THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA

Transcription

1 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA

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3 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA By J. Stephen Lang PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Gretna 2001

4 Copyright 2001 By J. Stephen Lang All rights reserved The word Pelican and the depiction of a pelican are trademarks of Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lang, J. Stephen. The Complete book of presidential trivia / by J. Stephen Lang. p. cm. ISBN (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Presidents United States History Miscellanea. 2. Presidents United States Biography Miscellanea. I. Title. W176.1.L p dc Printed in Canada Published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc Burmaster Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053

5 Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Introduction Presidential Potpourri The One and Only Famous Firsts Assassinations, and Some Attempts at It Naming the Presidents Nicknaming the Presidents Mr. President, Mr. Author Holidays, Holy Days, and Other Special Days Famous Firsts (Part 2) The One and Only (Part 2) Mixing and Mingling Pre- and Extramarital Flings Joining the Club Hobnobbing with the Famous Quote, Unquote Presidents on Presidents Some Memorable Phrases Presidents on the Presidency Those Catty Critics Presidents on Themselves What the Foreigners Said Praising the Presidents, Sometimes Sincerely Death Sentences: Their Last Words The Presidential Wit Four Quotes on War Their Occasional Eloquence

6 6 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Inaugural Moments Some Memorables Phrases (Part 2) Presidents on Presidents (Part 2) Presidents on the Presidency (Part 2)..111 Family Ties Even Presidents Had Parents My Mom and Dad Were Getting Born: Log Cabins, and All That The Birth Order Questions Brothers and Sisters Presidential Progeny Who Was My Dad? Presidential Progeny (Part 2) Before They Were Presidents So Many Lawyers No Experience Needed : The Unpolitical Presidents Soldiers into Politicians Men of the House States Men: Governors into Presidents From Mr. Secretary to Mr. Prez Senators Who Got Promoted It s a Living Whose Colorful Career Was This? At Loose and Abroad: Foreign Service..165 While They Were Vice Presidents Educating the Presidents What School Graduated Us? Educating the Presidents (Part 2) The Man in Private Booze and Tobacco Pleasure and Pain The Presidential Look Things of the Spirit Medical Matters

7 Contents 7 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Food Fixations Hobbies, Pastimes, and R and R Jock Presidents Things of the Spirit (Part 2) Campaigns, Victories, Defeats, Etc. Slogans and Slurs: Campaigning, in Brief They re Playin My Song The Men I Beat The Men Who Beat Me I Want a Rematch! : Those Who Both Won and Lost Cabinet, Congress, Court Presidential Furniture: The Cabinet The Men and Women in My Cabinet Adding Furniture: New Cabinet Positions Presidential Furniture: The Cabinet (Part 2) The Quarrelsome (and Sometimes Cooperative) Congress The Prez and the Court The Political Life Who Were My Vice Presidents? Meeting the Press Making Amendments Money Matters Taxation Good and Bad (Mostly Bad) Pardon Me: The Sometimes Merciful Presidents Westward Ho!: Getting More Land Adding More States Events, Earth-shaking and Trivial Key Events, For Better or Worse

8 8 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 U.S. Events: Who Was President When World Events: Who Was President When Foreign Affairs, Mostly Biggies Bits and Pieces, Connected with Key Events, For Better or Worse (Part 2) The First Ladies First Encounters Courtship, Wooing, and So Forth My Maiden Name Was Weddings and Honeymoons, Grand and Modest Married When and Where The Grand Role, White House Hostess First Ladies as Authors (and Subjects) of Books Married Life: Heaven and... Purgatory Pet Causes, Projects, Etc The Quotable Wife Domestic Tranquility: Home Life Where We Lived: Presidential Homes The White House: Beautifying, Renovating, Etc Barks, Purrs, and Such: Presidential Pets and Other Critters I m Outta Here : Post-Presidential Life Remembering the Presidents Monuments, Memorials, and So Forth Real to Reel: Presidents on Film and Video

9 Contents 9 Chapter 14 Named in Honor of Grave Matters Monuments, Memorials, and So Forth (Part 2) Such Intriguing Titles for Books Named in Honor of... (Part 2) Twenty Questions (About Each Man) George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James K. Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren Harding Calvin Coolidge

10 10 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush

11 Introduction One thing for sure about the last few years in America: our presidents have not bored us. The deeds (and misdeeds) of the chief executive have provided endless entertainment. If you think this is a recent phenomenon, think again: all our presidents have been fascinating men. Even the ones who were regarded as stuffy and boring by their contemporaries John Quincy Adams or Benjamin Harrison, for example were real characters in their private lives. Adams took daily nude swims in the Potomac River (leading to more than one embarrassing incident), Harrison chased his pet billy goat down a D.C. street, and all the other presidents, even the more forgotten ones, qualify as genuinely fascinating human beings. Whether they were waging wars, quarreling with Congress, romancing their wives (or romancing mistresses), hobnobbing with celebrities, coping with difficult kids, facing off with foreign foes, dealing with death and illness, or just trying to relax, they were always endlessly interesting. With people like this in the highest office in the land, it is hard to believe anyone would ever consider history to be boring. Since these men are interesting, in this book I have tried to avoid dryness at all costs. The arrangement here is topical, with such topics as Pre- and Extramarital Flings, Death Sentences: Their Last Words, Famous Firsts, Assassinations and Some Attempts at it, Presidential Progeny, Food Fixations, Jock Presidents, and so on. One can t include every subject in the book, of course, but the range is wide campaigns slogans and slurs, the cabinet, hobbies and pastimes, religion, taxes and other money matters, pets (some of them highly unusual), movies about the presidents, monuments and memorials, burial places, foreign affairs, pre-presidential careers, hobnobbing with the

12 12 THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA famous and infamous, and many, many others. One large section of the book is devoted to the First Ladies, bless em. The topics are arranged under fourteen sections. However, despite the attempt at organization, the book is for browsing. It was made to fill up your time commuting on the train, the hour you spend waiting at the doctor s office, the few minutes before dinner is on the table, the hours on the highway when you and the other people in the carpool are in the mood for a game of quiz me. In other words, the book is designed to be read randomly, anywhere, and with no preparation of any kind. It is designed to entertain the person who unashamedly likes to be entertained and challenged. A brief word about history vs. legend : throughout this book, I have attempted to indicate instances where a particular fact is in doubt. Some facts are undoubtedly legend for example, George Washington and the cherry tree. Some facts are very strong possibilities for example, Thomas Jefferson fathering children by the slave Sally Hemmings. And other facts are merely interesting conjectures for example, that bachelor president James Buchanan might have been homosexual. If there is any doubt about a particular piece of information being true, I have tried to indicate this in the book. Most everything in this book can be vouched for in reputable biographies and historical works. Some of the legends or might-be-facts are interesting too, and they are included, but I let the reader know where these occur. And a brief word about the Bush issue : yes, we have had two (so far) presidents named Bush, and their names are pretty darned similar. The father, president from 1989 to 1993, is George H. W. Bush (note the H in there), while the son (inaugurated in 2001) is George W. Bush (no H).

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