Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Interesting Facts- The U.S Presidents (Part 2)

Well I finally got around to doing this! So, this week we'll cover the next ten presidents and litttle known facts about them and then hopefully, in the next two weeks we'll get done with all forty-four presidents.

  1. James Knox Polk- He died just three months after his term ended. 
  2. Zachary Taylor- You'd think that his wife would be one of his most supportive people, but when he ran for president his wife prayed every day that he wouldn't become president. 
  3. Millard Fillmore- Upon visiting Queen Victoria in 1855, she called him the most handsome man she'd ever met. 
  4. Franklin Pierce- Apparently one night when he was returning to the White House, he accidently hit an old lady with his carriage. He was arrested but when the cops discovered who he was, he let him go. I'm not sure the old lady was happy about that even if it was the president. 
  5. James Buchanan- He remains to have been the only U.S president to never have married although he was briefly engaged. He was also the sort of guy who had to have everything just right- he was rejected $15,000 dollars because it was off by ten cents. 
  6. Abraham Lincoln- After his death, many people went into the White House to get away with whatever they could carry. The amount of stolen china was worth $22,000. 
  7. Andrew Johnson- During the Reconstruction era, while on his campaign tour, he once compared himself to Jesus Christ saying that Lincoln had been struck down so that he, Johnson, could become president. Let's just say that this didn't make him anymore popular with his opponents. 
  8. Ulysses S. Grant- It's no wonder he died of cancer. After his victory at Fort Donelson, he was sent 10,000 boxes of cigars by well wishers- probably a gift that wasn't all that good. 
  9. Rutherford B. Hayes- They must have been quite religious for they spent every morning praying and every night singing gospel hymns. He was also able to ban every form of alcohol from the White House except at one state dinner in honor of Russia's Grand Duke, Alexis. 
  10. James A. Garfield- His assassin, Charles Guiteau, had actually stalked him and his cabinet members because he had wanted a position in Paris. Eventually he got it somewhere in his head to shoot the president and fully  aware what he was to do, bought a pistol (was shown by the store owner how to use it), visited a prison, and then finally calmly walked up to the president one day and shot him twice. He was then hanged but somehow, the jury had proclaimed him sane. It took the president eighty days to die, during which he was poked and probed for the bullet that was finally found after he had died. 
So there you go.

Resource
The Secret Lives of the U.S Presidents by Cormac O'brien

So, can anyone name the first five presidents without looking them up? How many people can name all of them? 

Sincerely,
Peony

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