By Haddon Libby
Did you know that President’s Day started as a celebration of George Washington’s birth? This holiday was first celebrated in 1885 on Washington’s actual birth date which is February 22nd and moved to the third Monday in February in 1971 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. That Monday was chosen as it fell between the birth dates of Washington and Lincoln (12th).
As President’s Day is now a celebration of all US Presidents, let’s take a look at some of the lesser known historical facts on our nation’s leaders:
Starting with George Washington, he had no formal education yet was a very successful businessman who owned a liquor distributorship as well as the nation’s largest whiskey manufacturer. His whisky was never bottled but shipped to merchants in barrels.
Washington was 6’2”, weighed 200 pounds and had a size 13 shoe.
People think that Washington had wooden teeth. This is not true. As he had only one tooth by the time that he became President, he tried various dentures made of human and animal teeth as well as ivory and lead. His dental problems originated in childhood as he would crack walnuts using his teeth.
In his youth, Abraham Lincoln was a successful wrestler. He is one of only four assassinated Presidents and one of eight to have died in office.
Lincoln was our tallest president at 6’4”. His wife’s brother, half-brother and brothers-in-law fought for the Confederates during the Civil War. Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert, was present at his father’s assassination, President McKinley’s assassination and the attempted assassination of President Garfield. Like Washington, Lincoln had no formal education.
Our shortest President was James Madison who was 5’4” and 100 pounds.
William Taft was probably our heaviest President at 330 pounds. He is infamously known for getting stuck in the presidential bathtub. He was also President for the ratification of the 16th Amendment which allowed Congress to assess taxes. Taft planted the first cherry tree in DC, drove in the first Presidential automobile and owned the last presidential cow.
Our second President, John Adams graduated from Harvard University. Nine Presidents have attended this school, the most of any university.
Thomas Jefferson’s personal library consisted of 10,000 books and served as the foundation of the Library of Congress. He also fathered five children with slave Sally Hemings. He was an outspoken critic of slavery having proposed the banishment of slavery at the 1783 Continental Congress. His bill was defeated by one vote.
The first President born in the US was Martin Van Buren. The term ‘O.K.’ is based on Van Buren’s nickname ‘Old Kinderhook’ which as abbreviated to O.K. and used during his election campaign as the name of his supporter clubs ‘O.K. Clubs’.
James Garfield is arguably our smartest President as exemplified by his ability to write in Latin and Greek at the same time as he was ambidextrous.
Woodrow Wilson is the only President to have a Ph.D. He loved playing golf so much that he would play in the snow with black golf balls. His second wife was the great-granddaugher of Pocahontas.
Our current President, Barack Obama, is also an avid fan of golf yet is not much of a fan of ice cream. In his younger days, he was a collector of Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comic books. In high school, he was nicknamed ‘Barry O’Bomber’ because of his great jump shot.
The President before him, George W. Bush, was captain of the cheerleading team in high school.
Gerald Ford worked as a fashion model in college and appeared in Cosmopolitan. His birth name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
Lastly, two grandchildren to our 10th President, John Tyler, are still alive. Tyler was born 226 years ago in 1790.
Have a fun and safe President’s Day weekend.
Haddon Libby is Managing Director of investment advisory firm, Winslow Drake and can be reached at hlibby@winslowdrake.com or by phone at 213.596.8399.
