mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
In case you didn’t get enough Presidential Facts from the mag, I have this whole collection of strange facts I’ve written down about U.S. Presidents. None of them really have anything to do with one another so I’ve never been able to tie them into a themed post before. But since it’s Presidents’ Day, I don’t think I really need a theme other than that.
1. James Monroe once chased the Secretary of the Treasury out of the White House with a pair of fire tongs.
2. Andrew Jackson may have looked like a hardened old soul, but he was quite the merry prankster: when he was in school, he invited a bunch of prostitutes to the annual Christmas Ball, just because he knew how much it would freak out all of the “proper” attendees. He also liked to move outhouses around so when people went out to use their bathroom, the bathroom was no longer there.
3. John Quincy Adams liked skinny dipping in the Potomac. He thought bathing and swimming in ice-cold water was good for his constitution.
4. Martin Van Buren’s autobiography doesn’t mention his wife even once.
5. Queen Victoria once declared that Millard Fillmore was the most handsome man she had ever seen. What do you guys think? Was Millard a hottie? My assessment: no.
6. James Buchanan is the only U.S. President to remain a bachelor his entire life. Some speculated that he was gay, and his extremely close relationship with Congressman William Rufus King didn’t do anything to dispel the rumors. The two of them were often referred to as “Mr. Buchanan and his wife.”
7. Rutherford B. Hayes and his family spent every single evening in the White House singing gospel hymns.
8. William McKinley’s wife suffered from epilepsy. When she had seizures at public events and dinners, McKinley would just drape his handkerchief over her face and carry on with whatever matters were at hand.
9. Teddy Roosevelt was a big eater. It wasn’t uncommon for him to take down a dozen eggs for breakfast.
10. Lyndon B. Johnson wore a watch with an alarm on it and liked to set it off when he got bored listening to speeches.
Comments (13)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
Thomas Jefferson fathered 17 non-legit children with one of his slaves (or so I was told by my AP History teacher my Junior year in high school) and I think it was Garfield who had a tumor removed from his mouth 2 hours before a big speech. The tumor is in the Mutter Museum, if memory serves me.
posted by Kate on 2-16-2009 at 3:56 pm
Is it me or does Millard Fillmore look a little like Alec Baldwin?
posted by Ashley on 2-16-2009 at 4:08 pm
@Ashley, yes he does – mostly around the eyes, I think
posted by Mama9cats on 2-16-2009 at 4:25 pm
agreed that Fillmore looks a bit like a Baldwin in that picture. Which means he was very handsome when he was younger, but just manages a baffled distinguished air in his later years?
posted by KR on 2-16-2009 at 4:44 pm
I believe that it was Grover Cleveland who had the tumor removed from his mouth during a top secret operation aboard the presidential yacht.
posted by John Meeks on 2-16-2009 at 8:38 pm
John Quincy Adams was also interviewed in the nude, I’ve read. And I’ve also read about Jefferson fathering plenty of illegitement children. One of my classmates did two seperate projects on that, a government report and a term paper.
posted by Sara on 2-16-2009 at 8:46 pm
Thomas Jefferson’s pet mockingbird was allowed to fly freely all around the White House, except when the president had guests.
You’re so smart John!
posted by Evil Twin on 2-16-2009 at 9:35 pm
What about Buchanan’s engagement to Ann Coleman, her death, and the blame placed on him for it? Adds an interesting and sad aspect to his story, especially since he kept her letters until his death.
posted by Eve on 2-16-2009 at 10:20 pm
Andrew Jackson was particularly outspoken about Buchanan’s relationship[from Wikipedia]“:Buchanan and King’s close relationship prompted Andrew Jackson to refer to King as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy….”
posted by Zane on 2-17-2009 at 11:00 am
to Sara: He was interviewed in the nude…while skinny-dipping in the Potomac. Quincy Adams did not like the public life, nor did he like giving interviews so one day while he was on swim, a reporter held his clothes hostage. Anne Royall was her name. Quite ballsy of her.
posted by erin brianne on 2-17-2009 at 3:04 pm
Sorry, Millard. Franklin Pierce, on the other hand…
posted by NYCGirl on 2-18-2009 at 3:52 am
@erin: Thanks. I remember reading about it in an Uncle John’s bathroom reader, and my english teacher told us about it in eleventh grade.
posted by Sara on 2-22-2009 at 10:50 am
This website is awesome! Hey, Sara! I haven’t seen you for a while! How are you?
posted by prettygirl on 3-1-2010 at 8:51 pm