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- There are a slew of surprising facts about all 44 US Presidents.
- Abe Lincoln was an avid wrestler before becoming Commander-in-Chief.
- JFK donated his entire White House salary to charity.
Forget everything you learned in history class. There’s a whole treasure trove of hidden facts about the 45 presidents that haven’t made it into middle school textbooks. From the bizarre (one Commander-in-chief owned a giant block of cheese) to the seriously cool (another won two Grammys), keep scrolling to learn everything about the country’s most important politicians throughout history.
George Washington (1789-1797)
Washington had terrible, decaying teeth so he wore dentures made from (among other things) ivory, spring, and brass screws.
John Adams (1797-1801)
John Adams’ last words were “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Unfortunately, Jefferson had actually died a few hours prior.
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
He kept pet mockingbirds because he loved to listen to them sing. His favourite of the bunch was named Dick.
James Madison (1809-1817)
He was Princeton University’s very first graduate student, where he studied Hebrew.
James Monroe (1817-1825)
Monroe once rode a mule from Paris to Madrid in order to negotiate for the territory of Florida.
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
He was a big fan of skinny dipping. Every morning, the president dived into the Potomac for his daily exercise routine.
Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
Jackson had a giant block of cheese– which weighed 1,400 pounds – that he kept in the White House. He let the public eat it after his time in office was done.
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
Van Buren’s wife died in 1819 and he never remarried. His daughter-in-law filled in with first lady duties.
William Henry Harrison (1841)
Harrison’s inauguration speech was the longest to date. It went for 90 minutes, and clocked in at 8,445 words.
John Tyler (1841-1845)
Tyler had 14 children and – in a real rarity for the time – all of them lived into maturity.
Read more: How the White House’s décor has changed over the last 109 years
James K. Polk (1845-1849)
Polk presided over the building of the Washington Monument, and oversaw the creation of the first postage stamp.
Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)
Taylor was nominated for president by the Whig Party, and didn’t even realise that it had happened until he received a letter with the news. He didn’t want to pay for the postage of their letter, though, so he actually found out officially a few weeks later.
Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
Fillmore didn’t have a vice president during his time in office.
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
Pierce was allegedly an alcoholic, and his critics in the Whig Party called him the “Hero of Many a Well-Fought Bottle.”
James Buchanan (1857-1861)
He was the only unmarried president to serve in office.
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Lincoln is in the Wrestling Hall of Fame because of his skills in the ring. As a young man, he only lost one match out of the 300 he participated in.
Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)
Johnson never attended school, and had to teach himself how to read.
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)
Grant scored the very first Union victory in the Civil War.
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
Hayes got rid of alcohol in the White House, in an attempt to drum up support from Prohibitionists.
James A. Garfield (1881)
Garfield became the president of his college, Eclectic Institute, at the tender age of 26.
Chester Arthur (1881-1885)
Arthur’s critics tried to persuade the public that the presidential hopeful was not actually an American citizen. He was born in Vermont.
Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897)
Cleveland – who served two nonconsecutive terms – won his presidency by the most razor sharp of magins. He nabbed the job thanks to 1,200 votes in New York.
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
Harrison was the first president to use electricity in the White House.
William McKinley (1897-1901)
McKinley’s team was the first to conduct telephone campaigning.
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Roosevelt watched Lincoln’s funeral procession when he was a child.
Read more: The top 20 presidents in US history, according to historians
William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
He once got stuck in the White House bathtub and had to be removed by members of his staff.
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Wilson nominated the first Jewish justice – Louis Brandeis – to Supreme Court.
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
Harding held many jobs before taking office including being a teacher, an insurance agent, a reporter, and the owner of “The Marion Daily Star.”
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
Calvin was actually his middle name– he was born John Calvin Coolidge.
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
Before becoming president, Hoover was a self-made millionaire. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in geology and then globe trotted throughout his 20’s, locating valuable mineral deposits.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
He was an avid stamp collector, and used that hobby as a stress reliever while he was in the White House.
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)
The “S” in Truman’s name didn’t actually stand for anything.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Camp David is named after Eisenhower’s 5-year-old grandson, David.
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
Kennedy donated his entire White House salary ($US100,000 a year) to charity.
Read more: John F. Kennedy is an American icon. These 21 colour photos helped define his legacy.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
Johnson nearly died in World War II. He boarded a plane, then exited to use the restroom. When he came back, he boarded a different plane. The original plane he was on was destroyed in battle but the second plane survived.
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Nixon was raised as a Quaker. He attended regular Quaker meetings as a child, and enrolled in Whittier College, a Quaker institution.
Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
He was the only politician to serve as both president and vice president, without actually being elected to either office.
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
He created the Department of Energy, in response to the energy shortage crisis.
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
It may be well-known that Reagan loved jelly beans, but, according to his wife, he was a fussy eater who despised brussels sprouts and tomatoes.
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
Bush was the youngest pilot in the Navy when he served. He flew for 58 combat missions.
Read more: Here is the life and legacy of former President George H.W. Bush in photos
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Clinton has won two Grammys. The first for the album “Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks,” and the second for the reading of his autobiography, “My Life.”
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
He’s the only president who has an MBA. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975.
Barack Obama (2009-2017)
He keeps a wooden carving of a hand holding an egg on his desk. The figurine represents the Kenyan symbol of life’s fragility.
Donald Trump (2017- )
Trump doesn’t drink alcohol.
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