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Being a relative might help to become President

Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:17 AM EST

In honor of our newly elected president I will bore you with some presidential facts. First the relationships of the former Presidents. Jimmy Carter was the sixth cousin of Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor were cousins. John Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams and James Madison and Zachary Taylor were second cousins. William Henry Harrison was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt and of course George W. is the son of George H. Bush. They say anyone can be President but it seems to help if you are or were related to a President.

July was a critical month in the lives of the former Presidents. Three of the first five Presidents all died on July 4th and Calvin Coolidge was born on the Fourth of July. But death came to many presidents while in office. Eight died in office, William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy were assassinated in office and attempts were made to assassinate Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. Only two Presidents are buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Kennedy and Taft.

The oldest president at the time of his inauguration was Ronald Reagan who was 69 and the youngest was Kennedy at 43, however Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest to become president when he was 42, he succeeded McKinley who was assassinated.

Seven of the Presidents each elected 20 years apart died in office. Harrison 1840, Lincoln 1860, Garfield 1880, William McKinley 1900, Harding 1920, Roosevelt 1940 and Kennedy 1960. Elected in 1980 Reagan narrowly escaped assassination and broke the 20 year curse.

Most of our Presidents were well educated but not exactly scholars. Woodrow Wilson was the only one to have earned a Ph.D. in history from John Hopkins University. The college that claims the most alumni is Harvard, John Adams, John Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy and G.W. Bush are all alumni. Yale had five alumni, Taft, Ford, G.H. Bush, Clinton and G. W. Bush.

Those with no formal education were George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland and Harry Truman. Andrew Johnson was taught to read and write by his wife Eliza before he became President.

Even though we have just elected our 44th President, we have actually had only 43 Presidents. Grover Cleveland was elected twice for nonconsecutive terms.

For two years the country was run by a president and vice-president who were not elected. After Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973, President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as vice president. Nixon resigned the following year, which left Ford as president and Ford's appointed vice president was Nelson Rockefeller.

How do our presidents size up? The tallest was Lincoln, 6' 4" and Martin Van Buren 5'4" was the shortest. William Taft weighed 332 pounds.

Now for some weird history facts. John Quincy Adams liked to skinny-dip in the Potomac River before dawn. William Henry Harrison gave the longest inauguration speech one hour and 45 minutes, caught a cold and died exactly one month into his presidential term. John Tyler fathered 15 children and was just passed his 70th birthday when his 15th child was born.

U S. Grant died of throat cancer. He had smoked about 20 cigars per day. James Garfield both ambidextrous and multilingual could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

Warren Harding played poker twice a week and gambled a whole set of the White House china away. Herbert Hoover published more than 16 books.

All these facts prove that no one is perfect

Many of our former Presidents faced critical times and this presidency will also go down in history as a time of crisis and change. Let's hope for a better future and wish our new president all the best.

Jo-Ann Boepple provides Reflections of the Past, a weekly feature from the Edwardsburg Museum Group and Historical Collection. She is a third generation Edwardsburg resident.

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