Speaking
Presidentially
by Rob Cottignies
“Anyone
who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be
allowed to do the job.”
-Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
If you enjoy learning while reading lists, below is a
treat!
Here are the American presidents in chronological
order with some important and/or interesting facts about them. Of course, there
is much more to know about each person. Use any of the links below my list to find
out all about them.
Technically, there were presidents before George
Washington- 14 to be exact. They were ‘Presidents of Congress’ until the United
States (and its executive branch) was officially formed. The first “president”
was Maryland native John Hanson, who, among other things, established
Thanksgiving as the fourth Monday in November. John Hancock held the position
in 1776, which enabled him to famously sign the Declaration Of Independence first.
Also, some general information about the presidency
and Electoral College, which is still confusing but perhaps my description can
help a bit.
Hail To The Chief!
Facts about the presidency
*To
run for president, a person must have been born in the United States, to
establish a tie to the country. Secondly, the person has to have lived in the U.S.
for at least 14 years, though it’s not specified whether those years are
consecutive or cumulative. Lastly, the candidate must be at least 35
years old, a qualification which was installed to ensure a level of experience
and maturity but has come under recent scrutiny because life expectancy was
shorter when the Constitution was written.
*Speaking of the Constitution, the only presidents to sign it were Washington
and Madison.
*A person who ascended to presidency after the president died in office
(assassinated or otherwise) has never had a vice president during the remainder
of that term.
*14 presidents were former vice presidents.
*Eight presidents did not attend college.
*The colonies switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian in 1752, making
some of the presidents’ birthdates technically inaccurate.
*The current president (Biden) is referred to as the 46th but is the
45th person to serve, since Grover Cleveland had two non-consecutive
terms.
*The first woman to run for president was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, decades
before women would be Constitutionally allowed to vote. She co-founded and ran
for the Equal Rights Party, spent Election Night in jail, and was not on any
national ballots. Read more of her story here.
*No president has been an only child. (FDR and Obama had half-siblings.)
*I could not figure out why so many presidents have John in their names but never
Jonathan.
*As far as political parties, 19 presidents have been Republican, 15 Democrat, four
Whig, four Federalist, and one was unaffiliated.
What is the Electoral College and how does
it work?
*Ballots from each state go to Electors, who cast official votes for president.
They are not politicians but are chosen by political parties through a random
yet complicated process which I do not understand and will not attempt to
explain.
*The number of Electors in a state is equal to the state’s members of the House
Of Representatives and the Senate combined.
*There are currently a total of 538 Electors, with 270 votes needed to obtain
the presidency.
*If no candidate reaches 270 Electoral votes, the House decides the president
while the Senate chooses the vice president.
*Electors meet the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast
separate votes for president and vice president, which have rarely gone outside
party lines.
*An Elector who abstains or votes against the state’s popular choice is known
as ‘faithless’. This happened in 2004 but is otherwise uncommon in recent
history, having most of the 157 ‘faithless’ votes cast in the 1800s.
*The Electoral system was originally installed by Alexander Hamilton to
safeguard against an unqualified person becoming president.
*Because of the Electoral College, the person with the most national popular
votes does not necessarily win an election. These runners-up won the popular vote
but lost their elections: Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams in 1824; Samuel
Tilden lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876; Grover Cleveland lost to Benjamin
Harrison in 1888; Al Gore lost to George W. Bush in 2000; and Hillary Clinton
lost to Donald Trump in 2016.
And now, the presidents…
1. George Washington (1789-1797)
“Be
courteous to all but intimate with a few, and let those few be well-tried
before you give them your confidence.”
February 22nd,
1732 (Popes Creek, VA) – December 14th,
1799 (Mount Vernon, VA)
Vice President: John Adams
First Lady: Martha Dandridge
nickname: The Father Of His Country -- He was considered the best person to
lead the newly-established United States.
*only had a grade-school education
*ran unopposed without representing a political party
*only president to go into battle while serving
*birthday will never fall on Washington’s Birthday (a.k.a. Presidents’ Day)
because the third Monday in February cannot be the 22nd
*stories about him having wooden teeth and chopping down a cherry tree were
invented by biographers
*still holds the highest military rank ever available- General of the Armies of
the United States
*owned a whiskey distillery
*one of four presidents on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore
*featured on the quarter and $1 bill
2. John Adams (Federalist; 1797-1801)
“No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on
obtaining it.”
October 30th, 1735 (Quincy, MA)
– July 4th, 1826 (Quincy, MA)
Vice President: Thomas Jefferson
First Lady: Abigail Smith
nickname: Old Sink Or Swim -- He gave a speech in which he promised to sink or swim
with his country.
*main author of the Massachusetts Constitution, which framed the U.S.
Constitution and is still in use today
*first president to live in the White House, then-called the President’s House
*defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre out of respect for the law
*held no slaves but was against abolition for the sake of the country’s economy
*died exactly 50 years after the Constitution was adopted, the same day as his
political enemy Thomas Jefferson, who was his vice president because, at the
time, the election’s runner-up got that job
3. Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican;
1801-1809)
“Nothing
on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
April 13th, 1743 (Shadwell, VA) –
July 4th, 1826 (Monticello, VA)
Vice Presidents: Aaron Burr, George Clinton
First Lady: Martha Jefferson (daughter)
nickname: The Sage Of Monticello -- A sage is a wise person and Monticello
(Italian for ‘little mountain’) was the name he gave to his estate, though the
motive for that is unknown.
*main author of the Declaration Of Independence
*wife Martha died before his presidency
*responsible for the Louisiana Purchase
*hated public speaking so he only gave the two inaugural addresses during his
terms
*Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel
*sold around 6,700 books to the Library Of Congress after the British burned it
down during the War Of 1812
*died exactly 50 years after the Constitution was adopted, the same day as his
political enemy John Adams
*one of four presidents on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore
*featured on the nickel and $2 bill
4. James Madison (Democratic-Republican;
1809-1817)
“The
advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
March 16th, 1751 (Port
Conway, VA) – June 28th, 1836 (Montpelier, VA)
Vice Presidents: George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry
(“Gerrymandering”)
First Lady: Dolley Payne
nickname: Father Of The Constitution -- He drafted the bulk of that document.
*wrote the first draft for the Bill Of Rights and most of the Constitution
*served during the War Of 1812
*both vice presidents died in office (from natural causes)
*smallest president at 5’4” and a maximum of 100 pounds
*he and Dolley loved ice cream and she was the namesake for the Dolly Madison
ice cream company
*featured on the $5,000 bill
5. James Monroe (Democratic-Republican;
1817-1825)
“It
is better to spread trust all around than to hand out money.”
April 28th,
1758 (Monroe Hall, VA) – July 4th,
1831 (New York, NY)
Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins
First Lady: Elizabeth Kortright
nickname: The Last Cocked Hat -- He was the last president to wear a traditional
tricorn hat, considered ‘old fashioned’ in the 1800s.
*oversaw the Era Of Good Feelings, a period of national pride following
the War Of 1812
*the Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed Missouri into the U.S. as a slave
state and Maine as a free one
*ran for 2nd term unopposed
*the capital of the African country Liberia was named Monrovia in his honor
because he was a big supporter of its independence
*he is holding the flag behind George Washington in the famous painting Washington
Crossing The Delaware by Emanuel Leutze
*died exactly five years after Adams and Jefferson
6. John Quincy Adams
(Democratic-Republican; 1825-1829)
“Try
and fail, but don’t fail to try.”
July 11th,
1767 (Quincy, MA) – February 23rd,
1848 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice President: John C. Calhoun
First Lady: Louisa Johnson
nickname: The Abolitionist -- He used his political and law platforms to actively campaign against
slavery.
*son of John Adams
*primarily responsible for the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European countries
against attacking the United States
*can be thanked (or blamed) for acquiring Florida
*first president to be photographed
*fond of skinny-dipping in the Potomac River for exercise
*kept a pet alligator in the White House for several months
*only former president elected to the House Of Representatives
7. Andrew Jackson
(Democrat; 1829-1837)
“Any
man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a
slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is
in error.”
March 15th,
1767 (Waxhaws region of the Carolinas)
– June 8th, 1845 (Nashville, TN)
Vice Presidents: John C. Calhoun, Martin van Buren
First Ladies: Emily Donelson (niece); Sarah Yorke
(daughter-in-law)
nickname: Old Hickory -- Soldiers under his command described him being as tough as hickory, a
type of durable wood.
*born on land shared by North and South Carolina so his official birth state is
unknown
*only president to have killed at least one man during a duel, of which he
was reportedly in over 100
*wife Emily died before election from a heart attack allegedly brought on by stress
from the campaign
*critics called him a jackass, which he embraced and made the symbol of the
Democratic Party
*first president to face an assassination attempt
*led campaigns against Native Americans but adopted a child from the Creek
tribe
*featured on the $20 bill (until 2028, when Harriet Tubman will be the face
of it)
8. Martin van Buren (Democrat; 1837-1841)
“Railroad
carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of fifteen miles per hour … The
Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such break-neck
speed.”
December 5th,
1782 (Kinderhook, NY) – July 24th,
1862 (Kinderhook, NY)
Vice President: Richard M. Johnson
First Lady: Sarah Singleton (daughter-in-law)
nickname: Old Kinderhook -- For his hometown, which gave us the expression ‘OK’.
*first president born in the United States as opposed to the colonies
*first language was Dutch
*wife Hannah died from tuberculosis before his presidency
*autobiography did not mention presidency nor Hannah (his first cousin, once
removed)
9. William Henry Harrison (Whig; 1841)
“The
liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation.”
February 9th,
1773 (Berkeley Plantation, VA) – April 4th,
1841 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice President: John Tyler
First Ladies: Anna Symmes, Jane Irwin (daughter-in-law)
nickname: Old Tippecanoe -- He led Americans to victory over the Shawnee tribe at the Battle of Tippecanoe.
*longest inauguration speech (90 minutes), which was given outside during a
snowstorm
*Anna could not act as First Lady due to illness so Jane took over
*led battles against Native Americans and the British
*won the Battle Of Tippecanoe over Shawnee tribe leader Tecumseh
*died 33 days into term from pneumonia and/or gastrointestinal bacteria
*first president to die in office, resulting in the shortest-ever presidency
10. John Tyler (Whig, unaffiliated;
1841-1845)
“Here
lies the body of my good horse, The General. For years, he bore me around the
circuit of my practice and all that time he never made a blunder. Would that
his master could say the same.”
March 29th,
1790 (Charles City, VA) – January 18th,
1862 (Richmond, VA)
Vice President: [none]
First Ladies: Letitia Christian, Elizabeth Cooper
(daughter-in-law), Julia Gardiner (remarried)
nickname: His Accidency -- He obtained the presidency only because Harrison died.
*born in same county as William Henry Harrison
*helped established the order of presidential succession
*first president to face (unsuccessful) impeachment- accused of overusing his veto power
*Letitia was the first First Lady to die during a presidency (stroke)
*disowned by the Whig Party because of conflicting political ideas
*had 15 kids, the most by any president
*often named the least-popular president
11. James Knox Polk (Democrat; 1845-1849)
“Thank
God, under our Constitution there was no connection between church and state.”
November 2nd,
1795 (Pineville, NC) – June 15th,
1849 (Nashville, TN)
Vice President: George M. Dallas
First Lady: Sarah Childress
nickname: Young Hickory -- For being a protégé of Andrew Jackson, a.k.a. Old Hickory.
*nominated as a ‘dark horse’ since his party could not decide between two other
candidates
*president during the Mexican-American War
*expanded the United States to the Pacific Ocean
*his administration introduced the postage stamp
*Sarah banned liquor and dancing from the White House
*on the TV show Married… with Children, Al Bundy went to Polk High
School and scored four touchdowns in one game
12. Zachary Taylor (Whig; 1849-1850)
“A
strong reputation is like a good bonfire. When you have one kindled, it’s easy
to keep the flame burning, even if someone comes along and tries to piss on it.
But if you fall asleep and neglect it, you’ll wake up with ashes.”
November 24th,
1784 (Barboursville, VA) – July 9th,
1850 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice President: Millard Fillmore
First Lady: Margaret Smith
nickname: Old Rough And Ready -- He fought alongside the men he commanded in the military.
*did not go to college and had no political experience
*officially nominated without his knowledge
*slave owner who was politically neither for nor against slavery
*hesitant father-in-law of Jefferson Davis, eventual president of the
Confederacy
*James Madison’s second cousin
*had a beloved war horse called Old Whitey and a circus pony called Apollo
*died 16 months into term from flu or cholera
13. Millard Fillmore (Whig; 1850-1853)
“It
is not strange to mistake change for progress and the invasion of the rights of
others for national prowess and glory.”
January 7th,
1800 (Moravia, NY) – March 8th, 1874
(Buffalo, NY)
Vice President: [none]
First Lady: Abigail Powers
nickname: Wool Carder -- He worked in his youth preparing wool for production.
*first president born in the 1800s
*oversaw the beginning of official trade with Japan
*last president to represent the Whig party
*considered an “uninspiring” president by many, including the White House’s
website
14. Franklin Pierce (Democrat; 1853-1857)
"While
men inhabiting different parts of this vast continent cannot be expected to
hold the same opinions, they can unite in a common objective and sustain common
principles."
November 23rd,
1804 (Hillsborough, NH) – October 8th,
1869 (Concord, NH)
Vice Presidents: William R. King, [none]
First Lady: Jane Appleton
nickname: Handsome Frank -- He was good-looking.
*supported slavery and legislation that promoted it
*completed the Gadsden Purchase, obtaining land that is now Arizona and New
Mexico
*King died from tuberculosis 45 days into term
*struggled with alcoholism and died from liver failure
*many historians consider him forgettable and even a traitor because of his
stance on slavery
15. James Buchanan (Democrat; 1857-1861)
“All
the friends that I loved and wanted to reward are dead, and all the enemies
that I hated and marked out for punishment have turned into friends.”
April 23rd,
1791 (Cove Gap, PA) – June 1st, 1868
(Lancaster, PA)
Vice President: John C. Breckinridge
First Lady: Harriet Lane (niece)
nickname: Old Buck -- A shortened form of his surname.
*only president who never married
*supported the Supreme Court’s ruling that slavery was Constitutional and the
South’s right to secede from the Union
*supported Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War
*bought slaves to free them in the North, for political reasons instead of
morality
*(many contradictions with this fellow)
16. Abraham Lincoln (Republican;
1861-1865)
“I
don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”
February 12th,
1809 (Hodgenville, KY) – April 15th,
1865 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice Presidents: Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew Johnson
First Lady: Mary Todd
nickname: Honest Abe -- He worked hard to attain a truthful reputation.
*first Republican president
*president during the Civil War
*author and speaker of the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves
free (also, a ‘score’ is equal to 20 years; 4 score + 7 = 87, meaning the year 1776)
*created the Secret Service to tackle currency counterfeiting
*tallest president at 6’4”
*used the now-called Lincoln Bedroom as an office and never slept in it
*was an accomplished wrestler and is in the Wrestling Hall Of Fame in
Stillwater, OK
*reportedly hated being called Abe
*assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC on Good Friday in the second
month of his second term by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth
*assassination was planned after a failed kidnapping attempt and included a
plot to kill Lincoln’s successors as well
*Booth’s brother Edwin once saved Lincoln’s son Robert from an oncoming train
*first president to be murdered while in office
*one of four presidents on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore
*featured on the penny and $5 bill
17. Andrew Johnson (Democrat; 1865-1869)
“If
blacks were given the right to vote, that would place every splay-footed,
bandy-shanked, hump-backed, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, woolly-headed,
ebon-colored in the country upon an equality with the poor white man.”
December 29th,
1808 (Raleigh, NC) – July 31st, 1875
(Elizabethton, TN)
Vice President: [none]
First Lady: Eliza McCardle
nickname: The Tennessee Tailor -- He worked as a tailor before entering politics.
*ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, a political party supported by
Republicans and War Democrats, who had backed the Civil War
*first president to be impeached and not removed from office, for firing his
congressionally-approved Secretary Of War
*bought Alaska from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million in gold
*experienced tailor who made his own suits
*despite the quote above, African American males were given the (limited) vote
during his administration
*his term also saw the birth of the Ku Klux Klan
18. Hiram Ulysses Grant (Republican;
1869-1877)
“The
most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter
criticized.”
April 27th, 1822 (Point Pleasant, OH)
– July 23rd, 1885 (Wilton, NY)
Vice Presidents: Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson
First Lady: Julia Dent
nickname: Unconditional Surrender Grant -- He demanded such in the South’s
concession of the Civil War.
*better known as Ulysses S. Grant, the S. was mistakenly added at West Point
Military Academy and could not be removed
*declined Lincoln’s invitation to see the show at Ford’s Theatre the night of
the assassination
*ran for a third term since a limit wasn’t ratified until 1951 by the 22nd
Amendment
*made laws against the Ku Klux Klan and effectively drove them underground for
decades
*wrote Robert E. Lee’s terms of Civil War surrender and made them generous in
hopes of reuniting the country
*declared Christmas a national holiday to unify the North and South
*smoked cigars and died of throat cancer
*buried in North America’s largest tomb
*featured on the $50 bill
19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes (Republican;
1877-1881)
“Every
expert was once a beginner.”
October 4th,
1822 (Delaware, OH) – January 17th,
1893 (Fremont, OH)
Vice President: William A. Wheeler
First Lady: Lucy Webb
nickname: Rutherfraud -- His presidential victory was highly disputed.
*wounded while fighting in the Civil War
*won the presidency by one Electoral vote
*signed a law allowing women to argue before the Supreme Court
*Lucy received America’s first Siamese cat as a gift
*first president to visit the west coast
*began the tradition of having Easter celebrations on the White House lawn
*first president to use the telephone and typewriter
20. James Abram Garfield (Republican; 1881)
“I
love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against
popular error.”
November 19th,
1831 (Moreland Hills, OH) – September 19th,
1881 (Elberon, NJ)
Vice President: Chester A. Arthur
First Lady: Lucretia Rudolph
nickname: Preacher President -- He was an ordained minister.
*fought in the Civil War until Lincoln asked him to focus on politics
*nominated because the Republican party could not decide between other
candidates
*was ambidextrous (used both hands) and a linguist, fluent in English,
German, Latin, and Greek
*shot four months into his term by Charles Guiteau, a former supporter who felt
Garfield owed him a government position and ignored his requests
*survived another 2.5 months but succumbed to blood poisoning due to sub-par medical
treatment
21. Chester Alan Arthur (Republican;
1881-1885)
“There
doesn’t seem anything else for an ex-president to do but to go into the country
and raise big pumpkins.”
October 5th,
1829 (Fairfield, VT) – November 18th,
1886 (New York, NY)
Vice President: [none]
First Lady: Mary McElroy (sister)
nickname: Gentleman Boss -- For his stylish attire and demeanor.
*part of a law firm which helped integrate streetcars in New York City
*faced untrue allegations he was born outside of the U.S.
*wife Nell died from pneumonia before his presidency
22. Stephen Grover Cleveland (Democrat; 1885-1889)
“The
ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny
of those aboard.”
March 18th,
1837 (Caldwell, NJ) – June 24th, 1908
(Princeton, NJ)
Vice Presidents: Thomas A. Hendricks, [none]
First Ladies: Rose Cleveland (sister), Frances Folsom
nickname: His Obstinacy -- He stubbornly vetoed 414 bills while in office, the
most until FDR’s administration.
*hanged two men as Sheriff of Erie County, New York
*only president married in the White House
*Hendricks died unexpectedly in his sleep ten months into the term
*distant relative of Moses Cleaveland (spelled that way), the namesake of
Cleveland, Ohio
*creator of the Baby Ruth candy bar who claimed it was named for his
daughter Ruth to avoid paying royalties to Babe Ruth
*featured on the $1,000 bill
23. Benjamin Harrison (Republican; 1889-1893)
“We
Americans have no commission from God to police the world.”
August 23rd,
1833 (North Bend, OH) – March 13th,
1901 (Indianapolis, IN)
Vice President: Levi P. Morton
First Lady: Caroline Scott, Mary Harrison (daughter)
nickname: The Human Iceberg -- He had a cold attitude when speaking privately.
*grandson of William Henry Harrison
*commanded several brigades in battle during the Civil War
*first president to use electricity in the White House and to have his voice
recorded
*signed the Land Revision Act, which paved the way for national parks to be
established
*Caroline died from tuberculosis during presidency
*re-married to Caroline’s niece, Mary Dimmick
*last president to have a beard
24. Stephen Grover Cleveland (Democrat; 1893-1897)
Vice President
(2nd term): Adlai Stevenson
First Lady: Frances Folsom
*only separate-term president (he lost the previous election)
25. William McKinley (Republican; 1897-1901)
“War
should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.”
January 29th,
1843 (Niles, OH) – September 14th,
1901 (Buffalo, NY)
Vice Presidents: Garret Hobart, Theodore Roosevelt
First Lady: Ida Saxton
nickname: The Idol Of Ohio -- His home state was proud of his political success.
*president during the Spanish-American War
*temporary namesake of North America’s highest mountain, which was renamed Denali
to reflect local native Alaskans
*annexed Hawaii for U.S. territory, despite opposition
*assassinated six months into second term by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who
thought McKinley was corrupt
*featured on the $500 bill
26. Theodore Roosevelt (Republican;
1901-1909)
“Speak
softly and carry a big stick.”
October 27th,
1858 (New York, NY) – January 6th,
1919 (Oyster Bay, NY)
Vice President: Charles W. Fairbanks
First Lady: Edith Carow
nickname: Bull Moose -- Roosevelt described himself as such, famously after
losing a third Republican nomination and representing the Progressive Party.
*youngest president at 42 years of age
*first president to win a Nobel Peace Prize (for bridging peace between Japan
and Russia)
*oversaw building (but not conclusion) of the Panama Canal and was the
first sitting president to leave the U.S., when he visited it
*organized and led the famous Rough Riders during battles of the
Spanish-American War in Cuba
*avid outdoorsman who climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland
*founded Yellowstone, the world’s first national park
*mother Martha and first wife Alice both died on Valentine’s Day in 1884
*Teddy bears were named for him because he once refused to shoot an injured
bear that was tied to a tree for him; he gave permission despite hating the
nickname Teddy
*one of four presidents on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore
27. William Howard Taft (Republican;
1909-1913)
“Don’t
write so that you can be understood. Write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”
September 15th,
1857 (Cincinnati, OH) – March 8th,
1930 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice Presidents: James S. Sherman, [none]
First Lady: Helen Herron
nickname: Big Bill -- For his large size.
*governor of American-occupied Philippines
*heaviest president; possibly topped 325 pounds but lost 70 after his term
*had a large bathtub installed at the White House and there is no evidence he ever
got stuck in it
*rejected two Supreme Court nominations but eventually became Chief Justice and
only person to hold both that title and President
*Sherman died from Bright’s disease (a kidney condition)
*began the tradition of the president pitching a ball before Major League Baseball’s
opening game
*last president with facial hair (moustache)
*like Roosevelt, had a stuffed animal named for him- the Billy Possum
28. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (Democrat; 1913-1921)
“If
you want to make enemies, try to change something.”
December 28th,
1856 (Staunton, VA) – February 3rd,
1924 (Washington, D.C.)
Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall
First Ladies: Ellen Axson, Margaret Wilson (daughter), Edith
Bolling (re-married)
nickname: The Schoolmaster -- He wore glasses and had a tendency to lecture people.
*president of Princeton University (his alma mater) in New Jersey (where he was
governor)
*won the presidency partly because Roosevelt created his own branch of the
Republican party
*won the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing the League Of Nations, predecessor of
the United Nations
*spoke in support of segregation, stunted African American societal progress,
and is partly responsible for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan
*Prohibition began under his presidency, in 1920
*held the first presidential press conference
*president during World War 1 (remember that by focusing on all the Ws)
*Ellen died from Bright’s disease during presidency
*gave the first live national radio broadcast, in 1923
*only president buried in Washington, D.C.
29. Warren Gamaliel Harding (Republican;
1921-1923)
“I
am not fit for this office and should never have been here.”
November 2nd,
1865 (Blooming Grove, OH) – August 2nd,
1923 (San Francisco, CA)
Vice President: Calvin Coolidge
First Lady: Florence Kling
nickname: Wobbly Warren -- He was undecided and/or changed his stance on many issues.
*won presidency by the largest margin since the 1820s, 26.2%
*first president after women were given the right to vote
*signed the Budget & Accounting Act, which allowed for closer watch over
government spending
*like many politicians, supported Prohibition but was a known drinker
*first president to own a radio
*only child was from an affair
*put friends in powerful positions, leading to many scandals including an
infamous one where his Secretary Of The Interior illegally sold oil reserves in
Teapot Dome, Wyoming
*died from a heart attack less than two years into his term, though a theory claims
his wife poisoned him
30. John Calvin Coolidge (Republican;
1923-1929)
“Silence
can never be misquoted.”
July 4th, 1872 (Plymouth, VT) – January
5th, 1933 (Northampton, MA)
Vice President: Charles G. Dawes
First Lady: Grace Goodhue
nickname: Silent Cal -- His mannerisms were calm and often quiet.
*sworn in by his father, a notary, while on vacation
*known for being quiet and reserved, his campaign slogan was ‘Keep Cool With Coolidge’
*opposed Prohibition at first then supported it for political reasons
*reduced taxes constantly so only 2% of the population paid income tax by the
end of his presidency
*installed a mechanical horse in the White House and used it for exercise after
it was deemed riding actual horses was too dangerous for a president
*entertained himself by calling White House workers into his office then hiding
*led the U.S. during most of the Roaring Twenties but blamed himself for not
doing enough to avoid the Great Depression, which started a few months after his
presidency
31. Herbert Clark Hoover (Republican;
1929-1933)
“No
one can catch a fish with anger.”
August 10th,
1874 (West Branch, IA) – October 20th,
1964 (New York, NY)
Vice President: Charles Curtis
First Lady: Lou Henry
nickname: The Great Engineer -- He worked as a civil engineer before politics and helped save many people
with his work, notably along the Mississippi River when it overflowed in 1927.
*the presidency was his first election victory (appointed to previous
government positions)
*saw the U.S. through the Great Depression, the stock market crash which had
negative impacts on economies worldwide
*featured in the first American television broadcast, in 1927 (before
presidency)
*nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize but never won
*spoke conversational Mandarin Chinese
*was not invited by FDR’s administration to the dedication of the Boulder Dam,
which was renamed the Hoover Dam by Truman
32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat; 1933-1945)
“The
only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
January 30th,
1882 (Hyde Park, NY) – April 12th,
1945 (Warm Springs, GA)
Vice Presidents: John Garner, Henry Wallace, Harry Truman
First Lady: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
nickname: FDR -- His initials.
*president during World War 2
*only president elected to four terms
*won each election by a landslide of Electoral votes
*introduced the New Deal to recover from the Great Depression
*pushed for and ultimately saw the end of Prohibition
*sanctioned Japanese-American internment after the attack on Pearl Harbor
*first president to appear on television (during term) and to fly in an airplane
*5th cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, whose niece he married
*kept his 1921 Polio diagnosis from the public during his presidency
*featured on the dime
33. Harry S Truman (Democrat; 1945-1953)
“It’s
amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
May 8th,
1884 (Lamar, MO) – December 26th,
1972 (Kansas City, MO)
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
First Lady: Elizabeth “Bess” Wallace
nickname: Give ‘em Hell Harry -- A campaign slogan.
*legal name was Harry, not Harold
*his parents couldn’t decide which grandfather to honor- Solomon or Shipp- so
his middle name is simply S
*gave the order to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
*heavy underdog to win a second term against Thomas Dewey, which resulted in
newspapers prematurely printing DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN, shown in a famous picture
of Truman holding a paper after his victory
*made popular the phrase The Buck Stops Here, which was on a sign on his desk
and meant he would not defer responsibility, or ‘pass the buck’, a saying with
roots in poker games
*introduced presidential term limits via the 22nd Amendment
*co-created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective of 30
countries to protect each other from hostile forces, namely the Soviet Union
(at the time)
*began the tradition of Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation at the White House,
though the idea of ‘pardoning’ a turkey wouldn’t come for decades
34. Dwight David Eisenhower (Republican;
1953-1961)
“If
you want total security, go to prison.”
October 14th,
1890 (Denison, TX) – March 28th, 1969
(Washington, D.C.)
Vice President: Richard Nixon
First Lady: Mamie Doud
nickname: Ike -- A family nickname made popular by his campaign slogan ‘I Like Ike’.
*birth name was David Dwight but his mother reversed the names to avoid
confusion with his father, also David Dwight
*served in the military during both World Wars but never saw active combat
*Democrats and Republicans both wanted him as their candidate
*president during the Korean War
*first president to ride in a helicopter
*presidential retreat in Maryland was renamed from Shangri La to Camp David,
after his grandson
*Alaska and Hawaii became states during his presidency
*signed a bill in 1958 to create NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat;
1961-1963)
“Ask
not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
(paraphrase of a Warren G. Harding quote)
May 29th, 1917 (Brookline, MA) – November
22nd, 1963 (Dallas, TX)
Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson
First Lady: Jacqueline Bouvier
nicknames: JFK -- His initials.
*first president born in the 1900s
*at 43, youngest person to be *elected* president (Theodore Roosevelt was younger
but succeeded to the presidency after McKinley was killed)
*president at the beginning of the “space race” and guaranteed Americans would
land on the Moon before 1970 (without a plan in place)
*only president to win a Pulitzer Prize, though how much of Profiles In Courage
he actually wrote is disputed
*only president to receive a Purple Heart, for being injured in battle during
World War 2
*only president to appoint a sibling (his brother Robert) to a cabinet position
(Attorney General)
*donated his presidential salary to charities
*famously sung to by Marilyn Monroe during his 45th birthday party /
campaign fundraiser
*assassinated in November of 1963 in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald, a
former Marine sharpshooter who defected to the Soviet Union because he opposed the
U.S. and Capitalism, not Kennedy himself
*targeted for assassination at least three times before the successful attempt
36. Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat;
1963-1969)
“Until
justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity
is unconcerned with the color of men’s skin, emancipation will be a
proclamation but not a fact.”
August 27th
, 1908 (Stonewall, TX) – January 22th, 1973
(Stonewall, TX)
Vice President: Hubert Humphrey
First Lady: Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor
nicknames: LBJ -- His initials.
*inadvertently avoided death in World War 2 when he accidentally boarded the wrong airplane
*took his oath of office aboard Air Force One
*oversaw the creation of Medicare and Medicaid
*authorized the U.S. to enter the Vietnam War, known there as the American War
*eco-friendly man who would shut off unnecessary lights and lamps around the
White House
*’Lady Bird’ was a nickname from childhood
*owned dogs named Him and Her
37. Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican;
1969-1974)
“I
am not a crook.”
January 9th, 1913 (Yorba Linda, CA)
– April 22nd, 1994 (New York, NY)
Vice Presidents: Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford
First Lady: Thelma “Pat” Ryan
nickname: Tricky Dick -- For infamously using underhanded tactics, even before Watergate.
*Milhous was his mother’s maiden name
*renounced his Quaker faith to join the Navy in World War 2 (Quakers are
pacifists)
*signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War
*established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
*initiated the War On Drugs to combat America’s drug problems
*mandated year-round daylight saving time to conserve fuel during an energy
crisis but the idea was abandoned because people didn’t like children waiting
for morning school buses in the dark
*installed a bowling alley in the White House and reportedly averaged a score
of 232
*several people within his administration were caught breaking into rooms at
the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., hoping to get information about
Nixon’s political opponents
*never officially implicated in the Watergate scandal but was suspected of
trying to cover it up and co-conspirators confessed Nixon secretly taped
meetings in the Oval Office, which was illegal
*only president to resign from office, which he did before he would likely have
been impeached and removed for obstruction of justice and other serious charges
38. Gerald Rudolph Ford (Republican;
1974-1977)
“Tell
the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time.”
July 14th,
1913 (Omaha, NE) – December 26th,
2006 (Rancho Mirage, CA)
Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller
First Lady: Elizabeth “Betty” Bloomer
nickname: Mister Nice Guy -- He had a clean-cut image and personable character.
*born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. but renamed for his stepfather
*football player who turned down two NFL offers
*won 13 straight congressional campaigns
*never elected to high office- ascended to vice presidency when Agnew resigned
and president when Nixon resigned
*target of two assassination attempts, both in 1975 by women, including a
disciple of Charles Manson
*wife Betty was named Time’s Woman Of The Year in 1975 and is the namesake of a
famous drug rehabilitation clinic
*controversially pardoned Nixon from any charges resulting from Watergate in an
attempt to let the country move on from the scandal, though alternate,
nefarious reasons have been suggested
39. James Earl Carter, Jr. (Democrat;
1977-1981)
“The
measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless
citizens.”
October 1st,
1924 (Plains, GA)
Vice President: Walter Mondale
First Lady: Eleanor Rosalynn Smith
nickname: The Peanut Farmer -- His former occupation.
*resigned from the military to save his family’s peanut farm
*went by ‘Jimmy’, making him the first president to use his nickname in
an official way
*sold the presidential yacht to show he was “equal” to the general public
*only president to be interviewed by Playboy Magazine
*created the Department of Energy
*had solar panels installed on the White House roof
*an early promoter of Habitat For Humanity
*won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for advancing democracy and human rights
40. Ronald Wilson Reagan (Republican; 1981-1989)
“It’s
hard, when you’re up to your armpits in alligators, to remember you came here
to drain the swamp.”
February 6th,
1911 (Tampico, IL) – June 5th, 2004
(Los Angeles, CA)
Vice President: George H.W. Bush
First Lady: Nancy Davis
nickname: The Gipper -- He played George ‘The Gipper’ Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American.
The phrase “Win one for the Gipper” comes from this movie.
*sports broadcaster and actor in over 50 films and television episodes before
getting into politics
*first president to be divorced before election
*heavily promoted Nixon’s War On Drugs
*appointed the first female to the Supreme Court- Sandra Day O’Connor
*loved jelly beans and was sent free shipments of them throughout his
presidency
*shot by John Hinckley, a mentally-disturbed man who was trying to impress actress
Jodie Foster, whom he thought he had a relationship with
*Hinckley’s bullet missed Reagan but ricocheted off the presidential
limousine’s bulletproof glass to hit him in the chest, which is a nice example
of irony
41. George Herbert Walker Bush
(Republican; 1989-1993)
“I
have opinions of my own … but I don’t always agree with them.”
June 12th,
1924 (Milton, MA) – November 30th,
2018 (Houston, TX)
Vice President: Dan Quayle
First Lady: Barbara Pierce
nickname: Poppy -- A family nickname. He would later use names like ‘Papa Bush’ to differentiate between
himself and his son George when the latter entered the political scene.
*joined the Navy instead of attending Yale, but eventually went to the university
*former director of the CIA
*first sitting vice president to be elected president since 1836
*president during the first Gulf War, after Iraq invaded Kuwait for oil in 1990
*first president to officially “pardon” a turkey from being eaten on
Thanksgiving
*the Japanese word ‘bushusuru’ was coined after he publicly vomited on Prime
Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, likely caused by food poisoning
*celebrated 75th, 80th, 85th, and 90th
birthdays by skydiving
42. William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat; 1993-2001)
“The
road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of truth.”
August 19th,
1946 (Hope, AR)
Vice President: Al Gore
First Lady: Hillary Rodham
nickname: Bubba -- A common nickname for Southerners.
*born with the last name Blythe for his father he’d never met; legally changed
to Clinton after his mother remarried
*played saxophone, notably on Arsenio Hall’s talk show while campaigning for
president
*signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which permits tax-free
trading between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico
*successfully balanced the budget
*second president to be impeached but not ousted, for lying to Congress under
oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and for
obstructing justice
*nominated for four Grammys and won two- narrating on a children’s album called
Peter And The Wolf & Wolf Tracks and his audio autobiography
43. George Walker Bush (Republican; 2001-2009)
“I
don’t worry about long-term history. I won’t be around to read it.”
July 6th,
1946 (New Haven, CT)
Vice President: Dick Cheney
First Lady: Laura Welch
nickname: Dubya -- The quick, Southern way he pronounced his middle initial.
*son of George H. W. Bush, making him the second son of a president to be
president (Adams)
*former governor of Texas; his brother Jeb was governor of Florida
*co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team from 1989-1998
*president during the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center
*signed the Patriot Act to detect and deter terrorism
*established the Department Of Homeland Security
*oversaw the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, brought on by the
costs of war and excessive tax cuts
*began the second Gulf War with Iraq, claiming they were hiding weapons of mass
destruction
*only president to attain an MBA degree (master of business administration, from
Harvard)
*only president to run a marathon (in 1993, with a time of 3:44:52)
44. Barack Hussein Obama (Democrat;
2009-2017)
“When
ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do
anything. You just let them talk.”
August 4th,
1961 (Honolulu, HI)
Vice President: Joe Biden
First Lady: Michelle Robinson
nickname: No Drama Obama -- For his relaxed demeanor. (And it rhymes!)
*first name means ‘blessed one’ in Swahili
*only president born outside the continental United States
*moved to Indonesia at 6 years old but returned to Hawaii at 10 for safety
reasons
*first president with direct African ancestry (father was born in Kenya)
*first sitting president to visit the Arctic Circle and a federal prison (on
separate occasions)
*awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for his efforts toward international
diplomacy
*winner of two Grammys, both for spoken word albums
*named Time magazine’s Person Of The Year in 2008 and 2012
*ordered the military operation which killed Osama Bin Laden
45. Donald John Trump (Republican; 2017-2021)
“Leaders-
true leaders- take responsibility for the success of the team and understand
that they must also take responsibility for the failure.”
June 14th,
1946 (New York, NY)
Vice President: Mike Pence
First Lady: Melanija Knavs
nickname: The Donald -- His first wife referred to him by it in
1989. Also could refer to a boss, or Don, in the mafia.
*established the Trump Foundation in 1987 to donate profits from his book sales
to charity
*former host of The Apprentice, a television show in which people competed to
work for him
*first considered running for president going into the 2000 election
*‘Make America Great Again’, his first campaign slogan, was also used by Ronald
Reagan during his run against Jimmy Carter
*first president to be impeached twice; first for abuse of power and
obstruction of Congress, second for incitement of insurrection
*third president to be impeached but not ousted
*has five children with three women
*owner of the Miss Universe, Miss America, and Miss Teen USA pageants from
1996-2015
*had cameos in the films Home Alone 2: Lost In New York and Zoolander
46. Joseph Robinette
Biden, Junior (Democrat; 2021-????)
“Leadership, at its
core, in my view, is about being personal.”
November 20th,
1942 (Scranton, PA)
Vice President: Kamala Harris
First Lady: Dr. Jill Jacobs
nickname: Amtrak Joe -- Early in his career, he would frequently
commute by train to and from Washington, D.C., taking at least 75 minutes each
way.
*former senator from Delaware; first elected in 1972 at age 29
*first ran for president in 1988 but quit after parts of a speech were found to
be plagiarized
*was responsible for the controversial Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement
Act in 1994, which reduced crime but resulted in a disproportionate number of
minorities going to jail
*overcame a childhood stutter
*does not drink alcohol but is quite fond of chocolate chip ice cream
*first wife Neilia and their one-year-old daughter Naomi died in a car crash in
1972
*son Beau (with Neilia) died from brain cancer in 2015
*awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2017
*oldest elected president at 78
Thanks to these websites for aiding my research:
history.com, azquotes.com, biography.com, google.com, wikipedia.org, mentalfloss.com, thoughtco.com, constitutioncenter.org, cnn.com, facts.net, presidentsusa.net, constitutionfacts.com, The Presidents Before Washington exhibit in Annapolis, Maryland
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