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President No. 2: John Adams spoke with a lisp because he stubbornly refused to wear dentures.
President No. 4: James Madison was hardly an imposing figure. Our shortest president, he was not quite 5-ft., 5-in.-tall and weighed only 100 lbs.
President No. 5: In 1831, James Monroe became the third founding father to die on Independence Day. Before him, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826.
President No. 6: John Quincy Adams was partial to skinny-dipping in the Potomac. Once, he was surprised mid-swim by an intrepid female reporter, who forced him into a naked interview.
President No. 8: Martin Van Buren wrote an autobiography that failed to mention his wife.
President No. 9: William Henry Harrison was the first president to receive more than one million votes. He died after only 31 days in office.
President No. 27: At 325 lbs., William Howard Taft couldn’t bend over to tie his own shoes. His valet did it for him.
President No. 28: Ironically, the best-educated president, Woodrow Wilson, enjoyed imitating drunks and telling racist jokes in an Irish accent.
President No. 29: As president, Warren G. Harding bet a priceless set of White House china on a poker game—and lost.
President No. 31: Herbert Hoover didn’t like to look at his servants, so he installed a bell system in the White House. Three rings signaled that he was approaching, meaning it was time for them to hide in a closet or behind a bush.
President No. 32: During a speech in 1933, an assassin shot at Franklin Delano Roosevelt five times and hit five people surrounding him. One was the mayor of Chicago, who later died.
President No. 33: It’s true; Harry S Truman’s middle name was S.
President No. 34: Dwight D. Eisenhower hated cats. When he retired to Gettysburg, Penn., he’d shoot any cat that came near his house.
President No. 35: John F. Kennedy usually only watched the first half of movies. Then he’d get bored.
President No. 38: Gerald Ford was a male model who once graced the cover of Cosmopolitan.
President No. 39: Jimmy Carter wrote a children’s book called The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer.
President No. 41: In Japanese, Bushusuru means “to do the Bush thing,” but it’s slang for vomiting. Bushusuru entered the language after George Herbert Walker Bush vomited on Japan’s prime minister.
President No. 42: Bill Clinton won a 2004 Grammy along with Sophia Loren and Mikhail Gorbachev for the group’s recording of Peter and the Wolf.
President No. 43: Dallas Cowboys star running back Calvin Hill (father of Duke and NBA star Grant Hill) was a fraternity brother of George W. Bush at Yale.
More Presidential Fun from mental_floss…
Presidential Siblings and the Headaches They Caused
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4 Presidential In-Laws Who Made the Move to Washington
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The Bizarre History of White House Pets
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Executive Orders: The Famous, The Infamous & The Ridiculous
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11 Notable Presidential Pardons
I knew there was a reason I disliked Dwight Eisenhower (beyond the fact that he cared more about golf than governing).
posted by loripop on 2-16-2009 at 11:20 am
What a great list! I’ll feel smart all day and will be sure to bore people at dinner w/these interesting facts.
posted by Peter on 2-16-2009 at 12:55 pm
Yay! i love Presidential trivia!
posted by kat on 2-16-2009 at 1:16 pm
What about Barack? Or is it too soon?
posted by Faith on 2-16-2009 at 4:14 pm
Barack should be on here too. He has won two grammys for his audiobooks.
posted by Matt on 2-16-2009 at 5:05 pm
Hmm, so imitating drunks and telling racist jokes in an Irish accent makes one obtuse? It’s just having fun.
posted by Lando on 2-16-2009 at 6:23 pm
Some interesting facts I didnt’ know.
What else is there?
posted by Sports Contests on 2-17-2009 at 7:05 pm
Jimmy Carter and Dr. Seuss– separated at birth? ;)
posted by NYCGirl on 2-18-2009 at 3:18 am
Oh, Van Buren. Punk move, but I can’t stop laughing.
posted by Erica on 6-29-2009 at 5:16 am