he left the White House that he had to move in with his daughter.

Long Elections

George Bush’s election took 35 days to figure out. But in 1876, it took four months to figure out which candidate - Rutherford B. Hayes or Samuel Tilden - was the winner. No slow vote counter, it was a dispute over the electoral votes of four states: Florida, Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina. Voters in these states were not re-polled. Instead, the question of the next president was thrown to Congress, where it was hotly debated. Finally a 15-man committee was chosen to select the winner. After a close eight to seven vote, Hayes was named the victor 115 days after the election.

But the Democrats were not just disappointed that Samuel Tilden lost to Hayes, they were furious. You see, the committee that selected the 19th president consisted of eight Republicans and seven Democrats. The Democrats prepared to challenge the vote, but instead proposed a deal. It was during the aftermath of the Civil War and the Democrats vowed they would accept the committee’s decision if the new Republican administration would withdraw all federal troops from the South.

The Republicans weighed their options and decided to cooperate. Troops were withdrawn and the Southern states regained political control over their state and local governments. Hayes moved into the White House.

Illegal Air Force and Marines?

Our commander and chief does not need military experience. Just get elected. Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton never served in the military. Article II, section 2 of the Constitution says the president shall be the commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and of the Militia of the several states when called into the actual service of the United States. And there is nothing in the Constitution about the other branches of the service.A president can do a lot, but he cannot declare war. That job is specifically given to the Congress.

Lobby

President Grant (1869 - 1877) made a habit of relaxing most evenings at the Willard Hotel near the White House. Grant would sit in the lobby of the hotel and enjoy an after-dinner cigar. Those wanting favors from the president found this to be an ideal opportunity. They waited for him in the lobby, and (not so creatively) earned the name "lobbyists."

Both Sides

Shortly after Hillary Rodham graduated from Yale Law School in 1973, she took a job as an attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund and then was chosen to be on the inquiry staff of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. And what was the Committee working on? The Watergate investigation and possible impeachment of President Richard Nixon. Little did Hillary know that her own husband would be facing a very similar situation 24 years later. She has been on both sides of the impeachment proceedings.

Super Tuesday

Why is the presidential election held in November? Congress decided that it was practical because the young nation was largely a rural farming country. Early November seemed the best time because harvesting would be over and Winter would not yet have made Northern roads impassable. At any other time, farmers were either too busy, or it was too hard for them to reach the polls.

Ike

It was a big upset when Dwight Eisenhower was picked ahead of many more senior officers to lead Allied armies to victory in Europe in World War II. He wasn’t made a full colonel until 1941, and wasn’t even a general until right before the war. But he led war games in Louisiana and his maneuvers in the exercises caught the eye of the Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall. That catapulted him forward on a meteoric rise from obscurity to superstardom. Just six months after being made a colonel, Ike was promoted to brigadier general and given the assignment of charting an Allied invasion of Europe. Three days after submitting his plan he was named commander of American Forces in Europe. He had been advanced above 366 senior officers for the job.

 

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Notes and references

1.Frost, Doug (January 6, 2005). "Rum makers distill unsavory history into fresh products". San Francisco Chronicle.
Strange & Fascinating Facts about the Presidents by Charles Reichblum