You can’t get all your information from Buzzfeed and Facebook – sometimes, you gotta crack open a book. In my day job as a school librarian, I came across The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents and took it home for some extracurricular reading. Here are some things I learned about our presidents that I had really never seen on the internet before:
The Unscrupulous
Union-general-turned-President Ulysses Grant (R, 1869-1877) has something in common with many of today’s celebrities: he was a cited as a reckless driver. The only difference? He was speeding on his horse.
In 1928, Herbert “No Vacuum Jokes” Hoover (R, 1929-1933) ran on the campaign promise of “two chickens in every pot.” But less than a year into his presidency, there were no chickens in any pots – and in 1932, he allowed the army to use force against protesting World War I vets. This led to quick defeat in the next presidential election.
Chester Arthur (R, 1881-1885 – has anyone even heard of this guy?) avoided his official duties by hanging out on the presidential yacht and throwing fourteen-course dinner parties.
Slick Willy and Baby Bush weren’t the first presidential draft dodgers — Grover Cleaveland (D, 1885-1889; 1893-1897) paid someone to fight for him during the Civil War.
The Unexpected
Andrew Johnson learned to read at age 17 (D, 1865-1869) – I guess schools didn’t have Common Core State Standards back then!
Andrew Jackson (D, 1829-1837) joined the Revolutionary army at age 13 to fight for America’s freedom from the British crown. But in today’s world, you get arrested if you let your 13-year-old babysit….
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R, 1953-1961) thought about becoming a cowboy in Argentina, but joined West Point instead… And the rest is history.
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) actually was a cowboy in his youth, ranching cattle in the Dakotas before going off to fight in the Spanish-American War. According to Google Images, he also rode a moose one time — Presidents were so much more bad-ass back then!
Both John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801) and Thomas Jefferson (Democrat-Republican, 1801-1809) died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (And BTW, there was once such a thing as a “Democrat-Republican”? Someone needs to tell that to today’s politicians…)
Source: Davis, Todd, and Marc Frey. The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents. 2012 ed. Philadelphia: Courage, 2000.
Here’s how bad I am at history ===
I had to google Chester Arthur to make sure you weren’t pulling my leg. LOL!
Nope, he’s the 21st President of the U.S.A.
And I don’t remember ever learning about him!
Reading about him in that book was the first time I heard his name!
I love that you got these facts from an actual book! Yay for research not being lost 🙂 Also…can two chickens even fit in one pot??