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A Presidents’ Day Round-up of Presidential Facts
by the mag - February 16, 2009 - 12:05 AM

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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.

gerald-ford-cosmo.jpgPresident 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

Comments (9)
  1. I knew there was a reason I disliked Dwight Eisenhower (beyond the fact that he cared more about golf than governing).

  2. What a great list! I’ll feel smart all day and will be sure to bore people at dinner w/these interesting facts.

  3. Yay! i love Presidential trivia!

  4. What about Barack? Or is it too soon?

  5. Barack should be on here too. He has won two grammys for his audiobooks.

  6. Hmm, so imitating drunks and telling racist jokes in an Irish accent makes one obtuse? It’s just having fun.

  7. Some interesting facts I didnt’ know.

    What else is there?

  8. Jimmy Carter and Dr. Seuss– separated at birth? ;)

  9. Oh, Van Buren. Punk move, but I can’t stop laughing.

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