Happy Election Week! Here’s a look back at over two centuries of presidential history, and the tumultuous lives of our country’s past leaders:
- John Adams
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John Adams, the first ever vice president, hated the job.
- Martin Van Buren
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Martin Van Buren —the first president who was born an American citizen— was the first non-British president (he was Dutch), and the first president without a college degree or time in the military.
- William Henry Harrison
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While it’s commonly believed that William Henry Harrison— the shortest serving president at 31 days— died due to catching pneumonia at his inauguration, modern medicine suggests he may have died of septic shock, due to infected drinking water. The White House had no sewer system, and the sewage just flowed out onto the grounds, not a far distance from the water supply.
- James Buchanan
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James Buchanan is considered one of the worst presidents ever, mostly due to his indifference about the oncoming Civil War. During his one term, he did nothing to address slavery moving into newly aquired territories or the threat of sucession.
- Rutherford B. Hayes
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In the Election of 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th president without actually winning the electoral vote. His opponent, Samuel B. Tilden had one more electoral vote— however, he was accused of rigging the election. This led to the Compromise of 1877, in which Hayes was given the presidency in return for removing Union soldiers from southern states (which heavily supported Tilden). This led to the end of the Reconstruction Era and the beginning Jim Crow Laws.
- James A. Garfield
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On July 2, 1881, 20th president James A. Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau on a train platform. He lingered for two more months— his doctors lying to the press about how grave his condition was during that time. His personal doctor had a sketchy past, and refused to use modern techniques, so much so that the assassin claimed it was the doctor, not him, who was responsible for the death of the president.
- Grover Cleveland
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Grover Cleveland was the first president to be married while in office. Except… his wife, Francis Folsom, was 27 years his junior. He had been friends with her father since before her birth, and became the executor of his estate when he died. In fact when Cleveland proposed to Francis, her mother became upset because she thought the proposal was meant for her.
- Grover Cleveland contd.
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Continuing on Cleveland, in his second term —Cleveland is the only person in history to serve his two terms non-consecutively, making him both the 22nd and 24th presidents— he needed to have surgery on his mouth, and had it performed in secret on his friend’s yacht. It remained a secret until after his death.
- Baby Ruth Bars
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For a more uplifting fact about Grover Cleveland, his daughter Ruth is believed to be the inspiration behind Baby Ruth candy bars!
- William McKinley
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While speaking at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, William McKinley was warned repeatedly by his advisors to avoid large crowds and hand-shaking for his own safety—, but McKinley was never one to skip an event. He was then assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in a large crowd while shaking people’s hands.
- Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt’s first wife and his mother died on the same day: Valentine’s Day 1884. This prompted him to leave his infant daughter Alice, with family and go on a prolonged hunting trip. He often distanced himself from Alice, especially once he remarried and had five more children. Did this give her daddy issues? Maybe. Did she grow up to be one of the most popular and influential women of the twentieth century? Yes.
- William Howard Taft
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Though William Howard Taft was hand-picked to be Theodore Roosevelt’s successor, Roosevelt thought Taft had done such a terrible job continuing his legacy that he decided to run as a third-party candidate, and actually won more of the vote than Taft, becoming the only third-party candidate to win more of the vote than a major party, but still lost to Woodrow Wilson.
- Woodrow Wilson
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In 1919, Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him greatly incapacitated. Though not known at the time, for the next year and a half his wife, Edith, essentially ran the country on his behalf until the end of his term.
- Warren G. Harding
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Warren G. Harding is another president considered to be one of the worst of all time. His administration was full of scandal, adultery, and corruption, and he refused to take a stance on any issue. gets interesting in the event of his sudden death while in office in 1923. A rumor spread that his wife had poisoned him. Though this isn’t true, her refusal of an autopsy didn’t help.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Theodore Roosevelt’s cousin by blood, and nephew by marriage. When he married fifth cousin Eleanor in 1905, her maiden name was already Roosevelt, and she was walked down the aisle by her Uncle Theodore. FDR may have done this to advance his own political career, to capitalize off of TR’s popularity by moving even closer to him on the family tree. He copied numerous aspects of Theodore Roosevelt’s life —he went to the same schools, wore the same glasses, ran for the same government bodies, supported the same progressive politics, and even had the same number of children.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt contd.
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Their marriage ended up turning into a professional relationship—as Eleanor discovered FDR had been having a long-term affair with her secretary, Lucy Mercer, in 1918. Though he promised to end it, it lasted until his death. Eleanor on the other hand, had a romantic relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok, who covered many of FDR’s campaigns. Eleanor and her “good friend” exchanged thousands of love letters over thirty years.
- Harry S. Truman
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Harry S. Truman had no middle name. The “S” was a compromise for naming him after his two grandfathers. He often didn’t write his name with the period after the “S”, but after being told it showed bad grammar, he added it.
- John F. Kennedy
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After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson organized the Warren Commission to investigate his death. While the 1964 report states that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, that claim is highly debated among conspiracy enthusiasts. There is the possibility of multiple gunmen, as well as a theorized government cover-up.
- Gerald Ford
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Gerald Ford was the only president to never actually be chosen by the Electoral College. Other Vice Presidents who took over for their departed Presidents were still voted in as running mates, whereas Ford was appointed in the middle of Richard Nixon’s second term after the resignation of his original Vice President. He then took over after Nixon’s resignation and lost the Election of 1976 to Jimmy Carter.
- Bill Clinton
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After President Bill Clinton’s acquittal of impeachment charges, several members of Congress who voted for his removal from office later admitted to having extramarital affairs themselves, including prominent figures like Newt Gingrich and Representative Dan Burton, whose affair ended with a child.