The Quirks of the Presidents!
George Washington
His mouth was full of dentures -- so he had a thing about dental care. He made sure every one of his six horses had their teeth brushed daily
George Washington is said to have donated some of his own silver spoons and forks when our new country needed silver and gold to make money.
John Adams
He taught himself to speak Dutch. Then he hopped in a boat to the Netherlands, where he borrowed money to keep America from going broke.
John Adams is said to have held the first fireworks display at the White House.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson had a pet mockingbird that flew freely around the White House unless Jefferson had guests.
Admirers once sent me a 1,235-pound block of cheese, with a note that read: "The greatest cheese in America for the greatest man in America."
James Madison
James Madison's wife, Dolly, loved to give parties. She regularly served ice cream to her guests.
Not one, but two vice presidents died in office while he was president.
James Monroe
James Monroe toured the whole country while he was president. At that time St. Louis was the most western city in our country!
He was shot in the shoulder during the Revolutionary War. And they never took the bullet out!
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams used to get up two hours before sunrise to go skinny dipping in the Potomac River.
He was the first president to be photographed.
He read the Bible cover to cover every year!
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
He was from Old Kinderhook, New York. He called my hometown "O.K." for short... and later, "O.K." started to mean "all right."
William Henry Harrison
He spoke for two whole hours on inauguration day. He caught a cold that turned into deadly pneumonia, and was laid to rest only a month after becoming president.
John Tyler
Five years after he left the White House, he was so poor that I couldn't even pay a bill of $1.25 until after he harvested his corn.
John Tyler was the first president to get married while in office.
James K. Polk
At age 17 he had a gallstone surgically removed without any anesthesia or antiseptics
James K. Polk's wife was very strict. She did not allow card playing, dancing, or drinking in the White House
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor brought his horse, Old Whitey, with him to the White House. Old Whitey used to stand on the White House lawn, eating the grass.
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore established the White House library. Before this time there was no permanent collection of books in the White House.
Franklin Pierce
He was the first president to memorize and recite his inaugural address from memory.
Franklin Pierce ordered the first bathtub for the White House. Many people were upset. They thought taking baths was not healthy and would make you sick!
James Buchanan
He had a funny habit of always closing one eye. It wasn't always the same one, either. He was farsighted in one eye and nearsighted in the other.
James Buchanan was the only president who never married.
Abraham Lincoln
He used to spy on his neighbors as a credit reporting correspondent.
His job was to tell businesses who could be trusted with loans.
Lincoln was the tallest president at 6 feet 4 inches.
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson did not learn to read until he was 17 years old. His parents had been too poor to send him to school.
He once got a speeding ticket and a $20 fine for riding his horse too fast. Even presidents have to watch the speed limit!
Ulysses S. Grant helped set up Yellowstone National Park, which was our country's first national park.
Rutherford B. Hayes
Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, gave Hayes personal instructions on how to use it.
James A. Garfield
His assassin shot him in the back. The doctors tried to remove the bullet but they could never find it. He died eighty days after he was shot.
James A. Garfield could write with both hands. Sometimes he amused people by writing Greek with one hand and Latin with the other!
Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur thought the White House was too gloomy so he redecorated it.
Twenty-four wagonloads of old furniture were carted away to make room for new, more fashionable furniture.
Grover Cleveland
Doctors gave me a rubber jawbone when they removed cancer in part of my jaw.
Benjamin Harrison
He was often in a bad mood when he was president, so they called him "the human iceberg!“
Benjamin Harrison had the White House wired for electricity, but because he was afraid of getting shocked, he would not touch the switches!
Grover Cleveland
He was president two separate times -- #22 and #24! Want to know something else? His jawbone surgery was a secret. Doctors operated on him on a private yacht traveling between New York and Massachusetts.
William McKinley
He volunteered for the Union Army during the Civil War. Since he was just a teenager, one of his first assignments was to bring troops coffee and hot meals out on the front lines.
William McKinley's picture is on the 500 dollar bill.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt had the West Wing built onto the White House. He moved his office there so he could work in peace and quiet.
The teddy bear was named after President Theodore Roosevelt.
William Howard Taft
Some people might describe him as... "pleasantly plump.". When he was elected president, he weighed 332 pounds -- that's more than a baby elephant
William Howard Taft started the tradition of the president throwing out the first ball at the beginning of baseball season.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was a college professor before becoming president.
Warren G. Harding
He was the first president to ride in style -- that is, in an automobile -- on election day.
Warren G. Harding was the first president to give a speech over the radio.
He once lost all the White House china gambling, on one hand of cards.
Calvin Coolidge
His wife had a pet raccoon
Miss Christians – tell the dinner party story
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only President elected to four terms. (1933-1945)
He married his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt.
Herbert Hoover
He was the only president who didn't want any towns named after him. That's because people who lost their homes during the Depression lived in shanty towns they called "Hoovervilles" -- after Hoover, their president
Harry S Truman
He wasn't much of a jock while growing up. More of a bookworm. By the time he graduated from high school, he had read all 2,000 books in his public library -- including the encyclopedias!
Dwight D. Eisenhower
His campaign slogan was “I like Ike”.
He helped develop the interstate highway system in 1956!
John F. Kennedy
Some people go swimming to cool down. He took dips in the White House pool to warm up and kept the pool at 90 degrees Fahrenheit!
Lyndon B. Johnson
When he visited the Taj Mahal as vice president, he let out a holler so he could listen to his voice echo.
LBJ became the president after JFK was shot and killed during a parade.
Richard M. Nixon
Nixon’s mom wanted him to be a Quaker missionary, and he wanted to become an FBI agent -- but the Bureau didn't accept his application.
Gerald R. Ford
Gerald R. Ford swam laps in the White House pool almost every day. Once he gave a press conference while he was swimming!
President Ford was the only President not elected as President or Vice President. He was appointed Vice President by President Richard Nixon and then became President when Richard Nixon resigned. Ford was a model for Cosmopolitan and Look magazines in the 1940's.
Jimmy Carter
When he became president, he started parting his hair on the left instead of on the right.
Ronald Reagan
President Reagan loved jelly beans and used to keep a bowl of them on his desk.
His nickname was Dutch.
George H.W. Bush
He flew -- and survived -- 58 combat missions in World War II.
Bill Clinton
He’s allergic to cat dander, beef, milk, mold spores, and weed and grass pollens.
As a teenager, he shook John F. Kennedy’s hand.
George W. Bush
George Bush was the captain of the baseball team at Yale University.
He was president during 9/11.
������Barack Obama��Obama is left-handed. �He was a senator in Illinois for 7 years before becoming the 44th president. He has read all of the Harry Potter books.