A Fun Fact for Every President on Presidents Day
February 17, 2020
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Presidents have many roles they must play in order to run the United States government, military, as well as the execution and enforcement of laws. They act as the face of the nation and the internal structure of our country is (to an extent) malleable in their hands. With all the responsibility and power invested in each president, it's easy to forget that they — like us — are mere human beings made up of strengths, weaknesses, and even bizzare quirks.
Today, we commemorate all presidents of the United States. Whether you like them or you don’t, we’ve researched a little on every president to bring you a fun fact about each one.
1. George Washington (1789-97) - At one point during the French and Indian War, Washington narrowly escaped death when his horse was shot out from under him.
2. John Adams (1797-1801) - On July 4, 1826, Adams whispered his last words: "Thomas Jefferson survives." Little did he know, Jefferson actually died just a few hours earlier on that exact same day.
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) - He was an amateur archeologist, collected fossils, and was obsessed with animals, especially the mammoth.
4. James Madison (1809-1817) - He had eleven brothers and sisters, although several of them died at a young age.
5. James Monroe (1817-1825) - His daughter Maria was married in the White House. This was the first wedding at the White House.
6. John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) - He began writing a journal in 1779. By the time he died, he had written fifty volumes. Many historians cite his journals as first hand accounts of the formation of the early United States.
7. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) - Jackson received a 1,400-pound cheddar cheese wheel as a gift in 1835 and kept it in the White House lobby for two years.
8. Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) - The word "Okay" or "OK" became popular when it was used in Van Buren's campaign. It stood for one of his nicknames "Old Kinderhook.”
9. William Henry Harrison (1841-1841) - His tenure as president lasted 33 days. His doctor, Thomas Miller, reported Harrison had a sinking pulse and cold, blue extremities, and after eight days of delirium and pain, Harrison became the first American President to die in office.
10. John Tyler (1841-1845) - He was given the nickname "His Accidency" because he was not elected president and his rivals said he got to be president by accident.
11. James K. Polk (1845-1849) - Polk was the first president to have his photograph taken while in office, and the tradition of the playing the song "Hail to the Chief" started while Polk was president.
12. Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) - Zachary Taylor had one of the strangest deaths of any United States President. While at an Independence Day celebration he ate a snack of buttermilk and cherries. The snack was contaminated and Taylor died a few days later of cholera.
13. Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) - He protected the Hawaiian Islands from being taken over by France. When Napoleon III tried to annex the islands, Fillmore sent word that the U.S. would not allow it.
14. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) - Franklin became friends with writers Nathaniel Hawthrone and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow while attending Bowdoin College in Maine.
15. James Buchanan (1857-1861) - He was the only president who never married. His niece, Harriet Lane, acted as the First Lady while he was in the White House. She became quite popular and was nicknamed the "Democratic Queen."
16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) - On the day he was shot, Lincoln told his bodyguard that he had dreamt he would be assassinated.
17. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) - He made his own clothes for much of his life. He even sewed some of his own clothes while president.
18. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) - His middle initial “S” doesn’t actually stand for anything. Hiram Ulysses Grant was stuck with the name “Ulysses S. Grant” due to a mistake by a benefactor on his application form to West Point.
19. Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) - The first Siamese cat in America was delivered to the White House in 1878 as a gift from the American consul in Bangkok to first lady Lucy, who loved cats.
20. James A. Garfield (1881-1881) - Garfield taught himself to write with both hands. He also knew Latin and Greek. He sometimes would show off and write with both hands at the same time, each in a different language.
21. Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) - Arthur liked to be fashionable and changed clothes for each occasion throughout the day. This earned him the nickname "Elegant Arthur.” He reportedly had over 80 pairs of pants.
22. Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) - Rather than fight in the Civil War, he paid a man $150 to fight in his place. This was common in those days.
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23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) - Some people called him the “human iceberg” because he had such a stiff personality.
24. Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) - The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Cleveland's daughter Ruth and not after the famous baseball player Babe Ruth.
25. William McKinley (1897-1901) - First Lady Ida McKinley didn't like the color yellow. She disliked it so much she had everything yellow removed from the White House.
26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) - President Roosevelt continued with his hobby of boxing, but became blind in one eye after a boxing injury in the White House in 1908, and stopped fighting. He switched to jiu-jitsu instead.
27. William Howard Taft (1909-1913) - He once fell asleep during a parade where he was the main attraction.
28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) - His face is on the $100,000 dollar bill.
29. Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) - He liked to play poker and one time lost a set of White House china in a poker game.
30. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) - He was a quiet man of few words. Once, a woman at a party told Calvin that she bet a friend she could get Calvin to say three words. He replied "You lose."
31. Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) - He did not accept his salary for president, but had it donated to charity.
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) - Paralyzed from the waist down, he underwent years of painstaking physical rehabilitation to try and regain the use of his legs (which lost their function due to polio). He tried to keep his handicap concealed from the public.
33. Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) - The 1948 election against Thomas Dewey was very close, and many thought Truman would lose. The Chicago Tribune newspaper was so sure he’d lose, in fact, that their headline read "Dewey Defeats Truman.” Truman won, however. (Oops.)
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) - Eisenhower, an avid golfer, banished squirrels from the White House grounds after they repeatedly dug up his putting green to bury their acorns and walnuts.
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35. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) - He was the first president who was a Boy Scout.
36. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) - His wife's nickname "Lady Bird" gave them both the same initials "LBJ". They named their daughters so they would have the "LBJ" initials too.
37. Richard Nixon (1969-1974) - In 1971, Nixon declared war on cancer, launching a $100-million campaign to help fund and find a cure for cancer.
38. Gerald Ford (1974-1977) - Growing up, Ford was an excellent athlete. His best sport was football where he played center and linebacker, went on to play for the University of Michigan where they won two national championships, and his number 48 football jersey was retired at the University of Michigan.
39. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) - He was a speed reader and could read up to 2000 words per minute.
40. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) - As a young man Ronald worked as a lifeguard where he rescued 77 people. He also worked as a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs and acted in over 50 major movies during his Hollywood career.
41. George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) - In 1999, he celebrated his 75th birthday by skydiving.
42. Bill Clinton (1993-2001) - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech so impressed a teenaged Clinton that he memorized the entire speech right after it was given.
43. George W. Bush (2001-2009) - George was an avid jogger while in office. He even ran a marathon once.
44. Barack Obama (2009-2017) - His first job was working at a Baskin-Robbins in Hawaii as a teenager, and he hasn't liked ice cream since.
45. Donald Trump (2017-2021) - SPY Magazine once sent some of the world’s richest people checks of 13 cents to see who would cash them. The only people to do so were an arms dealer and Donald Trump.
46. Joe Biden (2021 - ) - Joe had a "debilitating childhood stutter." His gradeschool teacher, who was also a nun, even made fun of him, calling him “Mr. Bu-bu-bu-Biden,” leading him to walk out of class one day. His mother, Catherine Finnegan Biden, later confronted the teacher, telling the woman, “If you ever speak to my son like that again, I’ll come back and rip that bonnet off your head.”
Want to learn more fun facts in a historical setting? Explore our Founding of America and Hall of Presidents exhibits at the Museum of World Treasures today!
