Yahoo Lifestyle 13 Bizarre Facts And Stories About US Presidents That You Most Definitely Did NOT Learn In School
1.George Washington was almost a "zombie":
When a raging throat infection struck the first President on December 12, 1799, a doctor named William Thornton dashed across the Virginia countryside in an attempt to save Washington's life. However, when he pulled up to the steps of Mount Vernon on December 15, 1799, he was shocked to discover that the Founding Father had already died. Thus began his attempts to "resuscitate" Washington...
Thornton recalled a case of a fish being frozen and then brought back to life and suggested that he could do the same with Washington's corpse. He believed that he could thaw the deceased President in cold water and then wrap his body in blankets to begin the process of resuscitation.
The next step of his plan was to open a passage to his lungs (a tracheotomy as we now call it) and “inflate them with air, to produce an artificial respiration.”
As we all know, Washington was a victim of bloodletting, having an estimated 40% of his blood removed as he was dying, so Thornton's final step in his "Frankenstein" mission was to replace Washington's lost blood with that of a lamb.
However, no one else at Mount Vernon shared Thornton's confidence, and the plan was abandoned. He later wrote, “I was not seconded in this proposal; for it was deemed unavailing. It was doubted by some whether if it were possible, it would be right to attempt to recall to life one who had departed full of honor and renown.”
2.John Adams had a dog named Satan:
Adams, the first President to live in the White House, also owned some of the first presidential pets. Alongside several horses, he and first lady Abigail Adams had two mixed-breed dogs — one of whom had a rather interesting name.
One of the pups was named Juno, and the other was called...Satan. I'd like to imagine Adams had to say, "Not today, Satan," at least once.
3.Abraham Lincoln *almost* joined the Donner party:
According to historian Michael Wallis' book, The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in an Age of Manifest Destiny, the 16th President considered joining the ill-fated trip.
Lincoln and James F. Reed, an organizer of the Donner Party, first met when they were messmates in the shortlived Black Hawk War. They stayed connected afterward, with Lincoln becoming a lawyer and Reed becoming an entrepreneur; the future President would often advise his friend on business matters.
Honest Abe had been interested in California his entire life, so when Reed declared he was venturing westward, Lincoln contemplated going with his friend. However, Mary Todd Lincoln was having none of it. At the time, she and Abe had a toddler and were already expecting their next child. She strongly opposed her husband's plans to uproot their growing family and his budding political career, as Lincoln had recently been elected to his first and only term in Congress.
4.Ulysses S. Grant hated eating meat:
Despite his time on the battlefield (or perhaps because of it,) Grant had a severe aversion to blood. A sparse eater all of his life, it was said that during the Civil War, the 5' 8" tall general dropped down to only 135 pounds.
He abhorred the killing of animals and refused to eat meat unless it was charred so as not to see blood in the meat. However, it wasn't only red meat he disliked; Grant also refused to eat fowl and was said to have preferred pork and beans, buckwheat cakes, and fruit.
5.William Taft had a penchant for opossums:
No, the 27th President didn't just enjoy looking at adorable opossums...he frequently dined on them.
After his 1908 election victory, Taft met with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. When asked if he had any specific requests before the event, the native Ohioan said, “I have had a lifetime longing to taste ‘possum and ‘taters.’ My visit to the south would be incomplete unless this wish is realized.” This led to reports of Taft's "possum feast," which reportedly fed over 600 individuals.
People across the country began sending the President opossums. One such incident was when Texas hunters captured a rare white opossum and sent it to Taft by "express" so that he could try the marsupial meat.
Another notable event occurred in Louisiana when, upon hearing that Taft dined on opossums while in Georgia, the Louisianans became determined to convince the President to sample alligator meat. The New York Times was not particularly fond of Taft's adventurous appetite, writing, “It is no part of the president's duty to eat strange foods merely to satisfy neighborhood pride. We earnestly beg Mr. Taft to stop with the 'possum.'”
However, the article didn't deter Taft. Later that year, for Thanksgiving 1909, the Taft family served a 26-pound Georgia opossum alongside a 30-pound bird.
6.Warren G. Harding used a code name for his penis:
After Harding died in 1923, his widow, first lady Florence Harding, burned hundreds of letters, papers, and documents that she felt could be misconstrued by the public. However, some correspondence between Harding and Carrie Fulton Phillips, the woman he had a long-term affair with, survived and was rediscovered in the 1960s.
In 1964, the Harding family sued to keep the letters private, stipulating that they remain sealed for 50 years. When the letters were revealed to the public in 2014, it was discovered that he devised a series of code names to use when writing to Phillips in case others ever found their letters. The letters revealed that Harding referred to his penis as "Jerry" and Phillips's vagina as "Mrs. Pouterson." Here is one, ahem, mention of "Jerry":
"Wish I could take you to Mount Jerry. Wonderful spot. Not in the geographies but a heavenly place, and I have seen some passing views there and reveled in them. Gee! How I wish you might be along. You could be such a dandy companion — it would be adorable to have you. I am sure I would be sweetly content — you could make me so."
7.FDR hated the number 13:
Just call him the "Anti-Taylor Swift" because 13 was certainly not FDR's lucky number. The 32nd President was very superstitious and suffered from triskaidekaphobia (aka the fear of the number 13), so much so that he would refuse to travel on the 13th day of any month. Mathematics scientist Thomas J. Fernsler revealed, "FDR might have been our most superstitious president...If he was going to travel on the 13th, often he would make the conductor leave at 11:50 p.m. on the 12th or wait until the early hours of the 14th."
Roosevelt was also known for never hosting dinner parties with only 13 guests. "He was scared to death of the number 13. When luncheon or dinner parties numbered 13, he would ask his secretary to join the guests to make an even 14," Fernsler elaborated.
In an even stranger twist of events, Roosevelt passed away on April 12, 1945. The following day would have been Friday the 13th...
8.Truman thought the White House was haunted:
President Truman would have very well called Ghostbusters if it had been a few decades later. In a 1946 letter to his wife, first lady Bess Truman, the 33rd President wrote, "The damned place is haunted, sure as shootin. . . . You and Margie [the Trumans' daughter] had better come back and protect me before some of these ghosts carry me off."
It had long been rumored that notorious grudge-holder and former President Andrew Jackson's ghost haunted 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In the 1860s, first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, a strong proponent of séances, told friends that she heard Jackson stomping and swearing throughout the presidential estate. Jackson's former room, the Rose Room, is believed to be one of the most haunted rooms in the White House.
Jackson's ghost made an appearance eight decades later in another letter Truman wrote to his wife, “I sit here in this old house and work on foreign affairs, read reports, and work on speeches–all the while listening to the ghosts walk up and down the hallway and even right in here in the study. The floors pop and the drapes move back and forth–I can just imagine old Andy [Jackson] and Teddy [Roosevelt] having an argument over Franklin [Roosevelt]. Or James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce deciding which was the more useless to the country. And when Millard Fillmore and Chester Arthur join in for place and show the din is almost unbearable. But I still get some work done."
However, the creaks and pops were later investigated, and a much less paranormal source was discovered. As it turned out, the White House was in imminent danger of collapse and needed major renovations. The White House Reconstruction effort began in 1949 and became known as the Truman Reconstruction.
9.Ike wanted squirrels assassinated:
In spring 1954, much to the delight of avid golfer and 34th President Dwight Eisenhower, the American Public Golf Association installed an outdoor putting green mere steps from the Oval Office. But, much to his dismay, the White House squirrels decided to wage war and began digging up the putting green to bury their acorns and nuts.
The President even went so far as to order his valet, John Moaney, “The next time you see one of those squirrels go near my putting green, take a gun and shoot it!” However, Moaney and the Secret Service wisely avoided using firearms and instead ordered the groundskeepers to trap the squirrels and relocate them to Rock Creek Park.
10.A bathroom break saved Lyndon B. Johnson's life:
Randall B. Woods's book, LBJ: Architect of American Ambition, revealed that on June 9, 1942, after pressuring his commanders for a chance to be involved in combat, the then-Lieutenant Commander Johnson walked onto the tarmac to join a squadron of bombers preparing to raid a Japanese airbase.
Johnson was assigned to fly in an ill-fated B-26 named Wabash Cannonball. After inspecting the plane and greeting the crew, the future president decided to relieve himself before take-off. When he returned to the plane, one of his colleagues had stolen his seat. Johnson shrugged it off and instead joined the crew of another bomber, the Heckling Hare.
However, the raid quickly turned disastrous for both planes. Upon arrival, it was discovered that the Japanese forces had already attacked the previous US planes sent there. The Wabash Cannonball was quickly hit and caught on fire, immediately killing everyone on board.
The Heckling Hare's electrical generators failed, forcing the pilot to return to the air base. Although the plane was shot up, the crew, including Johnson, made it back in one piece.
11.Gerald Ford appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan:
After graduating from Yale Law School in 1941, Ford worked as a model to make ends meet. In 1942, he joined the Navy and was asked to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan in uniform. However, the future 38th President was never officially credited for posing.
(Bonus fact: During one of his modeling gigs, he met fellow model and future first lady Elizabeth Bloomer, later known as Betty Ford).
12.The Reagans frequently consulted an astrologer:
In her 1989 memoir My Turn, former first lady Nancy Reagan revealed that she began consulting astrologer Joan Quigley after the 1981 assassination attempt on her husband, President Ronald Reagan. A former actor herself, Nancy spoke to old friend and TV show host Merv Griffin shortly after the assassination attempt. He told Reagan that Quigley had predicted that March 30, 1981 would be a dangerous day for the President.
The first lady then began consulting Quigley on the best and safest dates for her husband's numerous public appearances. Nancy quoted the President as saying, "If it makes you feel better, go ahead and do it."
In ousted Chief of Staff Donald Regan's memoir, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington, he blamed the first lady for his firing and claimed that an astrologer in San Francisco influenced every major presidential decision. The Reagans firmly denied that any policies or decisions were made under an astrologer's advisement. At the time, Quigley's identity was kept under wraps.
Quigley, whose identity was unearthed in 1988, told a much different story in her 1990 memoir, What Does Joan Say? The astrologist recalled that before a 1985 Reagan and Gorbachev summit in Geneva, she told the first lady, "Ronnie’s ‘evil empire’ attitude has to go.”
“Gorbachev’s Aquarian planet is in such harmony with Ronnie’s, you’ll see … They’ll share a vision," she claimed.
13.Clint Eastwood was almost Vice President:
Hulton Archive / Getty Images, Vinnie Zuffante / Getty Images
When George H.W. Bush was trailing Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election, he seriously considered Eastwood, the acclaimed actor and then-mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, as a running mate.
In 2011, former Bush campaign chair and Secretary of State James Baker revealed, “When we were way behind. Honestly, [Eastwood] was suggested in not an altogether unserious – Well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor."
“Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick. But we were looking at an 18-point deficit,” suggesting that the "Dirty Harry" star would have served as a popularity boost.
Which one of these facts surprised you the most? Don't forget to share your favorite bizarre presidential facts in the comments!
