10 Interesting Facts About U.S. Presidents.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

10 funny/interesting facts about U.S. presidents you probably haven't heard off.


1.- James Garfield didn’t die from the gunshot wounds from his assassin’s gun; he died of blood poisoning after doctors and experts (including Alexander Graham Bell) tried to remove the bullet from his back with their dirty fingers and instruments, causing him to linger in pain for 80 days before dying. His assassin, Charles Guiteau, later claimed that he didn’t kill the president, the doctors had.ⁱ

^2.- During his second run for presidency, Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin while giving a speech in Milwaukee. He continued to deliver his speech with the bullet in his chest.ⁱ

^3.- Several of his descendants and a few historians claim that John Hanson (1721-1783) is actually the forgotten first president of the United States because he was the first president under the Articles of Confederation.^j

^4.- George Washington’s original ancestral name was de Wessyngton, from a certain William de Hertburn, a twelfth-century noble knight of the manor and village of Wessyngton who later changed his name to de Wessyngton (which is the Norman spelling of Washington).ⁱ

^5.- After President Bush Sr. vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister, a new word entered the Japanese language. Bushusuru means “to do the Bush thing,” or to publicly vomit.^k

^6.- “Teddy Bears” were so named when Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858-1919) refused to shoot a small bear cub one day. The incident was reported in the news, which inspired a toy manufacture to come out with the cute stuffed animals.^a

^7.- President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the only president to serve in both WWI and WWII.^h

^8.- President James Buchanan (1791-1868) quietly but consistently bought slaves in Washington, D.C., and then set them free in Pennsylvania.^g

^9.- Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, 1822-1885) smoked at least 20 cigars a day and, after a brilliant war victory, a nation of well wishers sent him more than 10,000 cigars. He later died of throat cancer.ⁱ

^10.- John F. “Jack” Kennedy most likely had the most active extramarital sex life of any president. He allegedly slept with Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Audrey Hepburn, Angie Dickinson, stripper Blaze Starr, Marlene Dietrich, and many other women including White House staffers, secretaries, stewardess, campaign workers, strippers, and acquaintances of trusted male friends. The FBI taped sounds of him and Inga Arvad making love.^d

References

^a Boller, Paul F. Jr. 2007. Presidential Diversion: Presidents at Play from George Washington to George W. Bush. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books.

^d Gregory, Leland H. 1999. Presidential Indiscretions. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

^g McPhereson, James M.,  Ed. 2000. “To the Best of My Ability”: The American Presidents. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.

^h Nelson, Michael, Ed. 1998. The Presidency: A to Z. Washington D. C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc.

ⁱ O’Brien, Cormac. 2004. Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You about the Men of the White House. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

^j Smith, Carter. 2004. Presidents: Every Question Answered. Irvington, NY: Hylas Publishing.

^k Stebben, Gregg and Jim Morris. 1998. White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing.