A woman faked her entire tragedy and the loss of her husband during the 9/11 attacks and became President of the Support Network in New York.
100 Mind-Blowing President Facts
As a child, Jet Li performed with the Chinese National Wushu Team for President Nixon. Nixon asked him to be his bodyguard, but he declined.
When electricity was first installed in the White House in 1891, President Benjamin Harrison and his wife were afraid of electrocution because of the new concept. They refused to touch light switches, so the staff had to turn the lights on and off for them.
President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested while in office. He was charged, booked, and released for speeding on a horse and had to pay a fine.
When he was President, George H.W. Bush banned broccoli from Air Force One and the White House.
President Theodore Roosevelt had a pet hyena.
Richard Nixon was the first U.S. President to visit all 50 states.
Turkeys can blush. When turkeys are scared or excited—like when the males see a female they’re interested in—the pale skin on their head and neck turns bright red, blue, or white. The flap of skin over their beaks called a snood, also reddens. By the way, this is why the president pardons a turkey every Thanksgiving.
The current American flag was designed by a high school student. It started as a school project for Bob Heft’s junior-year history class in 1958, and it only earned a B-minus. His design had 50 stars, even though Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states yet; Heft figured the two would earn statehood soon and showed the government his design. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower called to say the design was approved, Heft’s teacher changed his grade to an A.
Abraham Lincoln was a bartender. You know that the 16th president of the United States fought for the freedom of slaves and the Union, but what you didn’t know is that he was a licensed bartender. Lincoln’s liquor license was discovered in 1930 and displayed in a Springfield liquor store. According to Wayne C. Temple, a Lincoln expert, Congress wanted to fire Ulysses S. Grant in 1863 because he drank a lot, and Lincoln’s response was to send Grant a supply of whiskey.
William McKinley was shot right after giving away his good-luck charm. President McKinley always wore a red carnation for good luck but sometimes gave it out as a memento. When greeting the crowd in 1901, he handed a 12-year-old girl, Myrtle, his the bloom off his lapel, saying “I must give this flower to another little flower.” Minutes later, he was fatally shot by a man in the crowd.
M&M’s stands for “Mars & Murrie’s.” The two ‘M’s on this candy staple represent the names of Forrest E. Mars Sr., (founder of Newark Company), and Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey Chocolate’s president William F. R. Murrie). One of the little-known fun facts about M&M’s is that it’s made with Hershey’s chocolate. Another fun fact? It’s a copycat product! Mars only had an idea for the product from seeing its British predecessor, Smarties.
President Bush was re-elected by less than 31% of all eligible voters in the United States. Only 60.7 per cent of eligible voters participated in the U.S. presidential election of 2004. It was the highest percentage in 36 years, but more than 78 million people did not vote.
Millie the White House dog earned more than four times as President Bush in 1991. Once known as the most famous dog in White House history, Millie was one of Bush’s family dogs. One of her amazing feats? The $900,000 in royalties earned from Millie’s Book easily outsold the $2,291 earned in 1991 by the President for his 1988 campaign autobiography, “Looking Forward.”
Abraham Lincoln was a wrestling champion. Before he was president, Abraham Lincoln was the wrestling champion of his country. Abe fought in almost 300 matches, losing only once.
You’re more likely to become President than you are to win the lottery. The odds of a person becoming the President of the United States are 10 million to 1. However, the odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot are 292,201,338 to 1.
U.S. President Coolidge used to sound emergency bells as a joke. The 30th U.S. president made a habit of sounding the emergency bell placed on his veranda and then hiding when the Secret Service came. He did this enough times to make them remove the bell altogether.
The U.S. flag was designed by a 17-year-old for school. In junior high school, Bob Heft designed the U.S. flag. He made a 50-star flag for the class project. However, the U.S. only had 48 states at the time, so Heft got a B minus for his work. However, his prediction that two more states would be added ended up being true. Heft wrote 21 letters and called the White House 18 times. Eventually, President Eisenhower called to tell him his design would be used. The design for the current U.S. flag was made official on July 4, 1960.
Abraham Lincoln’s dog was also killed. Another one for unfortunate WTF facts: President Abraham Lincoln’s dog suffered the same fate as his owner. For 14 years, Abraham Lincoln had a yellow mongrel named Fido. A year after the president was assassinated, Fido was stabbed by a drunkard and later found dead.
President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.
Which American president had a pet hyena? President Theodore Roosevelt.
The current American flag was designed by a high school student named Bob Heft in 1958. He originally got a B- on the project. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to use his design for the new flag, Bob’s teacher changed his grade to an A.
Before becoming president, Abraham Lincoln lost 5 different elections.
Abraham Lincoln lost five separate elections before he became president of the U.S. (Never, ever, ever give up!)
Abe Lincoln was a professional wrestler long before he became the 16th President of the United States.
Lincoln had a bodyguard on duty on the night of his assassination. John Frederick Parker had already arrived late for his shift. Then, he decided to take a break and get a drink at a nearby saloon during the show. During his absence, John Wilkes Booth entered Lincoln’s box and shot the President.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and former vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
The Pentagon has twice the number of bathrooms it needs. The US Department of Defence’s headquarters was constructed during the time of racial segregation, and as such, an extra set of facilities was created for African American employees. In 1941, before the Pentagon’s construction was complete, President Franklin D. Roosevelt prohibited racial segregation within federal organisations. Not only did the Pentagon end up with twice as many bathrooms as necessary, but twice as many cafeterias too!
Panama hats aren’t originally from Panama but from Ecuador! These timelessly stylish hats have been known to the Western world since at least the 1800s and have been seen atop the heads of many famous people ranging from President Theodore Roosevelt to Brad Pitt. They’re made from a type of palm called the Toquilla palm, a native Ecuadorian plant that is painstakingly woven together into the iconic shape. Artisans were struggling to sell the hats in Ecuador, so they exported them to Panama – where they ironically gained their name instead of from the country of origin!
Three presidents, all Founding Fathers—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4. Presidents Adams and Jefferson also died the same year, 1826; President Monroe died in 1831. Coincidence? You decide.
One of President John Tyler’s grandsons is still alive today—and he was born in 1790. How is this possible? President Tyler, the 10th US president, was 63 when his son Lyon Tyler was born in 1853; Lyon’s son was born when he was 75. President Tyler’s living grandson, Harrison Tyler is 94. Lyon’s other son Lyon Jr. passed away in 2020 at the age of 95. The Tyler family still maintains the President’s home, Sherwood Forest Plantation in Virginia.
The teddy bear is named after President Theodore Roosevelt. After he refused to shoot a captured black bear on a hunt, a stuffed animal maker decided to create a bear and named it after the president.
Mexico’s presidential palace is 14 times larger than the White House and started allowing visitors for the first time in 2018. From 1935 to 2018, the Los Pinos presidential palace was the official place of residence for Mexico’s presidents and was closed off to any who weren’t expressly invited. This changed in 2018 when Andres Manuel López Obrador was elected the Mexican President, winning his campaign on the back of promises to fight corruption. As a gesture of goodwill, he chose not to move into the palace, instead simply living in a small apartment in Mexico City’s central district. To give you an idea of what the Mexican president gave up, the presidential palace covers 603,000 square feet (56,000 square meters).
Sheep at the White House. American President Woodrow Wilson and his wife Edith kept sheep at the White House during World War One to keep the lawn neat and reduce gardening costs. The sheep’s wool was also auctioned off to raise money for the Red Cross.
Oll Korrect. The origin of the phrase ‘OK’ dates back to a fad for intentionally misspelt abbreviations in 1830s Boston. When witty Bostonians began spelling ‘all correct’ as ‘Oll Korrect’, newspapers picked up on the joke. In 1840, US President Martin Van Buren, originally from Kinderhook in New York, adopted the phrase for his re-election campaign and his supporters set up ‘Old Kinderhook’, or ‘OK’, clubs across the country. The term quickly made the transition from slang to legitimate use.
Duelling Prime Minister. On 27 May 1798, Prime Minister William Pitt fought a duel on Putney Common with George Tierney, MP, Treasurer of the Navy, and President of the Board of Control. Both men missed.
Hitler’s half-nephew’s service in the US Navy. The son of Adolf Hitler’s half-brother, Alois, William Patrick Hitler was born in England in 1911 but moved to Germany in the 1930s. He was something of a problem for the German Führer, and in July 1939 he published an article in Look magazine titled ‘Why I hate my uncle. . .’ He moved to America in 1939. It has been reported that in 1944 he appealed directly to President Roosevelt to join the fight against his uncle and the FBI deemed it sincere. Though he never saw combat, Hitler served until 1947. He changed his name to William Stuart-Houston and died in 1987.
Wrestler president. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was a skilled wrestler and reportedly won 300 bouts and had only one known defeat.
Establishment: The NSA was officially formed on November 4, 1952, by President Harry S. Truman. This marked the beginning of a new era in intelligence gathering.
The first Black president of the United States was Barack Obama.
Abraham Lincoln was the only US president who owned a patent and a salon.
George Washington was not the first President to reside in the White House, instead, it was John Adams and his wife Abigail.
Ronald Reagan was the oldest President to serve the country.
The US was the first nation to use the title of “President” for its head of state.
The Highest Bill Denomination Issued by the US Was $100,000: Printed in 1934 and featuring President Woodrow Wilson, this $100,000 bill was a gold certificate currency that was never intended for public use. Instead, it was meant only for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. The last time this banknote was printed was in 1945, and it can’t be legally held by collectors.
The Secret Service Originally Fought Counterfeiting: Today we typically think of the U.S. Secret Service as protection for certain political leaders, including the President and Vice-President and their immediate families. But the agency was founded for a very different reason. By the end of the Civil War, fake money was a significant problem, with nearly one-third of all U.S. paper currency in circulation being counterfeit. As a result, the financial stability of the country was in jeopardy, so in 1865, the Treasury Department established the Secret Service to suppress the counterfeiting. They didn’t start protecting the President until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley.
On 30 September 1980, the US national debt was $907 billion. Fast forward 40 years later, and the US national debt is over $24.95 trillion – trebled in the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency from $7.5 trillion to $20 trillion. Former President Trump increased it by nearly 25%.
All dollar bills feature former presidents, except for the most popular, the $100. Benjamin Franklin has never been President of America.