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20 Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents
The 3rd Monday of February is a national holiday across America, a day set aside not only to celebrate the February birthdays of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln...but also to honor all past presidents of the United States. In 1971, President Richard Nixon signed a federal law that proclaimed the third Monday in February a national holiday called Presidents Day. The law ended the longstanding American custom of celebrating two national holidays in February to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and George Washington on the 22nd. Some critics of the combined holiday believe Presidents Day -- in honoring all past U.S. presidents, detracts from the unique contributions made to the nation by Washington and Lincoln. Seth Fein, an American History professor at Yale University, says most Americans consider the two men to have been the nation's greatest presidents. "George Washington, obviously, is the general who headed the Continental Army and the first president of the United States and in many ways, the personification of the United States in the beginning of its political history as an independent state," he says. Lincoln is so deeply revered "for being president during the Civil War [1861-1865]...putting the country back together." Without George Washington, there may not have been a United States of America. "He was a figure that was so respected that he helped launch a nation when people from different parts of the country remained still very suspicious of each other," says University of Virginia American History Professor Michael Holt. "In fact, there was concern about warfare breaking out among differing states. But everybody agreed that he was the one person that all could agree on as the first president...so he was, I think, indispensable." Professor Holt praises Washington as a forceful leader who established important precedents in the relationship between the President and Congress -- for example, when his administration was negotiating a treaty with several American Indian tribes. "The wording of the Constitution gives the president authority to conduct foreign policy with 'advice and consent' of the Senate," he says. "Washington comes to the Senate to seek their advice about the terms of the treaty. The Senators get all flustered and say they have to debate this to arrive at a consensus to give you advice. Washington just turned around and walked out. And, from then on, foreign policy has been conducted with the 'consent' in terms of ratification of treaties...but no direct advice [from the Senate] going into making them." Like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln is perceived as a leader who guided the nation through a critical and dangerous transition. Without Lincoln, the nation might not have survived its Civil War. "Some people say he was an intuitive military strategist," says Michael Holt. "He had an ability to explain the meaning of the war to the northern public in memorable terms." That is something he did so eloquently in a brief and famous address honoring the soldiers killed in a battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863. "There's that wonderful prose," Professor Holt points out, "about what we say here will little be remembered but what they did here will always be remembered...and that the purpose of the war was that the government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth." Abraham Lincoln is also remembered for his Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 , which freed the slaves in the rebellious southern states. Mr. Lincoln's commitment to end slavery was also a theme of his second inaugural address in 1865, as historian Holt recalls. "If we must shed a drop of blood for every drop of blood squeezed from the slaves over 200 years, we'll do it in order to prevail in this contest...It's really that message where he makes it clear that ending slavery is as important a commitment as unifying the nation." Americans have also come to know the personal sides of Presidents Lincoln and Washington, and they know that neither man was perfect. George Washington, for instance, was a slave owner. But historian Seth Fein believes that, when Americans reflect on their past presidents, they usually look beyond their flaws. "The fact that many people can identify with George Washington, Presidents Day, the United States despite knowing those things," he says, "might speak to the need for political symbols, for national identity, and for heroes." On Presidents Day, Americans honor those heroes who've held the nation's highest office over the past two centuries.
Not only were these men leaders of the United States, they were multitalented, unique, and sometimes even downright quirky. We've heard a lot about their contribution to United States History. But would you have guessed the following?
11. Theodore Roosevelt served as president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. His administration fought for the rights of workers and small businesses and for the conservation of natural resources. In 1912 he ran for the presidency again, this time as the candidate of the Progressive Party. In this speech, part of his 1912 campaign, he advocates limiting the working hours of women and abolishing child labor.
The teddy bear derived from 26th U.S. president Theodore ("Teddy") Roosevelt's refusal to shoot a bear with her cub while on a hunting trip in Mississippi.
12. William Howard Taft was the first person to serve as both the president of the United States (1909-1913) and chief justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930). Taft, who admitted that he never really wanted to be president, considered his appointment to the nations highest court his greatest achievement.
William Taft, 27th president of the United States, weighed more than 300 pounds and had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House.
13. The 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding led the nation from 1921 until his death in office in 1923. Harding delegated much of his authority to his cabinet chiefs, who often abused their powers. In the Teapot Dome scandal (named after a naval oil reserve in Wyoming), it was discovered that Hardings secretary of the interior, Albert Bacon Fall, had accepted bribes in connection with the leasing of naval oil reserves. Harding died before much of his administrations corruption came to light.
Warren Harding, 29th U.S. president, played poker at least twice a week, and once gambled away an entire set of White House china. His advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the president in his poker games.
14. The 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge led the country through a period of relatively untroubled times from 1923 to 1929. Coolidge served as vice president under Warren G. Harding and assumed the presidency after Hardings death in 1923. He easily won reelection in 1924, governing by the principle of minimal government interference in private life and business. Coolidge is heard here speaking on American free enterprise.
Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States, had chronic stomach pain and required 10 to 11 hours of sleep and an afternoon nap every day.
15. Herbert Hoover had held office for less than eight months when the stock market crashed in 1929 and the United States faced the Great Depression. Hoover did not believe that the government should lead the way to end the economic depression, instead wanting to rely on private measures to solve it. He spoke out against the New Deal, the economic policy that served as the basis of Franklin D. Roosevelts successful bid for the 1932 presidential election.
Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. president, published more than 16 books, including one called Fishing for Fun-And to Wash Your Soul.
16. As the only United States president elected to four terms, Franklin Delano Roosevelt guided the nation for 12 years, through the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt initiated a series of programs, termed the New Deal, to help bring the U.S. back to prosperity. Although he was crippled by polio at age 39, he continued his political career, which spanned 35 years. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, less than three months after he began his fourth term.
32nd president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt was related, either by blood or by marriage, to 11 former presidents.
17. Harry S. Truman , 33rd president of the United States, assumed office when Franklin D. Roosevelt died, on April 12, 1945. Within the first weeks of his presidency, the Allies had won the war in Europe. Truman then made the most difficult decision that ever faced any president, choosing to use the new atomic bomb against Japan to end World War II. Truman is heard here giving his inaugural speech after being elected to a second term as president.
The letter "S" comprises the full middle name of the 33rd president, Harry S. Truman. It represents two of his grandfathers, whose names both had "S" in them.
18. Dwight D. Eisenhower parlayed his great success as supreme Allied commander during World War II into two terms as the 34th president of the United States.
Military leader and 34th president of the U.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower loved to cook; he developed a recipe for vegetable soup that is 894 words long and includes the stems of nasturtium flowers as one of the ingredients.
19. Ronald Reagan , the Republican presidential candidate in 1980, won a landslide election to become the 40th president of the United States. Reagan, a former movie actor and governor of California, stressed strong national defense and a hard-line, conservative approach to U.S.-Soviet relations. Domestically, he limited government spending and reduced government intervention in the private sector. Reagan won reelection in 1984. In 1987 and 1988 he signed nuclear arms reduction treaties with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
40th president of the United States Ronald Reagan broke the so-called "20-year curse," in which every president elected in a year ending in 0 died in office.
20. On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush was inaugurated the 43rd president of the United States. In his inaugural address, he touched on the theme of compassion and emphasized the need for civility in modern society.
George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, and his wife Laura got married just three months after meeting each other.
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The U. S. Constitution
