Passing along a little bit of presidential trivia

I remember a time in grade school when we marked both the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

We did it on their actual birthdays and we didn’t get a day off. We were in school learning about each of them and about how they influenced the growth of our nation and its ideals.

One of the things I should have been learning, and maybe I did or maybe it was picked up much later on the History Channel, was that Washington was the only president elected unanimously. In other words, every state delegate cast his vote for him. That made it quite a bit different from our last few elections that have ended in turmoil and court challenges.

A few trivia things about presidents you probably didn’t learn in grade school:

• Abraham Lincoln didn’t just use that stove-pipe hat to keep his lanky frame at the height of fashion, he actually stored stuff inside like the Gettysburg Address, maybe a ham sandwich or a change of underwear.

• Speaking of height, yes, not only was Honest Abe a champion wrestler, he was also the tallest president, that is until Lyndon B. Johnson became president. Both men were 6-foot 4-inches. The shortest president was James Madison at 5-foot 4-inches. He makes me feel good about my 5-foot, 7-inch height but his 100-pound weight depresses me all over.

• Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826, which happened to be the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Madison also died on July 4 — just not in 1826.

• Reportedly, Franklin D. Roosevelt met President Grover Cleveland when Roosevelt was a lad of 5. Cleveland, apparently feeling the weight of his office, told the young Roosevelt that his wish for him was that he never become president.

• FDR was the first president to appear on television. The man famous for his fireside chats broadcast on radio, went on the small screen at the 1939 World’s Fair. Since then, they’re on every time the boob tube is fired up.

• “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson, was shot in the chest during a duel. A role model to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, he didn’t fall when shot. Instead, he returned fire and killed the other fellow. Deemed too risky to remove, Jackson carried the bullet for the next 40 years.

• Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, was the first president born as an American citizen. All those ahead of him were born as British subjects. Strangely enough he was also the only president for whom English was his second language. His first language was Dutch.

• As landlords of the White House, the American public has allowed lots of presidents to keep pets but perhaps John Quincy Adams took the biggest advantage of this perk. He kept a live alligator in a bathtub in the East Room. Perhaps a threat to his political opponents?

• Who was the only president to win a Grammy? Barack Obama won for his voice on the audio book “Dreams of my Father.” I’m betting if audio books had been a thing in his time, Lincoln would have a Grammy too.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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