IT'S PRESIDENT'S DAY

[Trevor]

IN HONOR OF PRESIDENT'S DAY:
Here are 45 random facts about America's 45 Presidents - feel free to share them!

GEORGE WASHINGTON only had one tooth left by the time he became President, which he stubbornly refused to have pulled for several years. Every new pair of Presidential dentures had to leave a hole for the lonely molar to poke through.
JOHN ADAMS was known for his volatile temper and sour disposition, but he was a devoted husband to his wife Abigail, and wrote her over 20,000 letters during their 60 year marriage.
THOMAS JEFFERSON was the father of American archaeology, carefully excavating an Indian mound on his plantation at Monticello and theorizing about its builders.
JAMES MADISON took personal command of troops in the field during the British raid on Washington, DC in August 1814, but was unable to keep the raw militia and outnumbered regulars from breaking and running away at the Battle of Bladensburg.
JAMES MONROE was a bland and boring President, but as Ambassador to France, he had extensive conversations with Napoleon, Talleyrand, and other leading figures in European history.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, as we all read years ago, enjoyed skinny dipping in the Potomac. What you might not know is he also kept a pet alligator in the White House. He also watched the Battle of Bunker Hill break out near his home when he was only 8 years old!
ANDREW JACKSON was the first President to survive an assassination attempt while in office. It took three Congressmen to pull the President off of his attacker!
MARTIN VAN BUREN helped the Southern states expand slavery during his term of office, but later ran for President again - on a Free Soil ticket to block the expansion of slavery.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was in office 28 days before dying of pneumonia. If "he who governs least governs best," he was arguably the best President ever!
JOHN TYLER was the first VP to succeed to the Presidency on the death of his predecessor. He was promptly kicked out of the Whig Party which elected him when he refused to support their agenda, and the Democrats wouldn't take him back, so he was a President without a party for 3 1/2 years. Thing is, he had 14 kids, so the man obviously knew HOW to party . . .
JAMES K. POLK worked longer hours than any President - fourteen to sixteen hours a day, on average, delegating nothing. He drafted his own speeches, wrote his own letters, and died only three months after leaving office.
ZACHARY TAYLOR was a general in the Mexican War whose nickname was "Old Rough and Ready." At the Battle of Buena Vista, when things were looking rocky, an aide suggested the army prepare to retreat, Taylor spat out his chew of tobacco and said: "Zachary Taylor don't retreat, son!" That eloquence won him the White House.
MILLARD FILLMORE stepped up when Taylor died in 1850 and served for two and a half years. He was a competent administrator who signed the Compromise of 1850 into law, but his party had only won elections with war heroes, so they ditched him in favor of General Winfield Scott in 1852 - who promptly lost the election.
FRANKLIN PIERCE lost his only son in a railroad accident on the way to Washington, DC to take office. The boy's death shattered his marriage and his life, and he spent a good part of his presidency drunk.
JAMES BUCHANAN is widely regarded as the worst President in history, as well as being America's only bachelor President. There's been a lot of speculation that he may have been our first gay President, but frankly, if I were gay, I wouldn't claim him.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN has been the subject of more books than any other President, and he is also the only President to have a patented invention on file in the U.S. Patent Office - a device he came up with for lifting steamboats over sandbars and log jams.
ANDREW JOHNSON never attended school and was taught to read and write after he got married by his wife, He was the second President to be kicked out of the party that elected him, joining John Tyler in the "rejects club."
ULYSSES GRANT was, of course, a famous general as well as President. He was also a speed demon and was fined for driving his carriage too fast down the cobblestone streets of Washington, DC.
RUTHERFORD HAYES was a decorated Civil War officer, wounded five times in combat, who came to the White House in a hotly disputed election. He was a teetotaler who only served lemonade, water, and tea at White House dinners.
JAMES GARFIELD was shot in the back by Charles Giteau, a would-be assassin, but it was the doctors who killed poor Garfield by probing for the bullet with unwashed hands and causing a massive infection.
CHESTER A. ARTHUR was a corrupt spoilsman who surprised everyone by being an honest, competent President who reformed the Civil Service.
GROVER CLEVELAND was a bachelor when elected, but then the 47 year old surprised his friends and family by marrying 22 year old Frances Cleveland, the youngest First Lady in history. The first couple had a long and happy life together and had 6 children.
BENJAMIN HARRISON intended to be a doctor, but when he went to dissect his first human cadaver, the body turned out to be that of his grandfather, who had been dug up and sold by grave robbers two days after his funeral. The shocking sight drove the future President out of the medical field for good.
GROVER CLEVELAND was the only President to serve non-consecutive terms. During his second administration he had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his jaw - while floating on the Presidential yacht in the middle of the Potomac River!
WILLIAM MCKINLEY campaigned for President from his front porch, where he used his photographic memory to greet every visiting delegation's members individually, by name.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT was the only President to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the Medal of Honor, and also played a large role in saving the American bison from extinction.
WOODROW WILSON was a college President and one term governor of New Jersey when he was elected in 1912. Although funny and warm in private, he was a stickler for protocol and refused to compromise with Republicans on anything, letting the Treaty of Versailles die in the Senate rather than accept a single amendment to it.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT was a weighty President, topping the scales at nearly 250 pounds.  He was also the only man in American history to serve as both President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (not at the same time, obviously!)
WARREN G. HARDING was a small town newspaper editor who was badly out of his depth in the White House and knew it. The stress of doing a job he was mentally ill equipped for triggered a fatal heart attack.
CALVIN COOLIDGE slept more than any President in history, averaging twelve hours of slumber a night, supplemented by an afternoon nap every day. When he woke up to go to supper at 5 PM, he would open one eye, look at his secretary, and ask: "Is the country still here?"
HERBERT HOOVER caught all the blame for a Depression he did not cause and could not cure, but during the first six months of his Presidency he was tremendously popular, being known as "the Boy Wonder" and "the Great Engineer."
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT was crippled by polio and spent the vast majority of his days in a wheelchair, but was so secretive about that fact that, of some 20,000 photographs taken of him while in office, only a half dozen show him in his wheelchair.
HARRY S. TRUMAN was blunt, honest, and plainspoken - he once threatened to punch out a newspaper columnist who gave his daughter's music recital a bad review.
DWIGHT EISENHOWER was a career military man whose reputation has steadily gone up since he left office. Once ranked near the bottom of U.S. Presidents, he is now in the top ten.
JOHN F. KENNEDY projected an image of youth, health, and vigor, but he was actually suffering from Addison's disease, which had nearly killed him, and excruciating back pain from an injury sustained during the war.
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON had a car with a motor that would run in the water, turning it into a boat.. He delighted in taking journalists for a ride on his ranch, then driving into the Pedernales River just to watch them panic.
RICHARD NIXON was so poor during his college
years that he actually lived in the groundskeeper's shed, rising early every morning to shower in the gym and then go to classes.
GERALD FORD locked himself out of the White House one morning, so he sat on the steps and read the paper while waiting for the Secret Service to realize he was missing and let him back in.
JIMMY CARTER was once attacked and chased by a swamp rabbit on a fishing trip, sparking comparisons to MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.
RONALD REAGAN had such bad eyesight that he didn't recognize his son Mike at the boy's high school graduation and actually introduced himself to his own son.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH was the youngest pilot in World War II to win the Distinguished Flying Cross, but he took no pride in the decoration, because both the crewmen on his torpedo bomber were lost when the plane was shot down.
BILL CLINTON got in a bar fight as a college student while registering black voters in Oklahoma during the 1972 election.
GEORGE W. BUSH was a dyslexic who became a reader, and during his Presidency he read biographies of all his predecessors.
BARACK OBAMA served less than four years in the U.S. Senate before running for President. He was the first President born in Hawaii. (Although some still challenge this.)
DONALD TRUMP did a cameo appearance in HOME ALONE II: LOST IN NEW YORK, long before launching his own television shows.

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY, everyone!

Nice, thanks Indy.

Pres Truman's letter to the critic 

It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.   Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beef steak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!
Westbrook Pegler, a guttersnipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry

Paul Hume was the critic's name.

[ER]

Just for you, Indy, me ol' son.

Washington: A+
Adams: C-
Jefferson: B+
Madison: C+
Monroe: B
JQ Adams: C
Jackson: A-
Van Buren: C
Harrison: Incomplete
Tyler: C
Polk: B-
Taylor: Incomplete
Filmore: B+
Pierce: F
Buchanan: F
Lincoln: A+
Johnson: F
Grant: B
Hayes: C+
Garfield: C
Arthur: B-
Cleveland: B
Harrison: C+
McKinley: C+
T. Roosevelt: A+
Wilson: B-
Harding: F
Coolidge: B
Hoover: C-
FD Roosevelt: A
Truman: A-
Eisenhower: A-
Kennedy: B
Johnson: F
Nixon: C-
Ford: B+
Carter: B-
Reagan: A-
GHW Bush: B+
Clinton: B+
GW Bush: D
Obama: F
Trump: Incomplete

[lester1/2jr]

https://mises.org/library/missing-warren-g-harding

"In the aftermath of that ghastly horror called the Great War, Warren Gamaliel Harding ran for president and won. His platform: Return to normalcy. He was the dark-horse candidate, but won 60% of the vote. Among his first actions was to pardon Eugene Debs, the socialist candidate, who had been jailed for opposing the war draft. He reduced taxes, deregulated, and generally calmed down the country after a culture-wrecking, budget-busting war, and assured a time of great prosperity.

Harding resisted intervening at all in the recession of 1921, and it thereby went away rather quickly, as all recessions will tend to do. He signed the peace treaties which formally ended WWI, and sought world naval disarmament at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22. The Teapot Dome Affair that wrecked his administration was a big nothing compared to the crimes of presidents past and future."


" He said that he was unqualified to be president. Indeed, no man is qualified to be president. Harding was honest enough to say it outright."

[indianasmith]

That is the revisionist view of Harding, and it's gaining some ground.
Still, his speeches . . . 


The man had a way with words.  It was the wrong way!

[RCMerchant]

https://mises.org/library/missing-warren-g-harding

The Teapot Dome Affair that wrecked his administration was a big nothing compared to the crimes of presidents past and future."

"

That I will agree with.

[RCMerchant]

I always admired Lyndon Johnson for his Civil Rights Act of 1964 and for pulling out of a 2nd term because he saw what was coming and knew he couldn't deal with it.

[lester1/2jr]

indiana / rc - epic sweep of history/ vs how well people actually lived is something to consider.

would you rather have been a young adult during the civil war or the roaring 20's. I know which would have been more fun

[Allhallowsday]

indiana / rc - epic sweep of history/ vs how well people actually lived is something to consider.

would you rather have been a young adult during the civil war or the roaring 20's. I know which would have been more fun

Interesting remarks.  But what the fnck do they mean?    
Now is what matters.  

[lester1/2jr]

meaning the civil war era might be fun for historians to study but it was probably a pretty bleak time to actually be alive. especially if you were one of the 600,000 people who died.



https://www.amazon.com/Recarving-Rushmore-Ranking-Presidents-Prosperity/dp/1598130226

if you are a person who likes to go to work, come home and generally EXIST is it so wrong to judge the president on how well they deliver that? our ancestors come here for a better life, after all  

[Allhallowsday]

I don't disagree with you Lester.  I guess my attitude is they are dead a long time.  Also those young adults enjoying the roaring twenties... they're dead a long time. 

[Leah]

Grover Cleveland having two nonconsecutive terms still continues to amuse me.

[RCMerchant]

meaning the civil war era might be fun for historians to study but it was probably a pretty bleak time to actually be alive. especially if you were one of the 600,000 people who died.



https://www.amazon.com/Recarving-Rushmore-Ranking-Presidents-Prosperity/dp/1598130226

if you are a person who likes to go to work, come home and generally EXIST is it so wrong to judge the president on how well they deliver that? our ancestors come here for a better life, after all  

So, as long as you got a few more dimes in your pocket, the hell with ideals?
Lincoln could have sat on his hands, but at what cost? I'm sure slavery kept the rich whites happy.
And our ancestors did come here for a better life- they also fought in wars to keep it that way.
Hitler lifted Germany out of the Depression- business was booming! So the people turned a blind eye to how the 3rd Reich was handling the "jewish problem".
I reckon we could go back and forth on this all day long- but why bother...

[Rev. Powell]

meaning the civil war era might be fun for historians to study but it was probably a pretty bleak time to actually be alive. especially if you were one of the 600,000 people who died.



https://www.amazon.com/Recarving-Rushmore-Ranking-Presidents-Prosperity/dp/1598130226

if you are a person who likes to go to work, come home and generally EXIST is it so wrong to judge the president on how well they deliver that? our ancestors come here for a better life, after all  

Maybe, but does the President really create prosperity? I think they mostly just get lucky to be elected in peaceful/prosperous times. I think it's only in times of crisis that leaders get the chance to show what they're made of.

[lester1/2jr]

RC- If we don't question things like wars we are no better than pagans sacrificing their children for a better harvest or whatever though.

US troops are still dying in Afghanistan. i'd argue that is a lot more akin to human sacrifice than whatever ideals the "good wars" represented.



rev- no they can declare wars and control economic policy to an extent. If Gerge Bush hadn't invaded iraq he would be remembered entirely differently and we would have had a very different decade.

el misfit - looniest thing under cleveland was when they declared that gold and silver were worth the same thing. everyone just horded the gold, eventually cleveland was like "yeah that was a bad idea"

[Rev. Powell]

rev- no they can declare wars and control economic policy to an extent. If Gerge Bush hadn't invaded iraq he would be remembered entirely differently and we would have had a very different decade. 

I agree that they can screw things up, like W. and Nixon, who might have been remembered fondly if they hadn't screwed up.

I honestly don't think presidents have much to do with the economy. To the extent that they can have much effect, it's either because their party already controls Congress or they're very good working with the opposite party. Overall I think the strength of the economy is determined by factors outside a president's control.



That's the stock market, not the economy, but it looks fairly random to me.

And Presidents aren't supposed to be able to declare war--I agree that's a big problem with the modern presidency.

I don't think you can look at quality of life under a President and say that proves he was a good leader. You can say that someone who screwed things up is a bad leader, however.

Also:

http://youtu.be/r8N7BSsU5oo