Unknown America Page 11

  James Monroe (1817-1825) Monroe died exactly 5 years to the day after Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - July 4, 1831.

  * The founding of Liberia in the early 1800s was motivated by the domestic politics of slavery and race in the United States as well as by US foreign policy interests. In 1816, a group of white Americans founded the American Colonization Society (ACS) to deal with the “problem” of the growing number of free blacks in the United States. The groups plan was to resettle them in Africa. The resulting state of Liberia would become the second (after Haiti), black republic in the world at that time. The Capital of the African Nation, Monrovia, is named after James Monroe who was a prominent supporter of the colonization of freed Black and ex-Caribbean slaves because he saw it as preferable to emancipation in America.

  John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) John Q. Adams was the first President to be the son of a former President.

  * Adams loved to skinny dip in Washington DC's Potomac River.

  * “Q” was the only former President to serve in the US House of Representatives. In 1830, Adams was elected to the House as part of the Massachusetts delegation. He would represent three different districts over the course of his Congressional Career. He was also the first House member to champion abolition and emancipation.

  Andrew Jackson (1829-1841) Jackson was involved in over 100 duels, most to defend the honor of his wife Rachel. He had a bullet in his chest from an 1806 duel and another bullet in his arm from a barroom fight in 1813 with Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

  * Jackson was also the first President to experience an assassination attempt. A house painter named Richard Lawrence, was armed with two guns the day he attempted to kill Jackson. Amazingly both pistols misfired. An event weapons experts say had a 1 in 125,000 chance of occurring. After Lawrence's attempt failed, Jackson chased him with his walking stick.

  * During the battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama, one of Jackson’s soldiers discovered a little Indian boy, about three-years-old, wandering around crying in search of his family. The soldier brought the child to General Jackson, asking what he should do with him. The militia was on the march and there was no one to care for a toddler. Jackson did not hesitate. “Bring him to Mrs. Jackson,” he instructed. The little Indian boy was named Lincoya by the Jackson's and raised as their own. He was fed and clothed and educated the same as his “brother” Andrew Jackson Jr. Early in 1828, the year Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States, Lincoya contracted tuberculosis. With primitive medical care, the seventeen year old young man died only months before his adoptive father became the seventh President.

  Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) The term OK derives from President Martin Van Buren who was known as Old Kinderhook because he was raised in Kinderhook New York. OK clubs were created to support Van Buren's campaigns.

  * His given birth name was spelled Maartin

  * Van Buren is the first American born President. All previous Presidents were born British subjects.

  * When Van Buren wrote his autobiography after serving as President he didn't mention his wife of 12 years and the mother of his five children, Hannah, even once.

  * Hannah died before Van Buren was elected. He never remarried being one of only a handful of Presidents to be unmarried for the entirety of their time in office. (Jefferson was elected as a widower, Arthur ascended as a widower after the death of James Garfield and Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor)

  William Henry Harrison (1841-1841) Harrison gave the longest inaugural address at 8,443 words on March 4, 1841 on cold and blustery day in Washington DC. Because of his exposure to the elements he developed a severe cold and died one month later of pneumonia. Harrison holds the dubious honor of being the United States shortest serving Commander in Chief.

  John Tyler (1841-1845) Tyler had more children than any other President. He had eight by his first wife Letitia who was the First Lady of the United States from 1841 until her death in 1842. And seven by his second wife Julia who also served as First Lady. He was 70 years of age when his last child Pearl was born.

  * He was also the first President to get married while in office. His children from his first marriage did not approve of the second marriage to Julia so none of them attended. Likely because Julia was just 21 years old and Tyler 44. Although a significant age gap even by today's standards, in the mid 19th Century it would have been considered very significant, even scandalous.

  * Tyler assumed the Oval Office after the death of Harrison, although amid some confusion. Up to this time a President had never died in office. Since the transference of Presidential power in this situation had not been considered, nor planned for, Tyler served out his term without a Vice President. (This has only occurred 3 other times in US history).

  James K Polk (1845-1849) Polk was not expecting to be the Democratic nominee for President in 1844. Martin Van Buren wanted to be nominated for a second term as President – which if he had won would have made him only one of two Presidents in US history to serve non consecutive terms. But Van Buren's stance against the annexation of Texas was unpopular with the Democratic Party. The delegates voted nine times before compromising on Polk as their pick for President.

  * Polk is considered by many to be the best one-term President in American history. He was a strong leader during the Mexican War. He added a vast area to the United States from the Oregon Territory through Nevada and California. A rare Politician as well, Polk kept all of his campaign promises.

  Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) In 1848, Taylor was nominated to be President by the Whig Party without his knowledge or presence at the nominating convention. The Whigs sent him notification of the nomination without the postage being paid. The party expected Taylor to pay for the letter that informed him that he was the nominee. He refused to pay the postage and did not find out about the nomination until weeks later.

  * Taylor died unexpectedly on July 8, 1850. Doctors believe the cause was cholera. More than a hundred and forty years later, after much speculation, Taylor's body was exhumed to establish that he had not been poisoned. The cause was not determined but experts did rule out intentional poisoning.

  Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) Fillmore's first elected office was to the New York state legislature in 1828 on the Anti-Masonic ticket, which, as its name suggests, strongly opposed Freemasonry.

  * Fillmore did not have a Vice President. The Constitution did not originally include a provision for replacing Vice Presidents in the event they ascended to the Oval Office prematurely. The office of VP has been vacant for a total of about 38 years. Over a hundred years later, 1967 to be exact, the 25th Amendment was ratified which allows the President to appoint a VP with Congressional approval.

  * Fillmore is credited with having the first flush toilets installed in the White House in 1853. Bringing to an end the era of the mad dash to the outhouse.

  Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) Pierce was a known alcoholic. In fact, he was criticized during the campaign and his presidency for his drinking. During the election of 1852, the Whigs mocked Pierce as the “Hero of many a well-fought Bottle.”

  * Pierce's wife was Jane Means Appleton. They had three sons, all of whom died by the age of twelve. Pierce was not nominated for a second term and spent the last years of his life caring for his grieving wife in Europe.

  James Buchanan (1857-1861) Buchanan was the only US President that remained a bachelor his entire life. As President he was virtually inseparable from William R King a senator from the state of Alabama. Keeping near constant company with each other, the pair we're nicknamed “Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy” by Andrew Jackson. Aaron Brown referred to King as Buchanan’s “wife” and “better half” — suggesting that their relationship was not as “closeted” as one might think.

  Obviously this situation raised many questions, the first being about Buchanan's sexual preferences and whether or not he was in fact gay. Although much of the evidence is circumstantial, it is none the less overwhelming.

  For instan
ce: Buchanan never married and was a lifelong bachelor and for many years he lived with another man, Senator King.

  In addition to these facts and according to historian James Loewen, Buchanan instructed relatives to burn his private letters after his death. Some surviving correspondence however indicates a romantic bond between Buchanan and King, according to Loewen.

  After being appointed minister to France by John Tyler in 1844, King wrote to Buchanan, “I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation.”

  In that same year in a letter to a friend, Buchanan wrote of King's absence, “I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.”

  Despite the preponderance of “evidence” neither man ever publicly admitted to being in a romantic relationship. So has America had a homosexual President? If so it certainly wasn't out in the open, but it does seem quite likely.

  * The lack of a spouse in the White House and for that matter Buchanan's life, caused Buchanan to employ the services of his Niece, Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston to serve as First Lady, or “Hostess” of the United States.

  * Buchanan's administration was so contentious that members of Congress often carried knives and small pistols into their Legislative chambers. But he was also caring at times. Buchanan quietly but consistently bought slaves in Washington DC and then set them free in Pennsylvania.

  Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) Abraham Lincoln is the only US President that was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Barry and Lincoln saloon in Springfield Illinois.

  * Lincoln logs are named after Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin he was born in. John Lloyd Wright, the son of famous Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, invented the popular toy building set.

  * Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. Young Abe was an accomplished wrestler. He lost only once in approximately 300 matches and Lincoln could talk smack with the best of them. According to Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln, he once challenged an entire crowd of onlookers after a victory saying... “I’m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.” There were no takers.

  * Lincoln was the first President to ever be photographed at his inauguration. In the picture he is standing near his future assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

  * Lincoln is also the only President to receive a patent. Patent No. 6469 was for a device to lift boats over shoals, an invention which was never actually manufactured.

  * He was the first President to have a beard, at the request from a little girl named Gracie Bedell.

  * And was the first President to have a child die while he was in office. Willie Lincoln was only 12 when he died from what the Doctors called “bilious fever” which was a medical diagnosis of the day often used for any fever that was accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

  Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) Johnson, Lincoln's Vice President who took office after Abe's assassination, was the first President to be impeached, although not convicted. He was acquitted by a single vote in the Senate. It would be another 131 years before another President, Bill Clinton, would be impeached. (Although like Johnson, Clinton was not convicted or removed from office).

  * Johnson's father, Jacob, died when he was just 3 years old. His mother remarried and later sold him and his brother as indentured servants to a tailor named James Selby. The brothers ran away after two years. On June 24, 1824, Selby advertised in a newspaper a reward of $10 for anyone who would return the brothers to him. However, they were never captured and soon returned to their mother before moving with her to Tennessee.

  * At 22 he was elected the mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as mayor for four years. He was then elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. He later became a Tennessee State Senator before being elected to the congress in 1843.

  Ulysses S Grant (1869-1877) Grant's real first name was Hiram. Hiram Ulysses Grant changed it because he didn't want to enter West Point with initials like H.U.G. When Congressman Thomas Hamer filed Grant's application to West Point, he thought Grant's first name was Ulysses and assumed the middle name would be Simpson, Grant's mother's maiden name. Hence Ulysses S.

  * It was so cold at Grant's second inauguration on March 4th 1873 the canaries that were supposed to sing at the inaugural ball all froze to death. It was a blustery 16 degrees.

  * Grant smoked at least 20 cigars a day. After a big victory against the Confederate Army, well-wishers sent him more than 10,000 cigars. Grant died of throat cancer. But he did manage to finish his memoir and restore his families lost fortune before his death. (Grant was left virtually penniless for a time after an investment firm he lent his name and reputation to went belly up).

  Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) Hayes banned alcohol and held Gospel sing-a-longs every night in the White House.

  * Hayes also started the tradition of the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn, which has been run on the Monday after Easter since 1878.

  * The American consul in Bangkok knew Rutherford's wife Lucy loved cats and arranged in 1878 for the delivery of the first Siamese cat in America. The cat arrived in 1879 and the Hayes’s named it Siam, (Original huh?)

  * Hayes was the first President to speak on the telephone from the White House. The year was 1877. According an article in the Providence Journal that reported the story; “The President listened carefully while a gradually increasing smile wreathed his lips, and wonder shone in his eyes more and more, until he took the little instrument from his ear, looked at it a moment in surprise, and remarked, “That is wonderful.”

  James Garfield (1881) Garfield was a brilliant man able to write in both Latin and Greek and he could do so with both hands.

  * Garfield was the first president to campaign in multiple languages. He often spoke in German with German-Americans he encountered along the campaign trail.

  * President Garfield’s mother was the first President’s mother to attend her son’s inauguration.

  * Garfield was assassinated by an anarchist named Charles Guiteau in 1881. Guiteau shot Garfield in the back with a five barrel .44 caliber pistol called a British bulldog. He said he chose this gun because it would look good on display in a museum some day. However no one currently knows where the gun is. Garfield didn't die from the gunshot wounds however. He died of blood poisoning after doctors tried to remove the bullet from his back with their dirty fingers and instruments causing him to linger for 80 days before dying. Guiteau later claimed he didn't kill the President because the doctors had.

  Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) President Arthur made no Inaugural Address.

  * At the request of Arthur, the International Meridian Conference was held in Washington, DC in October 1884 to determine the Prime Meridian of the world. The conference established the Greenwich Meridian and International Standardized Time, which are both still recognized today.

  * After Garfield’s death, Arthur insisted the White House be redecorated and had twenty-four wagon loads of furniture hauled off and sold at public auction. The pieces included some dating back to John Adams’ term and would be considered priceless today.

  Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) Cleveland was the only US President to be elected to two non-contiguous terms.

  * Cleveland's real first name was Stephen but he changed it to Grover as an adult.

  * The Baby Ruth Candy Bar was named after his daughter Ruth and not Babe Ruth as some have speculated.

  * Cleveland is the only President in history to hold the job of a hangman. He was once a Sheriff of Erie county New York and twice had to spring the trap at a hanging.

  Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the United States. Benjamin was seven years old when his grandfather was elected President.

  * Benjamin Harrison defeated the incumbent President
Grover Cleveland in the election of 1888. However, in his bid for re-election in 1892, Harrison was defeated by Cleveland making it the only time an incumbent President was defeated by a former President.

  * When electricity was first installed in the White House around midway through Harrison's term, he was so afraid of being shocked that he refused to touch the switches.

  * The election of 1892 gave us another first. It was the first time neither candidate campaigned in a presidential election, both Harrison and Cleveland relied solely on surrogates instead. Maybe an idea modern day candidates should consider?

  Grover Cleveland – Again (1893-1897) During Cleveland's second term, he repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and returned the US currency to a gold standard. The subsequent run on government gold required the government to borrow from the New York financier JP. Morgan.

  William McKinley (1897-1901) McKinley’s inauguration was the first presidential inauguration to be filmed.