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Ah, presidential politics. I’m old enough to remember Richard Nixon being president, but the commander-in-chief who probably had the most profound impact on my life was Ronald Reagan. Not politically, but just because he was first elected my freshman year in high school, and then re-elected during my freshman year of college. There’s a trivia tidbit about Reagan that I’ve been waiting to divulge somewhere, and if I wait until after this year’s election, it will be too late. So here goes.
Complete this following sentence with some factual information (no real politics or dementia jokes, please).
“Ronald Reagan was the most recent president… ___________________________.”
We’ll have either one or two T-shirt winners this week. The winner we’ll definitely choose is the one who comes up with the most interesting bit of trivia. If someone is able to come up with a line that matches the one we’ve been saving, that person will also win a T-shirt of his or her choice.
Put your answer in a comment. We’ll forego the one-entry-per-person rule this time around, as there’s enough trivia about Rappin’ Ronnie to keep you all busy this weekend, but please put each entry in a different comment. Please remember that we have to approve comments before they appear, so they won’t show up right away. Good luck!
Comments (119)
Comment
“Ronald Reagan was the most recent president… to have a Jelly Belly flavor made specifically for him (blueberry)!
posted by Travis on 2-16-2008 at 10:02 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to bring alliteration into the oval office.
posted by Travis on 2-16-2008 at 10:04 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have a Hollywood Star.
posted by Ed on 2-16-2008 at 10:05 am
…to be shot.
posted by gus on 2-16-2008 at 10:07 am
was the most recent president to be elected on a leap year starting on a Tuesday.
I know it’s far-fetched…
posted by Ed on 2-16-2008 at 10:12 am
oh, by the way, 2008 will be a leap year starting on a Tuesday (gotta get some credit for that, right?)
posted by Ed on 2-16-2008 at 10:14 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president born in Illinois.
posted by Duke Egbert on 2-16-2008 at 10:16 am
to skyrocket the sales of both jelly beans AND hearing aids just by being a consumer himself!
posted by Stephanie on 2-16-2008 at 10:17 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to do Chicago Cubs play-by-play.
posted by Duke Egbert on 2-16-2008 at 10:17 am
have once been a lifeguard that saved 77 lives.
posted by Stephanie on 2-16-2008 at 10:17 am
to be the first president in office to wear contact lenses!
posted by Stephanie on 2-16-2008 at 10:18 am
was the most recent (and only) president to be a member of a union (Screen Actors Guild).
posted by Tricia on 2-16-2008 at 10:25 am
to be featured on a United States postage stamp. :)
posted by Aimee on 2-16-2008 at 10:29 am
…who did not graduate from Yale. George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush are all Yale alumni.
posted by Aimee on 2-16-2008 at 10:38 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have been portrayed in a video by Genesis (Land of Confusion).
posted by Vic on 2-16-2008 at 10:38 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have rivaled the great Harry Carey. One of his first jobs in radio was to give a telegraphed account of the Cubs games to WOC AM 1420 in Davenport, Iowa.
posted by Chris on 2-16-2008 at 10:40 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have switched from one major political party to the other (well before his presidential bid).
posted by Beth on 2-16-2008 at 10:50 am
to have been a member of the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon.
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 10:52 am
to have been married to someone other than his first wife.
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 10:53 am
To have the next president as his vice president.
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 10:54 am
to play a man with his legs purposely amputated in a movie.
“Kings Row”
posted by Jeffrey Brown on 2-16-2008 at 11:06 am
To have passed away………
posted by kelley M on 2-16-2008 at 11:10 am
…in 1988.
posted by Ari on 2-16-2008 at 11:20 am
…to veto the most bills-78! I promise this is my last one. ;)
posted by Aimee on 2-16-2008 at 11:21 am
…to have kept a diary.
posted by meter on 2-16-2008 at 11:55 am
…to have an aircraft carrier named after him.
posted by muffy on 2-16-2008 at 12:13 pm
to live on the West Coast and near the Pacific Ocean.
posted by Viclen on 2-16-2008 at 12:14 pm
To spend his entire Presidential career with a super power Soviet Union.
posted by Witty Nickname on 2-16-2008 at 12:23 pm
To have parted his hair on the Right side…
posted by Liz N. on 2-16-2008 at 12:34 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president you could actually trust.
posted by Scotth on 2-16-2008 at 12:41 pm
to have been born in the 19th century.
posted by Lynn on 2-16-2008 at 12:41 pm
to be succeeded by a member of his party.
posted by Matt on 2-16-2008 at 1:15 pm
to twice win an absolute majority of the popular vote.
posted by Matt on 2-16-2008 at 1:23 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president who was divorced.
posted by Kristen on 2-16-2008 at 1:29 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to attend a college named for an Archimedean exlimation. (Eureka)
posted by Stephen on 2-16-2008 at 1:39 pm
…to have been the Governor of California.
posted by TomH on 2-16-2008 at 1:42 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to create a missle defense system named for a George Lucas film. (Jimmy Carter’s American Graffiti missle defense system was ended in 1978)
posted by Stephen on 2-16-2008 at 1:43 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president have love letters between him and his wife published, the book was called “I love you Ronnie.”
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 1:54 pm
Ronald Reagan was the last president to have been sworn in privately (followed by coldest public inauguration):
January 21, 1985. January 20th fell on Sunday, so Reagan was privately sworn in that day at the White House; public Inauguration on January 21st took place in the Capitol Rotunda, due to freezing weather; coldest Inauguration day on record, with a noon temperature of 7°F
posted by Scott MacDonald on 2-16-2008 at 1:58 pm
Ronald Reagan was the last president to have adopted children (Michael Reagan).
posted by Scott on 2-16-2008 at 2:21 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to be the oldest elected president (second term he was oldest to date).
posted by Scott on 2-16-2008 at 2:23 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president whose wife was the subject of an unauthorized and malicious biography by Kitty Kelley in 1991. The book was titled “Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography”
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 2:36 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have compulsively doodled while working.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 2:38 pm
that was over 6′ tall. He was 6′1″.
posted by kate5405 on 2-16-2008 at 2:44 pm
Ronald Reagan was the only president to have his house number changed from 666 to 668 because of the satanic connections.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 2:56 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have been nicknamed “Dutch.” The name came from his father who nicknamed him “the Fat Dutchman” when he was a baby.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 3:08 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president (as our 40th)to appear on the list of the greatest presidents.
posted by beebo26 on 2-16-2008 at 3:16 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.
posted by beebo26 on 2-16-2008 at 3:18 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to
star in an add campaign-for cigarettes
“My cigarette is the mild cigarette, that’s why I smoke Chesterfields” I have one of these adds at my house. It’s pretty awsome.
posted by Colin on 2-16-2008 at 3:21 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president… to survive an assassin’s bullet.
posted by nutshell on 2-16-2008 at 3:26 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have the sign of Aquarius.
posted by beebo26 on 2-16-2008 at 3:27 pm
President Ronald Reagan was the most recent President to wear a Nazi uniform (while acting in a film during his Hollywood days). The name of the movie was “Desperate Journey”.
posted by Scott on 2-16-2008 at 3:27 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have his inauguration forced into the US Capitol because it was so cold.
posted by beebo26 on 2-16-2008 at 3:29 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have shattered his thigh bone in a celebrity baseball game.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-16-2008 at 3:36 pm
To have switched political parties.
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 4:10 pm
to have the 25th amendment inacted while in office.
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 4:13 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to be the oldest elected president (second term he was oldest to date).
posted by Plissee Peter on 2-16-2008 at 4:21 pm
to live to the age of 90
posted by Sarah on 2-16-2008 at 4:26 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president… to log the most hours aboard Air Force One: 211 missions, 631,640 miles, 1288 hours, 580 sorties - and the only president to have the “Flying White House”, which served 6 presidents, enshrined at his presidential library.
posted by nutshell on 2-16-2008 at 4:55 pm
In his own words: “…have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.”
posted by mayans2012 on 2-16-2008 at 5:42 pm
to arrive via Wagon Train.
posted by Priscilla on 2-16-2008 at 5:47 pm
…to not be named Bush or Clinton.
posted by Duke Egbert on 2-16-2008 at 6:11 pm
…to be a veteran of the United States Army.
posted by Duke Egbert on 2-16-2008 at 6:13 pm
He was the most recent to have an equal number of letters in each of his 3 names, 6. R-O-N-A-L-D W-I-L-S-O-N R-E-A-G-A-N
posted by John P on 2-16-2008 at 7:23 pm
…to have undergone prostate cancer surgery
posted by jenny on 2-16-2008 at 9:52 pm
…to have received an honorary British knighthood, The Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
posted by jenny on 2-16-2008 at 9:55 pm
to not hold elected office at the time of his election to the Presidency.
posted by Matt on 2-16-2008 at 11:41 pm
to receive an electoral vote in an election in which he was not running (1976).
posted by Matt on 2-16-2008 at 11:52 pm
To refer back to the height comment…he is the not the most recent over 6 feet, Clinton and G.B. senior were both over 6 feet. Reagan was 6′1 and the only other pres that was is A. Jackson
posted by jodie on 2-17-2008 at 12:12 am
To have had 2 wives!
posted by Marc Griffith on 2-17-2008 at 3:04 am
To be shot!
posted by Marc Griffith on 2-17-2008 at 3:04 am
To have not used email.
posted by Marc Griffith on 2-17-2008 at 3:07 am
to no have a southern “Home” state
Bush Sr-Texas
Clinton-arkanas
Bushjr-texas
posted by Chris Coultas on 2-17-2008 at 4:27 am
“Ronaldus Magnus was the most recent President… to espouse true Conservative political views.”
posted by Serr8d on 2-17-2008 at 8:44 am
“Ronaldus Magnus was the most recent President… (and the only deserving one) to have assigned a Romanized name…”
posted by Serr8d on 2-17-2008 at 8:47 am
“Ronaldus Magnus was the most recent President… who had no worries about buying his wife a blue dress.”
;D
posted by Serr8d on 2-17-2008 at 8:48 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent President…to possibly be affected by the legendary “Tecumseh Curse”.
There’s even those who believe that he broke the curse, as he survived the assassination attempt.
posted by Amauriel on 2-17-2008 at 10:20 am
mayans2012:
You misquoted the Gipper- what he said was: “…I’m absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.”
posted by Rich on 2-17-2008 at 10:34 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have a child to pose in Playboy.
posted by Mike G. on 2-17-2008 at 10:56 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to assist someone in distress. Per IMDB’s entry on RR :
“When he was a young man, he had a part-time job as a lifeguard. He once had to retrieve an old man’s dentures at the bottom of the pool and did so without hesitating.”
posted by music_lover@bellsouth.net on 2-17-2008 at 11:23 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent presesident to marry in a CEMETARY :
Ronald Reagan married his first wife, Jane Wyman, at Forest Lawn Cemetary in Glendale, California.
posted by Amy on 2-17-2008 at 11:30 am
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have assisted a swimmer in distress. Per IMDB’s entry on RR :
“When he was a young man, he had a part-time job as a lifeguard. He once had to retrieve an old man’s dentures at the bottom of the pool and did so without hesitating.”
posted by Amy on 2-17-2008 at 11:46 am
Sorry about how this is worded, I can’t get it to read right, but you all should know what I mean…
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president whose former VP became the next President and had a son who later also became President.
posted by Amy on 2-17-2008 at 12:02 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have
never had a family member run for President.
posted by Liz N. on 2-17-2008 at 12:24 pm
His hearing became impaired after a gun was shot near his head in a movie shoot.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-17-2008 at 1:04 pm
…to have co-starred in a movie with a monkey, Bonzo!
and to have brought the national debt up to one trillion dollars!
posted by Frann on 2-17-2008 at 1:08 pm
Fidel Castro once said about Ronald Reagan, “how can you take this man seriously?”
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-17-2008 at 1:13 pm
Ronald Reagan was born above a bakery in Tampico, Illinois
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-17-2008 at 1:17 pm
At the 1988 Republican convention Ronald Reagan said “Facts are stupid things.” What he meant to say was “Facts are stubborn things.” He was trying to quote John Adams.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-17-2008 at 1:22 pm
He has lived the longest, he died at 93 surpassing John Adams who lived to be 90.
posted by Yadira Garcia on 2-17-2008 at 1:33 pm
I’m going to say that he is the most recent president to have published a book before becoming president.
If you wait until November, it will no longer be true, because John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have all already published.
posted by Jess on 2-17-2008 at 1:41 pm
On that same note…
He is the most recent president to have won a major entertainment industry award. (He won a Golden Globe…Clinton and Obama have won Grammys)
posted by Jess on 2-17-2008 at 1:47 pm
“Ronald Reagan was the most recent president… to die after leaving office.
posted by JaneM on 2-17-2008 at 1:47 pm
Ronald Reagan was not only a member of the Screen Actors Guild–he was a President of that Union. In that role, he testifield before congress in the McCarthy era, but did not, to his credit, “name names.” I think it’s a safe bet that we will never have a former labor union president elected to be President of the US again.
posted by Annette on 2-17-2008 at 1:50 pm
Plissee Peter your answer 57 is obvious plagerism (i.e. cut and paste) of my answer 41 which was written in MY words NOT yours. Are you so ignorant that you have to cheat at the weekend challenge?
posted by Scott on 2-17-2008 at 3:13 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to have a form of economics named after him (”Reaganomics,” anyone?).
posted by Cat on 2-17-2008 at 3:15 pm
star with a monkey.
posted by Chanda Haselman on 2-17-2008 at 3:20 pm
have a good excuse for saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t recall that.” The Alzhimer’s Defense for Presidential Denial
posted by Chanda Haselman on 2-17-2008 at 3:22 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president rumored to have used Grecian Formula to achieve a youthful head of blackish hair.
posted by Andrew on 2-17-2008 at 3:26 pm
.. to serve in a century other than the one in which he was born.
posted by El Jeffo on 2-17-2008 at 3:29 pm
…to defeat both the incumbent president and vice president of the preceding administration to win election.
posted by LakeshoreSam on 2-17-2008 at 5:21 pm
…to be publicly opposed for election and for his policies by his children.
posted by LakeshoreSam on 2-17-2008 at 5:23 pm
to have an airport named after him.
posted by Jaime on 2-17-2008 at 6:18 pm
…to be featured in a Mental_Floss article.
posted by mc112358 on 2-17-2008 at 6:43 pm
…to sport a Gumby hairdo.
posted by Ron on 2-17-2008 at 6:53 pm
…to have his surviving wife fall in her Bel-Air home and stay overnight at St. John’s Health Center….
or
was the most recent president to have suffered from Alzheimers
posted by Mikey on 2-17-2008 at 8:52 pm
… to have a name starting in the “less successful” N-Z range of the alphabet.
posted by Randy MacDonald on 2-17-2008 at 10:55 pm
…to have inspired an entire cultural/musical movement to write hundreds of songs in spite of him
posted by Larry Dubots on 2-18-2008 at 5:19 am
So this isn’t an interesting fact just a clarification. People keep saying he was the most recent President to have died but Gerald Ford died after Reagan in 2006 actually and at the same age Reagan was, 93.
posted by Sandy C on 2-18-2008 at 9:22 am
To survive an assasination attempt.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-18-2008 at 9:52 am
RR is the latest President to be older than each of the 5 Presidents that preceded him.
posted by harold on 2-18-2008 at 4:53 pm
… to bring peace to the United States.
posted by zippitydoodah on 2-18-2008 at 5:26 pm
…to have died.
posted by Jimmie on 2-18-2008 at 9:35 pm
Ronald Reagan was the most recent president…
…who did not graduate college with a graduate or professional degree.
posted by Ray W. Johnson on 2-18-2008 at 11:55 pm
to make the whole country become Republicans for a day.
posted by Tanya on 2-19-2008 at 3:28 am
to have a commisoned aircraft carrier named after him, the j.w bush , is the most recent carrier to be named for a presidant
posted by bill on 2-19-2008 at 4:43 am
reagan was the most recent president to inflict nationwide amnesia upon his death. Iran-Contra, Keating, S&L scandals, claim to have taken the Soviet Monster-Empire down single-handedly, to name but a few… i could not understand why it took so long to JUST BURY THE man.
posted by scot on 2-19-2008 at 9:19 am
reagan was the most recent president to be elected on November 4th.
posted by GBurns on 2-19-2008 at 9:30 am
The most recent President to have the letter “I” in his middle name.
posted by Joshua Lee on 2-19-2008 at 12:54 pm