44 Bizarre Presidential Facts

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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.