44 Bizarre Presidential Facts
1. George Washington
Washington never actually had wooden teeth. His teeth were made from gold, ivory, lead, or just used substitute human and animal teeth.
2. John Adams
Adams was fat enough that he was given the nickname, “His Rotundity.”
3. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson introduced the French fry to the United States.
4. James Madison
His last words were, “I always talk better lying down.”
5. James Monroe
Monroe was the third President in a row to die on July 4, five years after Adams and Jefferson.
6. John Quincy Adams
A lot of options here: skinny dipping in the Potomac, though, has to be the winner.
7. Andrew Jackson
All the West Wing fans out there are probably already aware that Jackson had a 1,400 pound block of cheese in the White House.
8. Martin Van Buren
Van Buren received two tiger cubs from the Sultan of Oman. He tried to keep them, but Congress decided they belonged to the people.
9. William Harrison
He served only 32 days before dying in what was the shortest term ever for a president.
10. John Tyler
Congress did not care for Tyler at all. They dubbed him, “His Accidency,” as he was the first person to assume office because his predecessor died in office.
11. James Polk
Liquor and dancing were banned from the White House during his term.
12. Zachary Taylor
Taylor never established residence as he moved from place to place. Thus he did not vote in his own election.
13. Millard Fillmore
Fillmore was President when running water was installed in the White House
14. Franklin Pierce
Pierce was an alcoholic and depressed – while in the Oval Office.
15. James Buchanan
He never married and most historians have decided that he was gay.
16. Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was the only President who held a patent.
17. Andrew Johnson
When inaugurated as Lincoln’s VP, he did so staggeringly drunk.
18. Ulysses S Grant
Grant was given a speeding ticket for riding his horses dangerously fast
19. Rutherford B. Hayes
He overcame a childhood fear of going insane.
20. James Garfield
He could write in Latin with one hand while writing Greek with the other.
21. Chester A. Arthur
During his presidency, he had no vice president.
22. Grover Cleveland
Cleveland married a woman 27 years younger – a woman for whom he had been named the legal guardian.
23. Benjamin Harrison
His cold, aloof demeanor gave him the nickname “The Human Iceberg.”
24. Grover Cleveland (again)
He served as a hangman before his political career.
25. William McKinley
McKinley tried to prevent the crowd from killing his assassin.
26. Theodore Roosevelt
He was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.
27. William Taft
Taft was the first president to throw out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.
28. Woodrow Wilson – After Wilson’s stroke, his wife Edith determined what information was important enough to be seen by him.
29. Warren Harding
Harding campaigned for President from his front porch.
30. Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge brought an electric horse to the White House.
31. Herbert Hoover
He has two asteroids named after him – Herberta and Hooveria.
32. Franklin Roosevelt
FDR grew up wearing a dress.
33. Harry S Truman
There is some confusion over whether there should be a period after S, as it doesn’t stand for anything.
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower always carried three coins in his pocket for good luck.
35. John F. Kennedy
Before the Cuban embargo, he bought 1,200 Cuban cigars.
36. Lyndon B. Johnson
LBJ liked Fresca so much, he installed a button in the Oval Office to order it.
37. Richard Nixon
Nixon met with Elvis about being an honorary narcotics agent.
38. Gerald Ford
Ford was a National Park ranger.
39. Jimmy Carter
Carter filed a UFO report while governor of Georgia. And he was once attacked by a rabbit. Two separate facts, but too good to pass up.
40. Ronald Reagan
Reagan really loved Jelly Bellies. At his 1980 inauguration, 40 million jelly beans were consumed.
41. George H.W. Bush
During a trip to Japan, Bush vomited at a banquet with the prime minister. The Japanese word bushu-suru now means to “do the Bush thing” or publicly vomit.
42. Bill Clinton
Clinton considered becoming a jazz musician before public service. He was pretty good on the saxophone too.
43. George W. Bush
W was a cheerleader while at Yale. And there are pictures.
44. Barack Obama
Obama has said that one of his favorite TV shows is The Wire, and his favorite character Omar Little.
