By TR Robertson
Just like a myriad of other things, there is an amazing number of facts and trivia surrounding the U.S. Presidents which will educate and amuse you. As President’s Day approaches, have fun reading through the following bits of information about the people who have served in the highest political office in this country.
• George Washington is the only American President to be unanimously elected.
• Franklin Pierce was the first President to have a Christmas tree in the White House.
• JFK was the first President to hold a press conference on television.
• Chester A. Arthur was nicknamed “elegant Arthur” because of his fashion sense.
• James Madison was the shortest and lightest President at 5 ft. 4 in. and about 100 lbs.
• Millard Filmore installed the first library, kitchen stove and bathtub in the White House.
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to call his residence the “White House”, prior to this it was called the Executive Mansion or the President’s House.
• Barack Obama collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comic books.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only President to be elected four times.
• Chester A. Arthur enjoyed walking at night and seldom went to bed before 2 a.m.
• Harry S. Truman used to get up at 5 a.m. in the morning to practice the piano for two hours.
• Lyndon B. Johnson is the only President to take the oath of office from a female official, Judge Sarah T. Hughes.
• The term O.K. is credited to Martin Van Buren. After he entered politics, he was known as “Old Kinderhook”, after his hometown. People used O.K. when referring to Van Buren and the word “okay” was derived from this.
• Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park in 1872.
• Grover Cleveland personally answered the White House phone.
• Jimmy Carter was the first President born in a hospital.
• Calvin Coolidge refused to use the telephone while in the office.
• Herbert Hoover approved “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.
• George Washington was the only President to not represent a political office.
• Calvin Coolidge lighted the first national Christmas tree in 1923 on the Shite House lawn.
• Jimmy Carter studied nuclear physics at Annapolis, Maryland.
• Harry S. Truman’s mother, a Confederate sympathizer, refused to sleep in Lincoln’s bed during a White House visit.
• George W. Bush was a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968-1973.
• George H.W. Bush is distantly related to Presidents Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Benedict Arnold, Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchill.
• Andrew Johnson is buried beneath a willow tree that he planted and his head rests on a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
• Thomas Jefferson was the first President to shake hands with guest. Previously people bowed to the President.
• Jefferson’s library consisted of 6,000 books and was the basis of the Library of Congress.
• At his inauguration George Washington had only one tooth. At various times he wore dentures made of human teeth, animal teeth, ivory teeth and lead teeth, never wooden teeth.
• Ulysses S. Grant was the first President to run against a woman candidate, Virginia Woodhull.
• Warren Harding was the first President to speak over the radio.
• Jimmy Carter is a speed reader, having been recorded reading 2,000 words per minute.
• Ulysses S. Grant was the first President to view the Pacific Ocean, 1852.
• Harry S. Truman was the fist President to give a speech on television.
• James Buchanan was the only President that never married.
• William Taft’s wife was responsible for the planting of the Japanese Cherry Trees in Washington, D.C.
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to travel outside of the U.S. when he visited Panama.
• James Buchanan tired of being President and refused to run for reelection.
• Zachary Taylor’s wife refused to serve as hostess, giving that role to her daughter.
• William Taft is the only President to also serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Ulysses S. Grant could not stomach the sight of animal blood and rare steak nauseated him.
• John Adams was the first President to reside in the White House.
• William Taft was the first President to own a car.
• When England’s Prince of Wales visited the White House in 1860, President James Buchanan had to sleep in the hall due to the number of people accompanying the Prince.
• Harry Truman popularized the saying, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”
• Jimmy Carter is the sixth cousin of Richard Nixon.
• Ulysses S. Grant’s wife, Julia, owned slaves during the Civil War while her husband was the General of the Union Army.
• Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Gerald Ford once worked as a fashion model for Cosmopolitan and Look magazines in the 1940’s.
• John F. Kennedy was the only President to win a Pulitzer Prize, for his biography “Profiles in Courage.”
