Questions
This section will have famous quotes made by various Presidents. If you wish, you can identify the President, the date, the place and the meaning of the quote before referring to the separate answer section. Or if you prefer, you may proceed straight to the answer.
1. Which President said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."? When did he say it, and what were the circumstances in the nation that led him to say it? How could these words guide us today? How might they uplift us?
Monday, November 8, 2010
Presidential Quotes---Wisdom and Follies of the Ages
Answers
This section will consist of various famous and not so famous quotes made by U. S. Presidents. After you read the quote, you can try to identify the President who said it and when, where and why he said it. The question appears in the preceding section.
1. This famous quote was made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt at his first inauguration on March 4, 1933, after he was elected for a first term in 1932. The United States was still struggling to overcome the Great Depression, more than three years after the stock market crash of 1929. There could also have been a foreshadowing of the coming World War II in this statement, but if so, it was probably serendipitous in an unlucky sort of way. Although the President did not mean to say this, someone else might have contended, "Cheer up...things could get worse...and sure enough they did!" We can only hope that history does not repeat itself. This is a longer quote from his address:
First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself---nameless,, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance...
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources...
This section will consist of various famous and not so famous quotes made by U. S. Presidents. After you read the quote, you can try to identify the President who said it and when, where and why he said it. The question appears in the preceding section.
1. This famous quote was made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt at his first inauguration on March 4, 1933, after he was elected for a first term in 1932. The United States was still struggling to overcome the Great Depression, more than three years after the stock market crash of 1929. There could also have been a foreshadowing of the coming World War II in this statement, but if so, it was probably serendipitous in an unlucky sort of way. Although the President did not mean to say this, someone else might have contended, "Cheer up...things could get worse...and sure enough they did!" We can only hope that history does not repeat itself. This is a longer quote from his address:
First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself---nameless,, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance...
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Moral Lessons from the Lives of the Presidents
The odd couple---Lincoln retains the distinction of being the tallest President the United States ever had. Grant was one of the shortest Presidents. However, they were both rather modest and sensitive men, and they both had lived in several states, but ended up in Illinois just before the Civil War. What is one of the moral lessons these two Presidents can offer?
Their backgrounds can teach us to be cautious in how we judge others, and....how we judge ourselves. We may fail to appreciate the potential for greatness others have or which we ourselves may possess since it may not always be readily obvious.
Consider Lincoln in 1859. He had served as a Representative in Congress for a single term...nothing extraordinary there. And he had lost an election for Senator when he ran against Stephen Douglas. So, at the age of 50, his checkered political career seemed to be quite undistinguished.
Consider Grant in 1859. He had enrolled in West Point, primarily on account of the push he received from his father. In fact, his father may have applied for him without his knowledge. He graduated 21st out of 39 in his class. However, there had been 79 cadets in his class when he entered West Point, so his record was not so mediocre as it might appear. He entered the Mexican-American War as a Lieutenant and was still a Lieutenant when the war ended. Some accounts of his life claim that he ran afoul of his superior officer after the war on account of his drinking. Possibly, under the threat of being court-martialed, he was encouraged to resign; however, he may have simply wished to leave California and the military life in large part so that he could be with his family. In any case, he resigned from the army in 1854. Once out of the military, he tried farming and small business with little success. So in 1859, at the age of 37, he was still trying "to find himself".
Despite exhibiting such indifferent underachievement up to 1859, these two men did as much as or more than practically anyone else to shape events in the United States over the next 6 or 7 years. By 1865, their fame was assured.
Their backgrounds can teach us to be cautious in how we judge others, and....how we judge ourselves. We may fail to appreciate the potential for greatness others have or which we ourselves may possess since it may not always be readily obvious.
Consider Lincoln in 1859. He had served as a Representative in Congress for a single term...nothing extraordinary there. And he had lost an election for Senator when he ran against Stephen Douglas. So, at the age of 50, his checkered political career seemed to be quite undistinguished.
Consider Grant in 1859. He had enrolled in West Point, primarily on account of the push he received from his father. In fact, his father may have applied for him without his knowledge. He graduated 21st out of 39 in his class. However, there had been 79 cadets in his class when he entered West Point, so his record was not so mediocre as it might appear. He entered the Mexican-American War as a Lieutenant and was still a Lieutenant when the war ended. Some accounts of his life claim that he ran afoul of his superior officer after the war on account of his drinking. Possibly, under the threat of being court-martialed, he was encouraged to resign; however, he may have simply wished to leave California and the military life in large part so that he could be with his family. In any case, he resigned from the army in 1854. Once out of the military, he tried farming and small business with little success. So in 1859, at the age of 37, he was still trying "to find himself".
Despite exhibiting such indifferent underachievement up to 1859, these two men did as much as or more than practically anyone else to shape events in the United States over the next 6 or 7 years. By 1865, their fame was assured.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Dirty Secrets of History
History can:
be Boring
be Non-controversial
be Patriotic and ethnocentric
be An uncritical acceptance of Myths used as propaganda
be Focused on a chronological study of events
be Compilations of "Facts" such as names of people and places along with related dates
be In conformity with one and only one nation's norms and beliefs...i. e. One's own country
be Prescriptive in perspective...using history to support a specific point of view and ignoring any evidence to the contrary
be A ready acceptance of conventional wisdom
consider itself as The story of bad guys versus good guys
require students to Use only approved materials such as approved textbooks
expect: Everyone to have the same beliefs and to reach the same conclusions
control its study with Regulations, certifications, standards of learning, degrees, the assumption being that you must always have the appropriate credentials in order to prove you have the relevant knowledge
be used to control our thoughts
diminish our ability to make wise decisions as well as diminish our ability either to understand ourselves or to understand the rest of the world
OR
History can:
be Fascinating
be Controversial
be Multi-perspective
be Myth-debunking when myths are used as propaganda
be Examinations of motives and of forces and of movements in a broad understanding of those concepts
seek Meaningful patterns over periods of time or from place to place
involve and use All potential sources of information and knowledge
expect Different people to hold different viewpoints which will be analyzed and critiqued as even-handedly as humanly possible
be Descriptive, investigative and analytic in perspective...an examination of evidence to reach conclusions that have not become fossilized beforehand
be An intensive scrutiny of conventional wisdom
Free our Thinking from ignorance
Increase our ability to make wise decisions and to understand ourselves as well as to understand the rest of the world
be Boring
be Non-controversial
be Patriotic and ethnocentric
be An uncritical acceptance of Myths used as propaganda
be Focused on a chronological study of events
be Compilations of "Facts" such as names of people and places along with related dates
be In conformity with one and only one nation's norms and beliefs...i. e. One's own country
be Prescriptive in perspective...using history to support a specific point of view and ignoring any evidence to the contrary
be A ready acceptance of conventional wisdom
consider itself as The story of bad guys versus good guys
require students to Use only approved materials such as approved textbooks
expect: Everyone to have the same beliefs and to reach the same conclusions
control its study with Regulations, certifications, standards of learning, degrees, the assumption being that you must always have the appropriate credentials in order to prove you have the relevant knowledge
be used to control our thoughts
diminish our ability to make wise decisions as well as diminish our ability either to understand ourselves or to understand the rest of the world
OR
History can:
be Fascinating
be Controversial
be Multi-perspective
be Myth-debunking when myths are used as propaganda
be Examinations of motives and of forces and of movements in a broad understanding of those concepts
seek Meaningful patterns over periods of time or from place to place
involve and use All potential sources of information and knowledge
expect Different people to hold different viewpoints which will be analyzed and critiqued as even-handedly as humanly possible
be Descriptive, investigative and analytic in perspective...an examination of evidence to reach conclusions that have not become fossilized beforehand
be An intensive scrutiny of conventional wisdom
Free our Thinking from ignorance
Increase our ability to make wise decisions and to understand ourselves as well as to understand the rest of the world
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Bibliography
There are many fascinating books about U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, they seldom appear on any best sellers lists. I have found many interesting books as I have set about writing this blog. What follows is a list of some of those books with a brief description after each one. Some of these titles are out of print. These earlier books are often written in a quaint and sentimental style that may sound peculiar to the modern reader. However, they frequently contain fascinating and revealing information that more recent books lack. Since they were written closer to the time that the Presidents were alive, they sometimes may have a different perspective from that of contemporary historians.
1. Balch, William Ralston, The Life of James Abram Garfield, Late President of the United States (Hubbard Bros.: Philadelphia, PA et al., 1881) 760 pages.
This biography of James Garfield was written very soon after his assasination. It is quite comprehensive, including details from his early life until his death. His role as a Union general was particularly interesting, since he did not have a military background, but achieved his rank on account of his superior formal education and early success on the battlefield in Kentucky at a time when the Union armies were struggling. He resigned his commission with the blessing of his commanding officers before the war ended when he was elected to Congress from his district in Ohio. The justification for leaving the army was that in Washington, he could serve as an advocate for the military in meeting their needs. He was the 'dark horse' candidate at the Republican convention of 1880 when other favored candidates failed to win sufficient votes to win. U. S. Grant was one of those favored candidates who did not get nominated at that convention! This portrait tends to be rather idealized, and any flaws Garfield may have had are generally overlooked.
2. Boller, Jr., Paul F., Presidential Anecdotes (Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, et al., 1981, 1996) 451 pages.
This is a book that recounts several interesting vignettes about each of the Presidents from George Washington to William Jefferson Clinton. There is no attempt to cover a President's entire life or his entire administration. Rather, as the title indicates, the book relates specific incidents that occurred at one time or another in the course of that President's life. There are no photos or illustrations in this book.
3. DeGregorio, William A., The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents-seventh edition (Barricade Books, Inc.: Fort Lee, NJ, 1984, 2009) 860 pages
This is a comprehensive compilation about all the U. S. Presidents in chronological order. There is a portrait of each President at the beginning of each account. The book is full of interesting details about every President through Barack Obama. The information relating to George Washington begins with the intriguing explanation as to how he got his name. "He was probably named after George Eskridge, a lawyer in whose charge Washington's mother had been left when she was orphaned." page 1. Some of the categories of information under each President are: Name, Physical Description, Personality, Ancestors, Father, Mother, Siblings,Collateral Relatives, Children, Birth, Childhood, Education, Religion, Recreation, Early Romance, Marriage, Military Service, Career Before the Presidency, Election as President, Inaugural Address, Vice President, Cabinet, Administration, Supreme Court Appointments, Ranking In 1962 Historians Poll, Retirement, Death, Washington Praised, Washington Criticized, Washington Quotes, Books About Washington.
4. Frost, Lawrence A., U. S. Grant Album (Superior Publishing Company: Seattle, 1966) 192 pages.
This is a book that is enhanced by a multitude of photos from practically Grant's entire life. Especially intriguing are the photos of his father and mother in which they appear to be quite stern. However, they apparently never spanked or even scolded their son, and this book recounts how the sensitive Ulysses was rather perturbed when one of his school teachers maintained discipline by the use of beechwood switches. His name came from the Homeric leader who helped to defeat the Trojans when the Greeks built the wooden horse and filled it with their warriors who were hidden inside.
5. Harris, Bill, (Revised by Laura Ross) The First Ladies Fact Book (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers: New York, 2005, 2009) 741 pages.
This is a comprehensive examination of all the First Ladies in the order in which they served. It contains information about "the childhoods, courtships, marriages, campaigns, accomplishments, and legacies of every First Lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama."
6. Matuz, Roger, (Edited by Bill Harris and revised byLaura Ross) The Presidents Fact Book (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers: New York, 2004, 2009) 793 pages.
This book contains "the achievements, campaigns, events, triumphs, tragedies, and legacies of every President from George Washington to Barack Obama." It also has numerous candid photos, portraits or prints for each President.
7. Norton, Howard, Rosalynn-A Portrait (Logos International: Plainfield, New Jersey, 1977) 220 pages.
This book is a paean to Rosalynn Carter containing frequent references and compliments regarding her Chrisian beliefs and practices. Since it was written in 1977, it omits many important events that occurred while Jimmy Carter was in office. Nevertheless, it gives a clear picture of her strong character and intelligence. Her husband seemed to have considered her to be his partner while in office and consulted her on many, and possibly most issues. In the media, she was sometimes referred to as the 'Steel Magnolia". It sometimes sounded rather perjorative in that context. This book serves to provide balance to that perspective and makes the moniker seem more like a compliment. In the middle of the book are several pages of photos. In one photo when Jimmy was a state senator, she appears to be rather morose. However, there is another photo of her that was taken in January of 1977. Here, she appears quite confident and serene.
8. Smith, Carter, Presidents---All You Need to Know (on the cover), Presidents---Every Question Answered (on the inside page) (Hylas Publishing: Irvington, NY, 2004, 2005) 400 pages.
This is a fact-filled compendium of all the U. S Presidents in the order they served. Each account begins with a portrait or photograph. In addition, there are other informative paintings and photos of significant events that occurred during that President's administration. There are boxes containing important biographical facts for every President. and there are also relevant time lines. Other information includes facts about the elections, facts about the administrations such as names of cabinet officials, and facts about the First Ladies.
9. Wilson, Fred T., Pen Pictures of the Presidents (Southwestern Company: Nashville, Tennessee, 1932) 554 pages.
Like many of the titles used for this blog, this book contains brief biographies of all the Presidents in the order they held office. Since this book was published in 1932, none of the Presidents who served afterwards appear. However, many of those who do appear were directly familiar to the author of this book and so were not the remote historical figures that they may seem to be to us today. An appealing aspect of this book is the manner in which it recounts the good, the bad and the ugly about all the Presidents in what seems to be a fairly objective account without any intention to disparage any President for political motives. Pen Pictures is just what it says. An interesting portrait of each President is made in the form of a brief written biography. In addition, at the beginning of each biography, there is a simple photograph of the President or a reproduction of a painting of him. The last President in this volume is Herbert Hoover. At the end of the book is a brief chapter entitled 'Bits of U. S. History' On the inside covers, both front and back, are depictions of one very important event that occurred during each President's administration.
1. Balch, William Ralston, The Life of James Abram Garfield, Late President of the United States (Hubbard Bros.: Philadelphia, PA et al., 1881) 760 pages.
This biography of James Garfield was written very soon after his assasination. It is quite comprehensive, including details from his early life until his death. His role as a Union general was particularly interesting, since he did not have a military background, but achieved his rank on account of his superior formal education and early success on the battlefield in Kentucky at a time when the Union armies were struggling. He resigned his commission with the blessing of his commanding officers before the war ended when he was elected to Congress from his district in Ohio. The justification for leaving the army was that in Washington, he could serve as an advocate for the military in meeting their needs. He was the 'dark horse' candidate at the Republican convention of 1880 when other favored candidates failed to win sufficient votes to win. U. S. Grant was one of those favored candidates who did not get nominated at that convention! This portrait tends to be rather idealized, and any flaws Garfield may have had are generally overlooked.
2. Boller, Jr., Paul F., Presidential Anecdotes (Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, et al., 1981, 1996) 451 pages.
This is a book that recounts several interesting vignettes about each of the Presidents from George Washington to William Jefferson Clinton. There is no attempt to cover a President's entire life or his entire administration. Rather, as the title indicates, the book relates specific incidents that occurred at one time or another in the course of that President's life. There are no photos or illustrations in this book.
3. DeGregorio, William A., The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents-seventh edition (Barricade Books, Inc.: Fort Lee, NJ, 1984, 2009) 860 pages
This is a comprehensive compilation about all the U. S. Presidents in chronological order. There is a portrait of each President at the beginning of each account. The book is full of interesting details about every President through Barack Obama. The information relating to George Washington begins with the intriguing explanation as to how he got his name. "He was probably named after George Eskridge, a lawyer in whose charge Washington's mother had been left when she was orphaned." page 1. Some of the categories of information under each President are: Name, Physical Description, Personality, Ancestors, Father, Mother, Siblings,Collateral Relatives, Children, Birth, Childhood, Education, Religion, Recreation, Early Romance, Marriage, Military Service, Career Before the Presidency, Election as President, Inaugural Address, Vice President, Cabinet, Administration, Supreme Court Appointments, Ranking In 1962 Historians Poll, Retirement, Death, Washington Praised, Washington Criticized, Washington Quotes, Books About Washington.
4. Frost, Lawrence A., U. S. Grant Album (Superior Publishing Company: Seattle, 1966) 192 pages.
This is a book that is enhanced by a multitude of photos from practically Grant's entire life. Especially intriguing are the photos of his father and mother in which they appear to be quite stern. However, they apparently never spanked or even scolded their son, and this book recounts how the sensitive Ulysses was rather perturbed when one of his school teachers maintained discipline by the use of beechwood switches. His name came from the Homeric leader who helped to defeat the Trojans when the Greeks built the wooden horse and filled it with their warriors who were hidden inside.
5. Harris, Bill, (Revised by Laura Ross) The First Ladies Fact Book (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers: New York, 2005, 2009) 741 pages.
This is a comprehensive examination of all the First Ladies in the order in which they served. It contains information about "the childhoods, courtships, marriages, campaigns, accomplishments, and legacies of every First Lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama."
6. Matuz, Roger, (Edited by Bill Harris and revised byLaura Ross) The Presidents Fact Book (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers: New York, 2004, 2009) 793 pages.
This book contains "the achievements, campaigns, events, triumphs, tragedies, and legacies of every President from George Washington to Barack Obama." It also has numerous candid photos, portraits or prints for each President.
7. Norton, Howard, Rosalynn-A Portrait (Logos International: Plainfield, New Jersey, 1977) 220 pages.
This book is a paean to Rosalynn Carter containing frequent references and compliments regarding her Chrisian beliefs and practices. Since it was written in 1977, it omits many important events that occurred while Jimmy Carter was in office. Nevertheless, it gives a clear picture of her strong character and intelligence. Her husband seemed to have considered her to be his partner while in office and consulted her on many, and possibly most issues. In the media, she was sometimes referred to as the 'Steel Magnolia". It sometimes sounded rather perjorative in that context. This book serves to provide balance to that perspective and makes the moniker seem more like a compliment. In the middle of the book are several pages of photos. In one photo when Jimmy was a state senator, she appears to be rather morose. However, there is another photo of her that was taken in January of 1977. Here, she appears quite confident and serene.
8. Smith, Carter, Presidents---All You Need to Know (on the cover), Presidents---Every Question Answered (on the inside page) (Hylas Publishing: Irvington, NY, 2004, 2005) 400 pages.
This is a fact-filled compendium of all the U. S Presidents in the order they served. Each account begins with a portrait or photograph. In addition, there are other informative paintings and photos of significant events that occurred during that President's administration. There are boxes containing important biographical facts for every President. and there are also relevant time lines. Other information includes facts about the elections, facts about the administrations such as names of cabinet officials, and facts about the First Ladies.
9. Wilson, Fred T., Pen Pictures of the Presidents (Southwestern Company: Nashville, Tennessee, 1932) 554 pages.
Like many of the titles used for this blog, this book contains brief biographies of all the Presidents in the order they held office. Since this book was published in 1932, none of the Presidents who served afterwards appear. However, many of those who do appear were directly familiar to the author of this book and so were not the remote historical figures that they may seem to be to us today. An appealing aspect of this book is the manner in which it recounts the good, the bad and the ugly about all the Presidents in what seems to be a fairly objective account without any intention to disparage any President for political motives. Pen Pictures is just what it says. An interesting portrait of each President is made in the form of a brief written biography. In addition, at the beginning of each biography, there is a simple photograph of the President or a reproduction of a painting of him. The last President in this volume is Herbert Hoover. At the end of the book is a brief chapter entitled 'Bits of U. S. History' On the inside covers, both front and back, are depictions of one very important event that occurred during each President's administration.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Weekly Spotlight
The Monthly Spotlight is a section of this Blog in which the focus is on a single former U. S. President or First Lady. Each week, there will be several questions about one former President or First Lady, but the answers will not appear till the next week. When the correct answers appear for the earlier questions, another new set of questions will focus on another person.
Week of October 11, 2010.
Extended until further notice.
The first President to be in the Monthly Spotlight is U. S. Grant. It is interesting to note that that was not his given name at birth. It was Hiram Ulysses Grant. However, before he enrolled in West Point, he decided to change the order of his names and to call himself Ulysses Hiram Grant in order to avoid getting the nickname 'Hug' from Hiram Ulysses Grant. But a government official who knew that his mother's maiden name was 'Simpson' inserted that in place of Hiram. Rather than go to the trouble of explaining again how he wanted his name changed, he accepted the new name he had mistakenly been given. So, at West Point, he got the nickname, 'Uncle Sam' or 'Sam', short for 'Ulysses Simpson'. 'All's well that ends well!'
So here are the first questions...
We'll start with something easy! But it could be a trick question.
1. True or false. Ulysses Grant, or 'Lyss' as he was often called by family and friends at that time, liked to go hunting with his friends as a youngster.
2. As is commonly the case, officers might get promoted more quickly during wartime than during peace. U. S. Grant began the Mexican-American War as a Lieutenant. He fought under both General Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, two of that war's most well-known generals. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee also served as fellow officers. What rank did Grant have at the end of the Mexican-American War?
3. Grant's early career in the military was actually quite undistinguished. His superior officers apparently encouraged him to resign his commission several years prior to the Civil War, and he did. Who did he send his letter of resignation to in Washington, DC on July 31, 1854?
4. U. S. Grant could be considered both a late bloomer and an early bloomer. Explain the meaning of this paradox.
5. When the Southern states seceded, U. S. Grant wrote a letter in 1861 to the War Department requesting to be recommissioned in the U. S. Army. What was the reply he received?
Week of October 11, 2010.
Extended until further notice.
The first President to be in the Monthly Spotlight is U. S. Grant. It is interesting to note that that was not his given name at birth. It was Hiram Ulysses Grant. However, before he enrolled in West Point, he decided to change the order of his names and to call himself Ulysses Hiram Grant in order to avoid getting the nickname 'Hug' from Hiram Ulysses Grant. But a government official who knew that his mother's maiden name was 'Simpson' inserted that in place of Hiram. Rather than go to the trouble of explaining again how he wanted his name changed, he accepted the new name he had mistakenly been given. So, at West Point, he got the nickname, 'Uncle Sam' or 'Sam', short for 'Ulysses Simpson'. 'All's well that ends well!'
 |
| Painting of General Ulysses S. Grant from the National Portrait Gallery |
So here are the first questions...
We'll start with something easy! But it could be a trick question.
1. True or false. Ulysses Grant, or 'Lyss' as he was often called by family and friends at that time, liked to go hunting with his friends as a youngster.
2. As is commonly the case, officers might get promoted more quickly during wartime than during peace. U. S. Grant began the Mexican-American War as a Lieutenant. He fought under both General Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, two of that war's most well-known generals. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee also served as fellow officers. What rank did Grant have at the end of the Mexican-American War?
3. Grant's early career in the military was actually quite undistinguished. His superior officers apparently encouraged him to resign his commission several years prior to the Civil War, and he did. Who did he send his letter of resignation to in Washington, DC on July 31, 1854?
4. U. S. Grant could be considered both a late bloomer and an early bloomer. Explain the meaning of this paradox.
5. When the Southern states seceded, U. S. Grant wrote a letter in 1861 to the War Department requesting to be recommissioned in the U. S. Army. What was the reply he received?
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Answers to Questions on Presidents and First Ladies
Please refer to Questions about the Presidents and First Ladies.
1. James Garfield was ambidextrous, and he knew both Latin and Ancient Greek.
2. The most Presidents were born in October. What about February? Its prominence comes from the fact that before we celebrated Presidents Day, we celebrated George Washington Day on Febrary 22nd and Abraham Lincoln Day on February 12th. Six Presidents were born in October. Five were born in August and November. The two other Presidents born in February were Willaim Henry Harrison and...Ronald Reagan.
3. The shortest President was James Madison at five feet four, or slightly more, inches tall. There were seven Presidents who were less than five feet, eight inches. In reverse order of height, they were:
James Madison 5'4" fourth President
John Adams 5'6" second President
Martin Van Buren 5'6" eighth President
Benjamin Harrison 5'6" twenty-third President
John Quincy Adams 5'7" sixth President
Ulysses S. Grant 5'7" eighteenth President
William McKinley 5'7" twenty-fifth President
4. Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison.
5. Andrew Johnson was elected Senator from his home state of Tennessee several years after he finished serving the second term of Abraham Lincoln as President. Like Lincoln, he was a man of humble origins. He was a tailor by profession, and his wife taught him to read. Many Southerners considered him a traitor because he supported the Union during the Civil War, but many Northerners distrusted him because he was from the South.
6. Two... Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second President.
7. Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln's first Vice President. He was from Maine.
8. Elbridge Gerry was Vice President during Madison's second term. The word 'Gerrymander' came from his name because he redistricted areas in Massachusetts to the benefit of individuals he supported politically. Cartoonists had fun drawing the shape of a new district he had created, saying it looking like a Gerrymander, a reference to the shape and appearance of a salamander.
9. Ulysses S. Grant submitted his resignation to the Secretary of War in Franklin Pierce's administration. The man holding that office was Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederate States of America! Needless to say, Jefferson Davis would have benefited much more if Grant had submitted his resignation to him in the course of the Civil War. Actually at the start of his career, Grant did not appear suited for a military life. He attended the military academy at West Point and was a classmate of William Tecumseh Sherman and Simon Bolivar Buckner of Kentucky. The later was the Confederate general who surrendered to Grant at Fort Donalson and where Grant picked up his new nickname of 'Unconditional Surrender'. An interesting story is that at the time that Grant had resigned from the army in 1854, he didn't have enough money to pay his entire way home. So, guess who he had borrowed from...Simon Bolivar Buckner! At the time Buckner surrendered, Grant apparently paid his financial debt!
Grant's main reason for attending West Point had been more to get a good education for free rather than for any other reason. He did not enjoy taking life in any form, including that of animals: so he didn't go hunting like other fellows of his age. As a young officer, he became a heavy drinker or at least a drinker who couldn't hold his liquor very well. While a young officer, he had been assigned to a couple of posts in the far West, and seemed so unsuited for a military career, at least in the opinion of his commanding officer, that he was encouraged to resign...which he did...when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War...for the United States of America!
10. The wife of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President who served in several posts overseas. He met his wife in England where she had been born. Ironically, the United States had quite recently been at war with England, and his marriage was destined to be rather stormy at times, too! His wife's name was Louisa Catherine Adams.
11. More Presidents were affiliated with the Episcopal Church. It was an offshoot of the Anglican Church or the Church of England. When the United States gained its independence, the Americans transformed the Anglican Church into the Episcopal Church in much the same way that Henry the Eighth established the Anglican Church to replace the Catholic Chuch in England...although for different reasons. So, the majority of the early American colonists who were from England may have originally been Anglicans, especially in the South. Those people then became Episcopalians. About eleven Presidents were Episcopalians...'about' is used here because a President's true religious beliefs were not always possible to ascertain. Also, his beliefs could change in the course of his lifetime. Prebyterians made up the second largest group of Presidents. Apparently, some of them considered themselves 'predestined' to serve their country in the role of President, in keeping with the tenets of their religion. Seven Presidents were Presbyterians. So, over a third of our Presidents were Episcopalians or Presbyterians. Although more people in the United States belong to the Catholic Church than to any other religious group, only one President, John F. Kennedy, was a Catholic.
12. Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President, was not asked to run by the Whig Party after he completed serving the term of Zachary Taylor who died in office. However, a 'third party' group did ask him to run in the election of 1856 under their banner. They were opposed to allowing any more immigrants to enter the United States, and were also anti-Catholic. They were known as the 'Know-Nothing Party'. A little before running, he joined a group called the 'Order of the Star-Spangled Banner' that conducted some of their secret rites in his home. He was not successful in his attempt to get elected. Instead, James Buchanan won the election of 1856.
13. The first Vice President to complete the term of a President who died in office was John Tyler from Charles County, Virginia. He replaced William Henry Harrison, the ninth President, who also was from Charles County, Virginia. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same!'
14. There were 9 Vice Presidents who replaced a President before the end of his term. They were:
1. John Tyler---10th President
2. Millard Fillmore---13th President
3. Andrew Johnson---17th President
4. Chester A. Arthur---21st President
5. Theodore Roosevelt---26th President
6. Calvin Coolidge---30th President
7. Harry S. Truman---33rd President
8. Lyndon B. Johnson---36th President
9. Gerald Ford---38th President
15. In addition to the Vice Presidents who replaced Presidents before the end of their terms, there were four more Vice Presidents who became President later on. They were:
1. John Adams---2nd President
2. Thomas Jefferson---3rd President
3. Martin Van Buren---8th President
4. George H. W. Bush---41st President
So there were a total of 13 Vice Presidents who became Presidents.
16. The most common first name for the Presidents is 'James'. Six Presidents had that name. James 'Jimmy' Earl Carter was the last President with that name. Four Presidents were named John, and four were named William, the second most common names.
17. Mrs. Eaton was the wife of a cabinent member in Andrew Jackson's administration. Unfortunately, many of the other wives of cabinet officials considered her to be a women of questionable repute and refused to associate with her. John Calhoun who had realistic aspirations to succeed Jackson as President was Vice President in his first administration. However, he ruined his chances to get the support of Jackson after he calumnied Mrs. Eaton himself. That incident caused Jackson to demand the resignations of all the administration officials, including John Calhoun. In that way, Jackson was able to put an end to all the malicious gossip about Mrs. Eaton. That Jackson would take such drastic measures may have stemmed from the way his own wife had been maligned because she may have married Jackson before her divorce from her previous husband had become final. Consequently, Martin Van Buren was named Vice President in Jackson's second administration and went on to become President. Actually, John Calhoun had been waiting in the wings for some time. He had also been Vice President under John Quincy Adams, just prior to Jackson's administration.
18. Franklin Pierce was from New England but was known to be sympathetic to southern views prior to the Civil War. The man he recommended to run in his stead for President of the United States was Jefferson Davis, who had been Secretary of War in Pierce's cabinet.
19. There were eight Presidents from Virginia, known as the "Mother of Presidents'. Some of those men went to live in other states later in their lives. The Presidents born in Virginia were:
1. George Washington---1st President
2. Thomas Jefferson---3rd President
3. James Madison---4th President
4. James Monroe---5th President
5. William Henry Harrison---9th President
6. John Tyler---10th President
7. Zachary Tayor---12th President
8. Woodrow Wilson---28th President
So, of the first 12 Presidents, over half of them came from Virginia. But from that point on, only one President was born in Virginia.
20. Three Presidents attended William and Mary named after the King and Queen of England. One of them wrote the Declaration of Independence. One of them dropped out to fight in the the Revolutionary War. The last one was the first Vice President to succeed a President who did not complete his mandated term in office. They were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler.
21. Seven Presidents were born in Ohio. Much like Virginia's run on the Presidency, there was a time when over half the Presidents came from Ohio...That was the period from Grant's administration through Harding's administration. And like Virginia, Ohio had a dry spell afterwards. The Presidents from Ohio were:
1. Ulysses S. Grant 18th President
2. Rutherford B. Hayes 19th President
3. James A. Garfield 20th President
4. Benjamin Harrison 23rd President
5. William McKinley 25th President
6. William Howard Taft 27th President
7. Warren G. Harding 29th President
22. William Howard Taft, the 27th President. He was appointed Chief Justice eight years after leaving the White House by Warren G. Harding in 1921.
23. George W. Bush, the 43rd President, obtained his first college degree from Yale Univeristy. He later went to Harvard and received a Master's Degree in Business.
24. Harry S. Truman was the last President who did not obtain a Bachelor's degree from a 4-year college. However, he did enroll at the Kansas City Law School for two years.
25. The tallest President was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches. There were a total of 21 Presidents who were six feet or more in height. They were, with their approximate heights:
1. George Washington 1st President 6'2"
2. Thomas Jefferson 3rd President 6'2"
3. James Monroe 5th President 6'
4. Andrew Jackson 7th President 6'
5. John Tyler 10th President 6'
6. Millard Fillmore 13th President 6'
7. James Buchanan 15th President 6'
8. Abraham Lincoln 16th President 6'4"
9. James Garfield 20th President 6'
10. Chester A. Arthur 21st President 6'2"
11. William Howard Taft 27th President 6'2"
12. Warren G. Harding 29th President 6'
13. Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President 6'1"
14. John F. Kennedy 35th President 6'
15. Lyndon B. Johnson 36th President 6'3"
16. Gerald R. Ford 38th President 6'
17. Ronald Reagan 40th President 6'1"
18. George H. W. Bush 41th President 6'2"
19. William J. Clinton 42nd President 6'2"
20. George W. Bush 43rd President 6'
21. Barack Obama 44th President 6'1"
26. Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States, was the first President to be born after the former colonies became free and independent. All previous Presidents had been born prior to 1776. Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, after the Battle of Yorktown, the decisive military victory of the former colonies over England.
27. When Lucy Ware Webb was sixteen, her mother sent her off to one of the first colleges chartered for women. She went to the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. She became Lucy Ware Webb Hayes when she married Rutherford B. Hayes on December 30, 1852. He was the 19th President and served from 1877 to 1881.
28. Dwight D. Eisenhower played semi-pro baseball under an assumed name so that he would not be ineligible to play baseball in college.
29. James A. Garfield, the 20th President, was probably the last President born in a log cabin. He was born in Ohio in 1831.
30. Some people accused Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President, of not being a U. S. citizen. They claimed he was born in Canada where his father had been a preacher. However, his father had been a pastor who preached in both the United States and Canada. His place of birth is recorded as being North Fairfield, Vermont...U. S. A.! Nevertheless, some people persisted in claiming that it was really Chester's brother who was born in North Fairfield. I guess it doesn't matter any more. Or should I say it's too late to do anything about it.
31. This question refers to the mid-1850's, not the 1950's! Chester A. Arthur, who later became the 21st President, defended a 'Negro' lady, Elizabeth Jennings, a public school teacher. She had been put off a New York streetcar in 1854 that was reserved for whites. He won the case and eventually gained equal rights for all 'Negroes' on New York's streetcars.
32. The African-American who received 8 votes at the Republican convention of 1880 to be theVice Presidential candidate was Blanche K. Bruce. It is a rather interesting name at that. He was a Senator from Mississippi and was the first person of color to receive any votes at a Presidential convention. Another noteworthy fact is that the convention was held in Chicago, a home of Barack Obama.
33. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4, 1872. No other President was born on July 4th.
34. Three Presidents died on July 4th. Most significantly, Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence was one of them. He died on July 4, 1826 exactly 50 years after that document was signed. John Adams died the very same day. He, too, had been asked to help write the Declaration of Independence, but he deferred to Jefferson for the most part. James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.
35. Elizabeth Monroe, wife of James Monroe, paid a visit to Madame de Lafayette in the Bastille in Paris. Madame de Lafayette had been sentenced to be guillotined and was waiting to be executed there. At the time in 1795, James Monroe was the American Minister or Ambassador to France, and he didn't want to damage Franco-American relations by appearing to unduly interfere in French politics which were very volatile then. The French had just been through the Reign of Terror in the course of the French Revolution which was more a civil and class war than the American Revolution had been. James Monroe was quite attracted to French culture, and more importantly, General de Lafayette had helped James Monroe learn French when they were together at Valley Forge. So, James Monroe sent his wife who was quite popular in Paris, and was known as "la belle americaine", to visit Madame de Lafayette in order to prevent her from being executed. It worked. She was released and went to join her husband in prison in Austria until he was released.
36. Woodrow Wilson was the only President to actually earn a Ph.D. Before becoming President, he taught at Bryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins, Connecticut Wesleyan, and Princeton.
37. The President who declined an honorary degree from Harvard was Grover Cleveland. Although his father and older brothers attended college, Grover Cleveland was unable to begin due to the death of his father and the resulting insufficient financial resources in the family. So, President Cleveland no doubt sincerely believed that he didn't deserve a degree, even an honorary one. He was a guest at Harvard in 1886 when the university celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding.
38. The youngest First Lady was Frances Folsum. It's lucky that there was no electronic media when she married Glover Cleveland after he had been elected President. He was nearly fifty, and she was only twenty-one, going on twenty-two! In addition, he had actually helped to raise her as his ward after her father died when he was killed by a runaway team of horses. Mr. Folsum had been Grover Cleveland's law partner. Frances was an only child. Grover Cleveland had taken good care of her and had sent her to Wells College in New York. She was a senior there during his first year as President.
39. Grover Cleveland was a secondary school dropout even though his father had received an excellent formal education. The reason for leaving school early was that Grover's father died before Grover had the opportunity to finish secondary school or to attend college. Grover had to quit his studies so he could help support the family. Grover Cleveland had intended to enter Hamilton College from which one of his brothers had already graduated. Does anyone remember his brother's name? or what he did after he obtained his degree?
40. Cleveland, Ohio! Grover Cleveland intended to go to Cleveland. When Grover Cleveland began to work in New York state, his first job was as a clerk in a country store where he earned 50 dollars a year in addition to his board and room, such as they might have been. However, eventually, he planned to go to Cleveland, Ohio, but he stopped on his way to Cleveland to visit his uncle near Buffalo, New York. He changed his mind when his uncle, who was a properous farmer, convinced Grover to stay and work for him. The rest is history...Grover later became mayor of Buffalo (on January 2, 1882), then governor of New York, and finally President of the the United States...two times!
41. James Madison did not attend William and Mary, but went to Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey) instead, because his family thought William and Mary was too liberal!
42. Seven Presidents (out of 44) never even entered high school! Some of them had little or no formal primary school education. They were George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson.
Please refer to Questions about the Presidents and First Ladies.
1. James Garfield was ambidextrous, and he knew both Latin and Ancient Greek.
Portrait of James A. Garfield - 20th President
National Portrait Gallery -Washington, DC
Photo taken by Robert Fessler
2. The most Presidents were born in October. What about February? Its prominence comes from the fact that before we celebrated Presidents Day, we celebrated George Washington Day on Febrary 22nd and Abraham Lincoln Day on February 12th. Six Presidents were born in October. Five were born in August and November. The two other Presidents born in February were Willaim Henry Harrison and...Ronald Reagan.
3. The shortest President was James Madison at five feet four, or slightly more, inches tall. There were seven Presidents who were less than five feet, eight inches. In reverse order of height, they were:
James Madison 5'4" fourth President
John Adams 5'6" second President
Martin Van Buren 5'6" eighth President
Benjamin Harrison 5'6" twenty-third President
John Quincy Adams 5'7" sixth President
Ulysses S. Grant 5'7" eighteenth President
William McKinley 5'7" twenty-fifth President
4. Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison.
5. Andrew Johnson was elected Senator from his home state of Tennessee several years after he finished serving the second term of Abraham Lincoln as President. Like Lincoln, he was a man of humble origins. He was a tailor by profession, and his wife taught him to read. Many Southerners considered him a traitor because he supported the Union during the Civil War, but many Northerners distrusted him because he was from the South.
6. Two... Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second President.
7. Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln's first Vice President. He was from Maine.
The Republican Party Banner for 1860. From the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. See text below.
 |
| Text from the National Portrait Gallery for the above picture. |
8. Elbridge Gerry was Vice President during Madison's second term. The word 'Gerrymander' came from his name because he redistricted areas in Massachusetts to the benefit of individuals he supported politically. Cartoonists had fun drawing the shape of a new district he had created, saying it looking like a Gerrymander, a reference to the shape and appearance of a salamander.
9. Ulysses S. Grant submitted his resignation to the Secretary of War in Franklin Pierce's administration. The man holding that office was Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederate States of America! Needless to say, Jefferson Davis would have benefited much more if Grant had submitted his resignation to him in the course of the Civil War. Actually at the start of his career, Grant did not appear suited for a military life. He attended the military academy at West Point and was a classmate of William Tecumseh Sherman and Simon Bolivar Buckner of Kentucky. The later was the Confederate general who surrendered to Grant at Fort Donalson and where Grant picked up his new nickname of 'Unconditional Surrender'. An interesting story is that at the time that Grant had resigned from the army in 1854, he didn't have enough money to pay his entire way home. So, guess who he had borrowed from...Simon Bolivar Buckner! At the time Buckner surrendered, Grant apparently paid his financial debt!
Grant's main reason for attending West Point had been more to get a good education for free rather than for any other reason. He did not enjoy taking life in any form, including that of animals: so he didn't go hunting like other fellows of his age. As a young officer, he became a heavy drinker or at least a drinker who couldn't hold his liquor very well. While a young officer, he had been assigned to a couple of posts in the far West, and seemed so unsuited for a military career, at least in the opinion of his commanding officer, that he was encouraged to resign...which he did...when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War...for the United States of America!
10. The wife of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President who served in several posts overseas. He met his wife in England where she had been born. Ironically, the United States had quite recently been at war with England, and his marriage was destined to be rather stormy at times, too! His wife's name was Louisa Catherine Adams.
11. More Presidents were affiliated with the Episcopal Church. It was an offshoot of the Anglican Church or the Church of England. When the United States gained its independence, the Americans transformed the Anglican Church into the Episcopal Church in much the same way that Henry the Eighth established the Anglican Church to replace the Catholic Chuch in England...although for different reasons. So, the majority of the early American colonists who were from England may have originally been Anglicans, especially in the South. Those people then became Episcopalians. About eleven Presidents were Episcopalians...'about' is used here because a President's true religious beliefs were not always possible to ascertain. Also, his beliefs could change in the course of his lifetime. Prebyterians made up the second largest group of Presidents. Apparently, some of them considered themselves 'predestined' to serve their country in the role of President, in keeping with the tenets of their religion. Seven Presidents were Presbyterians. So, over a third of our Presidents were Episcopalians or Presbyterians. Although more people in the United States belong to the Catholic Church than to any other religious group, only one President, John F. Kennedy, was a Catholic.
12. Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President, was not asked to run by the Whig Party after he completed serving the term of Zachary Taylor who died in office. However, a 'third party' group did ask him to run in the election of 1856 under their banner. They were opposed to allowing any more immigrants to enter the United States, and were also anti-Catholic. They were known as the 'Know-Nothing Party'. A little before running, he joined a group called the 'Order of the Star-Spangled Banner' that conducted some of their secret rites in his home. He was not successful in his attempt to get elected. Instead, James Buchanan won the election of 1856.
13. The first Vice President to complete the term of a President who died in office was John Tyler from Charles County, Virginia. He replaced William Henry Harrison, the ninth President, who also was from Charles County, Virginia. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same!'
14. There were 9 Vice Presidents who replaced a President before the end of his term. They were:
1. John Tyler---10th President
2. Millard Fillmore---13th President
3. Andrew Johnson---17th President
4. Chester A. Arthur---21st President
5. Theodore Roosevelt---26th President
6. Calvin Coolidge---30th President
7. Harry S. Truman---33rd President
8. Lyndon B. Johnson---36th President
9. Gerald Ford---38th President
15. In addition to the Vice Presidents who replaced Presidents before the end of their terms, there were four more Vice Presidents who became President later on. They were:
1. John Adams---2nd President
2. Thomas Jefferson---3rd President
3. Martin Van Buren---8th President
4. George H. W. Bush---41st President
So there were a total of 13 Vice Presidents who became Presidents.
16. The most common first name for the Presidents is 'James'. Six Presidents had that name. James 'Jimmy' Earl Carter was the last President with that name. Four Presidents were named John, and four were named William, the second most common names.
17. Mrs. Eaton was the wife of a cabinent member in Andrew Jackson's administration. Unfortunately, many of the other wives of cabinet officials considered her to be a women of questionable repute and refused to associate with her. John Calhoun who had realistic aspirations to succeed Jackson as President was Vice President in his first administration. However, he ruined his chances to get the support of Jackson after he calumnied Mrs. Eaton himself. That incident caused Jackson to demand the resignations of all the administration officials, including John Calhoun. In that way, Jackson was able to put an end to all the malicious gossip about Mrs. Eaton. That Jackson would take such drastic measures may have stemmed from the way his own wife had been maligned because she may have married Jackson before her divorce from her previous husband had become final. Consequently, Martin Van Buren was named Vice President in Jackson's second administration and went on to become President. Actually, John Calhoun had been waiting in the wings for some time. He had also been Vice President under John Quincy Adams, just prior to Jackson's administration.
18. Franklin Pierce was from New England but was known to be sympathetic to southern views prior to the Civil War. The man he recommended to run in his stead for President of the United States was Jefferson Davis, who had been Secretary of War in Pierce's cabinet.
19. There were eight Presidents from Virginia, known as the "Mother of Presidents'. Some of those men went to live in other states later in their lives. The Presidents born in Virginia were:
1. George Washington---1st President
2. Thomas Jefferson---3rd President
3. James Madison---4th President
4. James Monroe---5th President
5. William Henry Harrison---9th President
6. John Tyler---10th President
7. Zachary Tayor---12th President
8. Woodrow Wilson---28th President
So, of the first 12 Presidents, over half of them came from Virginia. But from that point on, only one President was born in Virginia.
20. Three Presidents attended William and Mary named after the King and Queen of England. One of them wrote the Declaration of Independence. One of them dropped out to fight in the the Revolutionary War. The last one was the first Vice President to succeed a President who did not complete his mandated term in office. They were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler.
21. Seven Presidents were born in Ohio. Much like Virginia's run on the Presidency, there was a time when over half the Presidents came from Ohio...That was the period from Grant's administration through Harding's administration. And like Virginia, Ohio had a dry spell afterwards. The Presidents from Ohio were:
1. Ulysses S. Grant 18th President
2. Rutherford B. Hayes 19th President
3. James A. Garfield 20th President
4. Benjamin Harrison 23rd President
5. William McKinley 25th President
6. William Howard Taft 27th President
7. Warren G. Harding 29th President
22. William Howard Taft, the 27th President. He was appointed Chief Justice eight years after leaving the White House by Warren G. Harding in 1921.
23. George W. Bush, the 43rd President, obtained his first college degree from Yale Univeristy. He later went to Harvard and received a Master's Degree in Business.
24. Harry S. Truman was the last President who did not obtain a Bachelor's degree from a 4-year college. However, he did enroll at the Kansas City Law School for two years.
25. The tallest President was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches. There were a total of 21 Presidents who were six feet or more in height. They were, with their approximate heights:
1. George Washington 1st President 6'2"
2. Thomas Jefferson 3rd President 6'2"
3. James Monroe 5th President 6'
4. Andrew Jackson 7th President 6'
5. John Tyler 10th President 6'
6. Millard Fillmore 13th President 6'
7. James Buchanan 15th President 6'
8. Abraham Lincoln 16th President 6'4"
9. James Garfield 20th President 6'
10. Chester A. Arthur 21st President 6'2"
11. William Howard Taft 27th President 6'2"
12. Warren G. Harding 29th President 6'
13. Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President 6'1"
14. John F. Kennedy 35th President 6'
15. Lyndon B. Johnson 36th President 6'3"
16. Gerald R. Ford 38th President 6'
17. Ronald Reagan 40th President 6'1"
18. George H. W. Bush 41th President 6'2"
19. William J. Clinton 42nd President 6'2"
20. George W. Bush 43rd President 6'
21. Barack Obama 44th President 6'1"
26. Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States, was the first President to be born after the former colonies became free and independent. All previous Presidents had been born prior to 1776. Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, after the Battle of Yorktown, the decisive military victory of the former colonies over England.
27. When Lucy Ware Webb was sixteen, her mother sent her off to one of the first colleges chartered for women. She went to the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. She became Lucy Ware Webb Hayes when she married Rutherford B. Hayes on December 30, 1852. He was the 19th President and served from 1877 to 1881.
28. Dwight D. Eisenhower played semi-pro baseball under an assumed name so that he would not be ineligible to play baseball in college.
29. James A. Garfield, the 20th President, was probably the last President born in a log cabin. He was born in Ohio in 1831.
30. Some people accused Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President, of not being a U. S. citizen. They claimed he was born in Canada where his father had been a preacher. However, his father had been a pastor who preached in both the United States and Canada. His place of birth is recorded as being North Fairfield, Vermont...U. S. A.! Nevertheless, some people persisted in claiming that it was really Chester's brother who was born in North Fairfield. I guess it doesn't matter any more. Or should I say it's too late to do anything about it.
31. This question refers to the mid-1850's, not the 1950's! Chester A. Arthur, who later became the 21st President, defended a 'Negro' lady, Elizabeth Jennings, a public school teacher. She had been put off a New York streetcar in 1854 that was reserved for whites. He won the case and eventually gained equal rights for all 'Negroes' on New York's streetcars.
32. The African-American who received 8 votes at the Republican convention of 1880 to be theVice Presidential candidate was Blanche K. Bruce. It is a rather interesting name at that. He was a Senator from Mississippi and was the first person of color to receive any votes at a Presidential convention. Another noteworthy fact is that the convention was held in Chicago, a home of Barack Obama.
33. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4, 1872. No other President was born on July 4th.
34. Three Presidents died on July 4th. Most significantly, Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence was one of them. He died on July 4, 1826 exactly 50 years after that document was signed. John Adams died the very same day. He, too, had been asked to help write the Declaration of Independence, but he deferred to Jefferson for the most part. James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.
35. Elizabeth Monroe, wife of James Monroe, paid a visit to Madame de Lafayette in the Bastille in Paris. Madame de Lafayette had been sentenced to be guillotined and was waiting to be executed there. At the time in 1795, James Monroe was the American Minister or Ambassador to France, and he didn't want to damage Franco-American relations by appearing to unduly interfere in French politics which were very volatile then. The French had just been through the Reign of Terror in the course of the French Revolution which was more a civil and class war than the American Revolution had been. James Monroe was quite attracted to French culture, and more importantly, General de Lafayette had helped James Monroe learn French when they were together at Valley Forge. So, James Monroe sent his wife who was quite popular in Paris, and was known as "la belle americaine", to visit Madame de Lafayette in order to prevent her from being executed. It worked. She was released and went to join her husband in prison in Austria until he was released.
36. Woodrow Wilson was the only President to actually earn a Ph.D. Before becoming President, he taught at Bryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins, Connecticut Wesleyan, and Princeton.
37. The President who declined an honorary degree from Harvard was Grover Cleveland. Although his father and older brothers attended college, Grover Cleveland was unable to begin due to the death of his father and the resulting insufficient financial resources in the family. So, President Cleveland no doubt sincerely believed that he didn't deserve a degree, even an honorary one. He was a guest at Harvard in 1886 when the university celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding.
38. The youngest First Lady was Frances Folsum. It's lucky that there was no electronic media when she married Glover Cleveland after he had been elected President. He was nearly fifty, and she was only twenty-one, going on twenty-two! In addition, he had actually helped to raise her as his ward after her father died when he was killed by a runaway team of horses. Mr. Folsum had been Grover Cleveland's law partner. Frances was an only child. Grover Cleveland had taken good care of her and had sent her to Wells College in New York. She was a senior there during his first year as President.
39. Grover Cleveland was a secondary school dropout even though his father had received an excellent formal education. The reason for leaving school early was that Grover's father died before Grover had the opportunity to finish secondary school or to attend college. Grover had to quit his studies so he could help support the family. Grover Cleveland had intended to enter Hamilton College from which one of his brothers had already graduated. Does anyone remember his brother's name? or what he did after he obtained his degree?
40. Cleveland, Ohio! Grover Cleveland intended to go to Cleveland. When Grover Cleveland began to work in New York state, his first job was as a clerk in a country store where he earned 50 dollars a year in addition to his board and room, such as they might have been. However, eventually, he planned to go to Cleveland, Ohio, but he stopped on his way to Cleveland to visit his uncle near Buffalo, New York. He changed his mind when his uncle, who was a properous farmer, convinced Grover to stay and work for him. The rest is history...Grover later became mayor of Buffalo (on January 2, 1882), then governor of New York, and finally President of the the United States...two times!
41. James Madison did not attend William and Mary, but went to Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey) instead, because his family thought William and Mary was too liberal!
42. Seven Presidents (out of 44) never even entered high school! Some of them had little or no formal primary school education. They were George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson.
Please refer to Questions about the Presidents and First Ladies.
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