Strange, amusing, and interesting facts about US presidents

When George Washington became president in 1789, France was a monarchy, China was under imperial rule, and the Holy Roman Empire controlled a large part of Europe. Today, over 230 years later, the world is vastly different, but the U.S. presidency remains.

Here are 46 fun and curious facts about each person that has held the position so far. Can you guess some of them?

Despite being the namesake of several higher education institutions and the US capital, George Washington never attended college and is the only US president to never have lived in Washington, DC.

John Adams and his friend and successor Thomas Jefferson died on the same day: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Adams’s final words were “Thomas Jefferson survives”, not knowing his fellow founding father had died a few hours earlier.

In the image: A painting representing Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence.

The town of Cheshire, Massachusetts gave Thomas Jefferson a 1,235-pound (560 kg) cheese as a gift in 1802. Known as the Cheshire Mammoth Cheese, it was transported by sleigh and boat and remained in the White House for over two years.

The Father of the Bill of Rights was the shortest US President so far, with a height of only 5 ft 4 (163 centimeters).

The man behind the Monroe Doctrine, seen....... here standing in this 1912 painting, once had to defend himself with fire tongs after a disagreement with his Secretary of Treasury, William Crawford (second to the left).

The son of John Adams, he was the first US president to be photographed, as seen here.

Andrew Jackson had a propensity for swearing, which rubbed off to his pet parrot. When Old Hickory died in 1845, guests tried to ignore the bird’s colorful outbursts during the funeral service at his home.

Born in a Dutch-speaking community in New York, the eighth US president is the only one so far to have English as his secondary language.

Harrison pioneered in many elements of modern presidential campaigns, with rallies full of songs, hard cider, and a log cabin he used to portray himself as a “man of the people”. It didn’t do much for him, since he died of pneumonia three weeks after being sworn in.

Tyler was the first Vice President to be sworn in as President of the United States. A supporter of the Confederacy, he passed away before the end of the Civil War and was buried with a casket draped by the Confederate flag instead of an American flag.

Nicknamed the Napoleon of the Stump for his oratory skills, Polk was the first US president not to seek reelection after finishing his term.

Taylor suddenly passed after serving a year as president. Long before there were JFK conspiracy theories, there’s been speculation for over 150 years whether Taylor was poisoned.

Millard Fillmore’s father supposedly owned only three books: a Bible, a hymnbook, and an almanac. However, his presidential son was a bibliophile who would carry a dictionary with him all the time and personally helped to fight a fire in the Library of Congress.

Franklin Pierce was the first US President to place a Christmas tree in the White House.

James Buchanan has been the only bachelor president to date, although his intimate friendship with Alabama politician William Rufus King has been a source of speculation for over 150 years.

Pictured: James Buchanan (fourth from the left) and his cabinet in 1856.

Honest Abe signed the decree that created the US Secret Service on April 14, 1865. The very same day of his assassination.

Andrew Johnson never had any formal education and run a successful tailoring business before entering politics. He continued making his own clothes, even as president.

He was the first US president to write his memoirs, with the intention to leave money to his family, as he was dying of throat cancer. His autobiography was published by Mark Twain and successful with critics and the public alike.

A somewhat obscure Commander-in-Chief in the United States, the province of Presidente Hayes in Paraguay was named in his honor after ruling in Paraguay’s favor during a border arbitration with Argentina in 1878. It’s the third-largest region in the country!

Garfield was ambidextrous, meaning he could write with both hands without any problem. Sometimes he would write in two different languages in each hand at the same time to impress guests!

Chester A. Arthur was known in his time for his taste and style, earning him nicknames such as Gentleman Boss and Elegant Arthur. He allegedly owned around 80 pairs of pants and would change clothes several times a day.

Cleveland so far is the only president to get married in the White House. At 49, He married 21-year-old Frances Folsom who remains to this day the youngest First Lady.

Harrison came from quite a political dynasty. His great-grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence, his grandfather was President William Henry Harrison and his father was a US Representative from Ohio.

Grover Cleveland is the only US president to serve two non-consecutive terms, which is why he appears on this list twice!

William McKinley (far left) was the first US president to ever ride an automobile and was carried in an ambulance after being shot.

Teddy Roosevelt was the first American to be granted the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1906. Elected when he was 42 years old, he’s also the youngest person to become US President to date.

Taft, the heaviest president in US history, was the first Commander-in-Chief to throw a ceremonial first pitch in a baseball game.

Nicknamed the Schoolmaster, he remains the only US president to have a doctorate. Wilson is also the only president buried in Washington, DC, in Washington National Cathedral.

Harding was known for his extramarital affairs. One of them resulted in a tell-all book 4 years after his death, which claimed he had a daughter out of wedlock.

A man of few words, Calvin Coolidge’s last will and testament was only 23 words long. The very same length as this text!

Hoover and his wife moved to China in 1899 and lived there for over a year. The couple managed to be fluent in Mandarin to an extent and would talk to each other in that language when they needed some privacy.

FDR won four presidential elections, a feat impossible today ever since the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted in 1951 as a reaction to Roosevelt’s impressive presidential run.

Harry S Truman was allegedly in such a dire financial situation after his administration that was he and his wife had to move in with her mother in Independence, Missouri. A pension for former presidents was approved in 1958 after gossip about his poverty became public.

Although known for his reputation as a military man, Eisenhower never saw active combat. He rose the ranks overseeing military camps across the United States and by the time he was appointed as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in WWII, he was one of the country’s top generals.

The first Catholic US President, JFK received the last rites a total of four times: When he was diagnosed with Addison’s disease in 1947, when he suffered an extremely high fever in Japan in 1951, after slipping into a coma following back surgery in 1954 and after his assassination, on November 23, 1963.

LBJ used to have 60 smokes every day until he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1955. He gave up the habit until January 20, 1969, the day he left office.

Tricky Richard won large amounts of money by playing poker during his navy service in the Pacific Theater in WWII. Eventually, he used some of this money to finance his political career in his native California.

Ford was a proficient athlete in his college days. He led the University of Michigan to win two national championships in 1932 and 1933 and got offers to play for the Detroit Lions or the Green Bay Packers. He chose to study law instead.

Jimmy Carter was a celebrity guest in the game show ‘What’s My Line?’ in 1973, three years before he was elected president. No one in the panel knew then he was a former Georgia governor.

The Gipper, despite being known for his neoliberal economic policies, started his political career as head of a labor union, the Screen Actors Guild. He was also the first US president to visit the New York Stock Exchange while in office.

George Bush disliked broccoli with a passion. In 1990, he was asked about it and stated that “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid. And my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States. And I'm not gonna eat any more broccoli!”

A 16-year-old Bill Clinton met John F. Kennedy at The White House in 1963 as one of the two Arkansas delegates of a youth forum organized by the American Legion.

The eldest son of George Herbert Walker Bush was known as ‘Tumbler’ by the Secret Service when his father was president. Once he got to the White House as president, George W. Bush’s code name was changed to ‘Trailblazer’.

The first African-American US president dislikes ice cream ever since he worked one summer at an ice cream parlor in Honolulu.

The Donald has changed political affiliations at least five times. He registered as a Republican in 1989, joined the Independent Party of New York in 1999, switched to Democrat in 2001, returned to be a Republican in 2009, registered as an independent in 2011, and finally settled with the GOP in 2012.

Unlike Barack Obama, Joe Biden really loves ice cream. After accepting the Democratic nomination in 2020, his grandchildren got him a whole pint of ice cream, just for him.

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