12 Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents (FREEPers Exempted)

Encarta, Microsoft's Encyclopedia Online ^ | 11/4/03

[Recovering_Democrat]

12 Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents

Not only were these men leaders of our country--they were multitalented, unique, and even downright quirky. We've heard a lot about their contribution to United States history. But would you have guessed the following...?

1. First U.S. president George Washington rejected a movement among army officers to make him king of the United States.

2. Andrew Jackson, 7th U.S. president, dueled with Charles Dickinson after he insulted Jackson's marriage. Jackson let his opponent fire first, giving himself time to take aim. Jackson took a bullet in the chest and, without flinching, calmly killed his man.

3. James Buchanan, 15th U.S. president and the first unmarried man to be elected president, reportedly took great pride in his tiny feet, although he was a large robust man.

4. Often depicted wearing a tall black stovepipe hat, 16th president of the United States Abraham Lincoln carried letters, bills, and notes in his hat.

5. The 18th U.S. president, Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but he changed his name because he did not like his monogram, HUG.

6. Both ambidextrous and multilingual, 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

7. William Taft, 27th president of the United States, weighed more than 300 pounds and had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House.

8. The 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson allowed sheep to graze on the White House lawn during World War I; their wool helped raise money for the Red Cross.

9. The 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford turned down offers to play professional football for the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.

10. As a young lifeguard at a riverside beach near Dixon, Illinois, future 40th U.S. president Ronald Reagan rescued 77 people from drowning.

11. An avid golfer, 42nd U.S. president Bill Clinton was infamous for taking a high number of "mulligans," or "do-overs" while playing. The only Rhodes-scholar president also developed a reputation for creative math skills in tallying his score; according to one report, Clinton once took some 200 swings to record a score of 82.

12. The 43rd U.S. president, George W. Bush was head cheerleader at Phillips Academy, a prep school in Andover, Massachusetts, where his father had been a legendary student leader and athlete. Nicknamed "Lip," George W. also organized an intramural stickball league at the school.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Reagan saves 77 people from drowning...and TheBentOne cheats in golf. Two snapshots that adequately define each.

[Flux Capacitor]

I'll admit to not having known nos. 3 and 6.

-Dan

[metalboy]

1. First U.S. president George Washington rejected a movement among army officers to make him king of the United States.

Thank God he wasn`t a Clinton.

[Dog Gone]

I didn't know 6 or 9.

[chainsaw]

Reagan saves 77 people from drowning...and TheBentOne cheats in golf. Two snapshots that adequately define each.

The interesting thing is Clinton believes he actually shot 82.

[Cacophonous]

More remarkable about #1, the movement happened shortly after the Revolution, long before the Constitution and election process was in place. He quelled the movement - which arose out of disgruntled officers not getting paid - by promising to work with the Congress to get them paid. He did, of course, keep his word.

George Washington...still first and greatest of all Americans.

[ladyinred]

Nicknamed "Lip," George W. also organized an intramural stickball league at the school.

Hmm, W and I have something in common. I am nicknamed "Lippy" myself! :-)

[Veracious Poet]

Here's another little known fact that FDR turned the Constitution on it's head by giving himself "Special Emergency" powers, establishing the ability for Presidents to create law throught the issuance of "Executive Orders".

It appears that only a President could rescind this power grab by FDR (using Lincoln's precedent), and only JFK seemed to have the will to return the Republic to the rule of law under the Constitution.

Next time you think a president really is doing the "right" thing, check to see how many Executive Orders he wrote and if his administration is staying within it's role as established in the Constitution.

It appears few if any Americans are aware of the extent to which this has changed the Federal Gov't. and illegally empowered it.

The Senate gave a shot at shutting it down in 1973 and got nowhere:

---

93d Congress
SENATE
Report No. 93-549
1st Session

EMERGENCY POWERS STATUTES:

PROVISIONS OF FEDERAL LAW NOW IN EFFECT DELEGATING TO THE EXECUTIVE EXTRAORDINARY AUTHORITY IN TIME OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE TERMINATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY UNITED STATES SENATE NOVEMBER 19, 1973

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1973
24-509 O

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE TERMINATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY

FRANK CHURCH, Idaho Co-Chairman
PHILIP A. HART, Michigan
CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island
ADLAI E. STEVENSON III, Illinois CHARLES McC MATHIAS, Jr., Maryland
CLIFFORD P. CASE, New Jersey
JAMES B. PEARSON, Kansas
CLIFFORD P. HANSEN, Wyoming
WILLIAM G. MILLER, Staff Director
THOMAS A. DINE, Professional Staff

FOREWORD

Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. In fact, there are now in effect four presidentially-proclaimed states of national emergency: In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt in 1933, there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970, and August 15, 1971.


These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the President extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing manners. This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal Constitutional processes.


Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.


With the melting of the cold war--the developing detente with the Soviet Union and China, the stable truce of over 20 years duration between North and South Korea, and the end of U.S. involvement in the war in Indochina--there is no present need for the United States Government to continue to function under emergency conditions.


The Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emergency was created (1) to examine the consequences of terminating the declared states of national emergency that now prevail; to recommend what steps the Congress should take to ensure that the termination can be accomplished without adverse effect upon the necessary tasks of governing; and, also, to recommend ways in which the United States can meet future emergency situations with speed and effectiveness but without relinquishment of congressional oversight and control.


In accordance with this mandate, the Special Committee-- in conjunction with the Executive branch, expert constitutional authorities, as well as former high officials of this Government-- is now engaged in a detailed study to determine the most reasonable ways to restore normalcy to the operations of our Government.


A first and necessary step was to bring together the body of statutes, which have been passed by Congress, conferring extraordinary powers upon the Executive branch in times of national emergency.


This has been a most difficult task. Nowhere in the Government, in either the Executive or Legislative branches, did there exist a complete catalog of all emergency statutes. Many were aware that there had been a delegation of an enormous amount of power but, of how much power, no one knew. In order to correct this situation, the Special Committee staff was instructed to work with the Executive branch, the Library of Congress, and knowledgeable legal authorities to compile an authoritative list of delegated emergency powers.


This Special Committee study, which contains a list of all provisions of Federal law, except the most trivial, conferring extraordinary powers in time of national emergency, was compiled by the staff under the direction of Staff Director William G. Miller, and Mr. Thomas A. Dine; utilizing the help of the General Accounting Office, the American Law Division of the Library of Congress, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and the Office of Emergency Planning.


The Special Committee is grateful for the assistance provided by Jack. Goldklang of the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice; Lester S. Jayson, the director of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress; Joseph E. Ross, head of the American Law Division of CRS; and especially Raymond Celada of the American Law Division and his able assistants, Charles V. Dale and Grover S. Williams; Paul Armstrong of the General Accounting Office; Linda Lee, Patrick Norton, Roland Moore, William K. Sawyer, Audrey Hatry, Martha Mecham, and David J. Kyte.


The Special Committee will also publish a list of Executive Orders, issued pursuant to statutes brought into force by declared states of emergency, at a later date.

[fhayek]

6. Both ambidextrous and multilingual, 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

That's nothing, the Schlickmeister could conduct foreign policy while getting "lewinskied" in the oval office.

[Cacophonous]

I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous.

[steplock]

"Reagan saves 77 people from drowning...and TheBentOne cheats in golf. Two snapshots that adequately define each."

Isn't that "slanted" news??

:>)

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I'll admit to not having known nos. 3 and 6.

Ditto. Buchanan seems to have been a very strange duck indeed.

[fhayek]

Buchanan seems to have been a very strange duck indeed.

Don't say that too loudly around here. Too many PJB supporters.

[yankeedame]

In addition: George Wasingington's salary as POTUS was $25,000 (the VPs was approx $8,000) out of which he was expected to cover all expenses related to the office:

-salaries (from humblest kitchen maid to exec.secr.),
-all household maintaince (linen, washing, china replacement, heating, clothing allowances, medicine, doctors' bills, etc.)
- any and all transportation (stabling, horses/feed, carriages, repairs/replacements, grooms, meals, cost of junkets, journies, tours,etc. not only for the POTUS but everyone in his entourage)
- any and all cost related to offical entertaining (the cost of food, wine, and extra candles, temporary help, flowers, decorations, etc.)

The result was that every single year that he was president George Washington has to take money (at times a considerable sum) out of his own pocket to make ends meet. Needless to say he did not like this for he was in no way a rich man, but felt the dignity of the office required it.

[yankeedame]

I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous

And if you're going to live hand-to-mouth you'd better be ambidextrous.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Sheesh. I feel ignernt. I didn't know 3, 4, 5, 9 or 10.

[PaulJ]

George Washington...still first and greatest of all Americans.

So true. I wish the public schools would spend more time in teaching about the life of this remarkable man.Few Presidents come close to having the selfless dedication and love for the United States that GW had. He was, without question, the father of our country.

[Snickersnee]

#8 -- I beg to differ: Executive Orders are binding on the parts of government that fall under the chief executive, i.e., the President, which is as it should be. He is the boss of all the bureaucrats. EOs are not law.

May I ask what EOs have impinged on your life since 1933?

[Young Werther]

Congress tried 7 times to honor George.

Read About George (Zeus!) Here

[Chu Gary]

"Gerald Ford turned down offers to play professional football.."

As compared to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White who DID play pro football (Detroit I think) and was known as Whizzer White.