10 unusual facts about us presidents12/25/2023 Roosevelt was the first president to name a woman to his cabinet.įDR named Frances Perkins as secretary of labor in 1933. Hay and Roosevelt talked about Lincoln often, and Hay gave Roosevelt the ring, knowing that Roosevelt would treasure it.Ĩ. Roosevelt’s admiration for Lincoln was reinforced later, when he met John Hay, who had worked for Lincoln in the White House. Roosevelt had been a long-time admirer of Lincoln, and as a child had watched Lincoln’s funeral procession pass by his house in New York. Roosevelt wore a ring with a lock of Lincoln’s hair in it on March 14, 1905, at his second inauguration. At the urging of his wife, Nellie, and mentor, Theodore Roosevelt, he reluctantly accepted his party’s nomination for the presidency, calling the presidential campaign “one of the most uncomfortable four months of my life.”Īfter losing the 1912 election to Woodrow Wilson, Taft served as a professor of law at Yale and was later appointed by Warren Harding as chief justice of the United States, a pose he considered his greatest honor.ħ. Theodore Roosevelt wore a lock of Lincoln’s hair during his inauguration. Obama was honored with a Nobel in 2009 for his work toward strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation.Ħ. William Howard Taft became a Supreme Court Justice after his retirement.Ī graduate of Yale and Cincinnati Law School, Taft loved law but was unsure about politics. Wilson was awarded the Nobel in 1919 for founding the League of Nations after World War I.Ĭarter was long retired from the presidency when he won the prize in 2002 for his efforts to advance human rights and advance peaceful solutions to international conflicts. Roosevelt received his in 1906 for his many efforts toward international peace, including his role in formulating the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Which president holds the record for the most vetoes? Which president had the largest shoe size? Who was the only president to serve in both World War I and World War II? Buyĥ. Four presidents have received the Nobel Peace Prize including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia However, his stately slippers and sporty golf shoes survive at the Smithsonian. He died before his term was complete, and his wife burned his potentially incriminating correspondence. It turned out that Harding’s trusted advisors were not so trustworthy, and his presidency was riddled with scandal. Unfortunately, those big feet did not ensure that his administration would be on firm footing. She wanted to continue modeling in New York and he decided to forego the runway and begin his law career.Ĥ. Warren Harding had the largest shoe size. Together they appeared in ski resort spread of Look magazine (1940) and on a cover of Cosmopolitan (1942). Brown persuaded Ford to invest in a modeling agency and to do some modeling himself. Today the Presidential Inaugural Committee plans all the official inaugural balls.ģ. Gerald Ford was a fashion model in his youth (even appearing on the cover of Cosmopolitan).įord’s first love was a woman named Phyllis Brown, a gorgeous blonde who became a fashion model. Four hundred tickets were sold, and so began a Washington tradition. The price of admissions was four dollars per ticket. That evening his wife, Dolley Madison, hosted a gala at Long’s Hotel. Washington’s plantation manager James Anderson, a Scottish man with distilling experience, urged him to start the venture, which was also an efficient way to use unsold ground wheat, corn and rye.Ģ. James Madison held the first Inaugural Ball.Īlthough there was a ball in 1789 to honor the election of George Washington, the first official inaugural ball did not occur until 1809, when Madison took office. With sales of $7,500 that year, it was perhaps the country’s largest distillery. At peak production in 1799, the distillery used five stills and a boiler and produced eleven thousand gallons of whiskey. Whiskey was one of Washington’s most important business ventures at Mount Vernon. To commemorate the Presidents' Day holiday, we offer some nuggets excerpted from the book that reveal a few unexpected facts about the sartorial habits, social practices and defining characteristics of our commanders-in-chief.ġ. George Washington owned a profitable whiskey distillery. Think you’ve got a firm handle on the presidents? The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia from Smithsonian Books just might make you question how comprehensive your head-of-state knowledge actually is.
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