During the election season, the presidential candidates say and do stupid things. The stress of campaigning at the highest level can create a lot of empty promises and mistakes. However, these mistakes aren’t new things; presidents have been making mistakes and screwing up since America was born. Here are ten presidential fun facts and flukes that might make the end of this election a little more lighthearted for you:
Henry Harrison only lasted 31 days: Perhaps Harrison should have remembered to drink plenty of liquids, because he dropped dead of pneumonia after a month of being president. According to NNBD.com, “In the election Harrison won by an overwhelming majority of 234 electoral votes to 60 cast for Van Buren.”
The war on Vietnam: The war started during Harry S. Truman’s presidency and lasted through Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lindon Johnson, until it ended during Richard Nixon’s presidency. And you thought the war in Iraq lasted a long time. According to The GravelOnline, “Sometimes, a country just needs to admit that it has made a mistake … The Communist North Vietnamese retook the capital of South Vietnam in two years. The war split the country, gave the American people reason to distrust their government.”
Watergate: “As the Watergate scandal fades from memory to myth,” The Washington Post led a story, written years after its first coverage of this notorious American scandal. Nixon got America out of Vietnam, only for the American people to find out that maybe he wasn’t as honest as Abe Lincoln. As historyplace.com claims Nixon said, “If you can’t lie, you’ll never go anywhere.”
The Red Scare: People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments, and governments shouldn’t include men who look like they just walked off the set of “The Godfather.” Joseph McCarthy was even quoted saying, “You can’t fight Communism with perfume,” according to historyplace.com. The laws President Truman passed which allowed McCarthy to scare an entire nation, as well as Arthur Miller, created a black scar on American history.
Abraham Lincoln the bartender: It’s not a good or bad thing, but it may explain why Abe was so honest. Randomhistory.com says that Lincoln was “The only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Ill.”
George H. W. Bush can’t talk: Perhaps it was excitement, perhaps it was just that he was feeling sick that day. Either way, President Bush threw up on the Japanese prime minister. “A new word entered the Japanese language,” states Randomhistory.com, “Bushusuru means ‘to do the Bush thing,’ or to publicly vomit.”
Secret lovers in the White House: President Warren G. Harding had a very difficult time focusing on his wife, a struggle other U.S. presidents have also experienced. Though he had married Florence Kling DeWolfe, he had a very explicit affair with Carrie Phillips. He later had an affair with Nan Britton. Trivia-Library.com states, “Their favorite hideaway was a small clothes closet adjoining the president’s office. Mrs. Harding probably knew of the affair, but for political reasons, she did little to interfere.”
William Howard Taft was an obese man: There’s actually a story regarding Taft’s large size getting the best of him. According to simplybathtubs.com, “President Taft’s size got him in quite a precarious situation. [He was] too large to be able to pull himself out of the presidential clawfoot bathtub … It is rumored to have taken four men to dislodge him with a gallon of butter and a lot of determination.”
President Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration in the cold: At first this may not seem like something you would slap your forehead about, but consider how easy it would have been to simply move the ceremony inside. Randomhistory.com claims, “The canaries that were supposed to sing at the inaugural ball froze to death.”
President George W. Bush’s “Bushisms”: Even those who liked Bush are forced to be amazed by some of the quotes he’s said. Some, taken from “50 Dumbest Bush Quotes of All Time,” include, “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah,” “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully” and “Tribal sovereignty means that it’s sovereign. I mean, you’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity.”
No matter who you voted for, America has endured good, bad and funny. We will get through the next four years, and maybe see some new presidential moments to add to America’s colorful history along the way.
