One Bizarre Fact About Every U.S. President

Did You Know These Facts About The Presidents?

When you think about it, you have to be pretty demented to seek the office of the presidency. That’s why it’s not surprising that such big personalities have served as President of the United States.

George Washington

The first president also set the template for a love of animals in the White House. Washington was an avid dog breeder in his spare time.

Portrait Painting Of George Washington in dark outfit Gilbert Stuart, Wikimedia Commons

John Adams

As dramatized in the 2008 HBO miniseries starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, President John Adams had a long-standing letter correspondence with his wife Abigail. They wrote over 1,000 letters to each other.

Portrait Painting of U.S. President John Adams in a dark suit National Gallery of Art, Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson had a contentious, if still collaborative, relationship with previous President John Adams. They, strangely enough, passed away within hours of each other.

Portrait Painting of Thomas Jefferson the third president of the United States Rembrandt Peale, Wikimedia Commons

James Madison

Weighing a little over 100 pounds, James Madison stood at 5’4”. He was the shortest president the US has ever had.

Portrait Painting of James Madison the fourth President of the United States John Vanderlyn, Wikimedia Commons

James Monroe

James Monroe must’ve been popular, because he ran virtually unopposed in the 1820 election. If Walter Mondale had known how badly he was going to be blown out in 1984, Reagan might’ve gotten that chance too.

Portrait Painting of U.S. President James Monroe Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Wikimedia Commons

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams had a rich post-presidential life, especially in the court of law. He famously worked in the Supreme Court to defend the slaves who had rebelled aboard the Amistad ship.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President John Quincy Adams in a dark suit Mathew Brady, Wikimedia Commons

Andrew Jackson

Presidents aren’t always the best people, especially if you consider how callous the job makes you about human life. Though Andrew Jackson may have already been that going into the position, once having ended another man’s life in a duel.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Andrew Jackson in a dark suit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Wikimedia Commons

Martin Van Buren

During the height of Arnold Schwarzenneger’s popularity, Republicans were looking for a loophole to make the Austrian able to run for President. The established template for who was allowed was set by Martin Van Buren, who was the first American-born president to serve in the position.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Martin Van Buren in a dark suit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Wikimedia Commons

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William Henry Harrison

Lasting only 32 days in office, William Harrison is probably time’s most forgotten president. If only some other presidents had lasted that shortly.

Portrait Painting of U.S. President William Henry Harrison Albert Gallatin Hoit, Wikimedia Commons

John Tyler

Presidents have to be family men, but John Tyler took it to the extreme, fathering 15 children. Of course, Elon Musk, who currently acts as the symbolic president of sorts, might eventually beat him on this number.

Portrait Painting of President John Tyler, half-length portrait, facing right Mathew Brady, Wikimedia Commons

James K Polk

As a president, Polk was representative of America’s shameful past. He, in secret, purchased a number of enslaved children for his own plantation in the South.

United States president James Knox Polk, three-quarter length portrait Brady, Mathew B, Wikimedia Commons

Zachary Taylor

Not voting if candidates don’t speak to your interests is admirable, but it can be surprising to hear that a president never actually did it. This was the case with President Zachary Taylor before he was elected to office.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Zachary Taylor in a dark outfit Zachary Taylor, Wikimedia Commons

Millard Fillmore

Forget about Democrats and Republicans, it used to be the Dems versus the Whig Party. Millard Fillmore was the last president to represent it.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Millard Fillmore seated Mathew Benjamin Brady, Wikimedia Commons

Franklin Pierce

A rather unremarkable president in the history books, Franklin Pierce’s perhaps most distinguishing feature is being the only president from New Hampshire. Generally voting blue, that state still has a strong libertarian base which makes it a wild card come election season.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Franklin Pierce in dark suit Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons

James Buchanan

America has a particularly tricky relationship to Cuba, even well before the days of Castro. Case in point was President James Buchanan, who while serving Great Britain helped draft a motion for America to invade Cuba.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President James Buchanan in a dark suit Mathew Brady, Wikimedia Commons

Abraham Lincoln

At 6”4, Honest Abe is still, to date, the tallest president. Though it may be due to a condition he had, called Marfan Syndrome, which made people genetically tall and gaunt.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of Abraham Lincoln in a dark suit Alexander Gardner, Wikimedia Commons

Andrew Johnson

President Trump has amassed some controversy for being the first in a long time to not have a White House pet. While President Andrew Johnson never officially had one, he apparently did take care of a family of White House mice.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Andrew Johnson in a dark suit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Wikimedia Commons

Ulysses S Grant

The first president to receive a speeding ticket while in office was Ulysses S Grant. Of course, being in the 1870s, he was on a horse.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in a dark suit Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Wikimedia Commons

Rutherford B Hayes

Presidents of the 20th and 21st century are strongly associated with images of them on the phone in the Oval Office talking to someone important, like a fellow world leader. Well, President Hayes was the first to have telecommunication in the White House.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Rutherford Hayes in a dark suit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Wikimedia Commons

James A Garfield

President Garfield didn’t hate Mondays and love lasagna, but he did have a particularly distinguishing feature. He was the first left-handed president!

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President James Abram Garfield in a dark suit Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Wikimedia Commons

Chester A Arthur

President Chester Arthur was named after the doctor who delivered him. We can deduce that his parents hadn’t spent too much time thinking of a name beforehand.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of of U.S. President, Chester Alan Arthur in a dark suit Charles Milton Bell, Wikimedia Commons

Grover Cleveland

Before Donald Trump pulled off his comeback in 2024, Grover Cleveland was the first president to be elected to non-consecutive terms. Evidently, Benjamin Harrison made people nostalgic for Cleveland.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Grover Cleveland in a dark suit National Archives at College Park, Wikimedia Commons

Benjamin Harrison

President Harrison helped break the glass ceiling by being the first president to hire a female White House staffer. Sadly, still no female president has been elected.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in a dark suit Joseph Gray Kitchell, Wikimedia Commons

William McKinley

Did you know there was once a $500 bill? Discontinued in 1969, it featured President McKinley on it.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President William McKinley in a dark suit Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons

Theodore Roosevelt

If you get into the weeds of late-period The Simpsons, you’ll find an episode where Superintendent Chalmers inspires Bart to stop misbehaving by taking President Teddy Roosevelt as an inspiration. It’s one of the most bizarrely boomer-ish episodes the show has ever done.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in a dark suit Pach Brothers, Wikimedia Commons

William Howard Taft

Major League Baseball was seriously vindicated by President Taft throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a game. From there, the country’s strongly intertwined relationship to the game was established.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President William Howard Taft in a dark suit Pach Brothers, Wikimedia Commons

Woodrow Wilson

President Wilson must’ve credited a lot to his matriarch. We say that because he officially established Mother’s Day as the second Sunday in May during a 1914 proclamation.

Photo of President Woodrow Wilson in dark suit Hoppyh, Wikimedia Commons

Warren G Harding

Presidents having extramarital dalliances isn’t exactly out of the ordinary. That being said, it’s to a whole other level when we can publicly read the love letters one wrote to their mistress, as is the case with President Harding.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Warren G Harding in a dark suit Harris & Ewing, Wikimedia Commons

Calvin Coolidge

In the age of radio and television, presidents have depended on public speaking talent to exert political influence. President Coolidge was the opposite, known to hardly utter anything.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge in a dark suit Notman Studio, Wikimedia Commons

Herbert Hoover

George W Bush’s stint being a part-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team is well publicized, but he wasn’t the only president with a strong sports connection. President Herbert Hoover managed the football team at Stanford in the late 19th century.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of U.S. President Herbert Hoover in a dark suit Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons

Franklin D Roosevelt

Many consider FDR the best president ever, chiefly due to his strong leadership during WWII. This was dramatized to particularly un-poetic effect in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, where as portrayed by Jon Voight, FDR is so inspired that he rises from his wheelchair, which of course never happened.

Original color transparency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt taken at 1944 Official Campaign Portrait session by Leon A. Perskie Leon Perskie, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Harry S Truman

As a birthday gift in 1947, President Truman’s friends had a bowling alley installed in the White House. The strange part was that he, in his adult life, had not been an avid bowler.

Portrait Photo of U.S. President Harry S. Truman in a dark suit National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons

Dwight D Eisenhower

Camp David, the presidential retreat, is a big part of the job’s mythos. It was originally named Shangri-La, but was changed because Eisenhower wanted to name it after his son.

Portrait Photo of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a gray suit White House, Wikimedia Commons

John F Kennedy

It’s a corny tradition, but the pardoning of a turkey around Thanksgiving is a long-held presidential practice. Strangely enough, the first to do it was JFK.

President John F. Kennedy, photograph in the Oval Office Cecil Stoughton, Wikimedia Commons

Lyndon B Johnson

If politicians worked as educators, then teachers would likely have higher salaries. Well, President Johnson did work as one near the US-Mexico border before getting into politics.

Grayscale Portrait Photo of Lyndon B. Johnson in a dark suit Oscar White, Wikimedia Commons

Gerald R Ford

Generally speaking, Gerald Ford isn’t thought of as one of the more handsome Presidents. That being said, he did serve as a model for Cosmopolitan in 1942.

Portrait Photo of U.S. President Gerald Ford in a blue suit David Hume Kennerly, Wikimedia Commons

Jimmy Carter

Back when Democrats could comfortably sweep the Southern states, Jimmy Carter proved his bona fides. Part of his Southern identity was that of the owner of a peanut farm.

Portrait Photo of American president, politician and humanitarian Jimmy Carter Department of Defense, Wikimedia Commons

Ronald Reagan

President Reagan’s acting career is well-known, but a particular cavalry Western he was in anticipated some elements of his political base. The 1940 film Sante Fe Trail, in which Reagan depicts George Custer, has a rigidly reactionary anti-abolitionist, pro-states’ rights stance regarding slavery.

Portrait Photo of U.S. President Ronald Reagan in a dark blue suit Pete Souza, Wikimedia Commons

George HW Bush

Poppy Bush had a long-standing feud with The Simpsons that began with publicly badmouthing the show and culminated in an episode where he and Homer literally fought. Bush’s resentment likely had to do with the show being representative of the cool 90s culture he was evidently out of touch with.

Portrait Photo of U.S. President George H. W. Bush in a dark blue suit Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons

Bill Clinton

Slick Willy’s first hustle might surprise you. While working at a grocery store as a 13-year-old, he managed to convince the owner to let him sell comic books at the store, where he raked in $100.

Official Portrait of President William Jefferson Clinton National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons

George W Bush

In his post-presidential career, Bush Jr has taken up painting as a hobby. Unfortunately, he’s not quite good enough at it to make people forget about Iraq.

Official photograph portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush. Eric Draper, Wikimedia Commons

Barack Obama

President Obama’s time as a community organizer in Chicago overlapped with the meteoric rise of basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Obama even appeared as a talking head in the 2020 documentary The Last Dance, which was about the famed Chicago Bulls dynasty led by Jordan.

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama Pete Souza, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump

Donald Trump had a cut scene from the 2010 sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, where he greets fellow 80s shark Gordon Gekko in a barbershop. While the scene was cut from the final film, director Oliver Stone went on to praise Trump’s acting ability.

Portrait Photo of Donald Trump speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Joe Biden

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Best Actor Oscar win in 2016 was so anticipated that it drew a number of people to the ceremony. During his acceptance speech, it even cut to Joe Biden, then the sitting Vice President, sitting in the Dolby Theatre (previously called the Kodak Theatre).

Portrait Photo of U.S. President Joe Biden in a blue suit The White House, Wikimedia Commons

Richard Nixon

Tricky Dicky was so set on being with his future wife Patricia, who turned him down at first, that he drove her to meet dates just to show his fealty to her. The dedication to her evidently paid off down the line.