Comments on: Presidential Oddities.

By: Big Mo

Big Mo — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:08:42 +0000

Just a correction about Benjamin Harrison - it was his wife who was afraid of the light switches, not the president himself.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:02:31 +0000

With regard to President Madison and Hail to the Chief, we have our own bit of fiction about that song in Canada. The myth goes that during WWII, FDR paid a call to Prime Minister MacKenzie King in Ottawa. Upon entering the room, the band struck up Hail to the Chief, causing FDR to ask King if the song was how the Canadian Prime Minister was officially greeted. King replied, no, nothing official, I just like it. FDR, upon returning to the US, had Congress sponsor a bill officially naming Hail as the offical song to be played whenever the president entered a function.

By: Coinflip

Coinflip — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:42:29 +0000

How could you possibly exclude the Presidents who had Hooks for Hands?

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 17:16:12 +0000

That’s pretty funny! Thanks DJ!

By: pookie

pookie — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 16:54:01 +0000

I think that simpsons episode was about George H.W. Bush.

By: DJ

DJ — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 09:53:58 +0000

I liked “Silent Cal’s” factoid the best… he always struck me as a neat guy.

from his wikipedia article:

Another famous anecdote has it that one Sunday, Mrs. Coolidge was too ill to attend church, and Calvin attended the services alone. When he returned, his wife asked him, “Did you go to church?” “Yes,” Calvin responded. “Did the minister give a sermon?” his wife continued. “Yes,” Calvin answered. “What did he talk about?” Mrs. Coolidge pressed impatiently. “Sin,” her husband replied. “Well,” demanded the Calvin’s wife, as her frustration continued to mount, “what did he say about it?” “He’s against it,” Calvin concluded.

By: aware

aware — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 06:45:25 +0000

I think the simpsons/jimmy carter thing is because carter is such a humanitarian. It’s funny to cast him as an opposite persona.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:13:52 +0000

Gotta wonder what Bill Clinton was doing to that sheep that made it want to beat him up.

By: dead_red_eyes

dead_red_eyes — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:37:12 +0000

What is it with The Simpsons show, and Jimmy Carter? They seem to have such contempt for this guy. “He’s histories greatest monster” .. and such.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:23:13 +0000

heh. I love cats, have three, but I can still get a chuckle out of picturing old Dwight picking off a few strays…

FDR also wasn’t shy about personally picking out the designs of some stamp issues. Seems like a small perk to me, although no president would get away with that today.

By: pookie

pookie — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 21:34:56 +0000

Dwight D. Eisenhower = JERK!!!!!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:41:43 +0000

FDR:
“He added to [the stamp collection] by simply having the Postmaster General and State Department mail him every new issue.”

That kind of takes the fun out of it. I recall Doonesbury’s fictional 70’s rocker Jimmy Thudpucker collected stamps in much the same way.

By: dead_red_eyes

dead_red_eyes — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:39:54 +0000

What a great read! That’s cool that Herbert Hoover and his wife spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. And either J.F.K. watched really boring movies, or had a short attention span.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:30:12 +0000

Good catch, ted - my mistake (I typed this up late last night). BTW, I just wanted to say thanks, you’ve got the most comments in Neatorama.

By: ted

ted — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:12:03 +0000

So, let me get this straight… George Washington came after Ronald Reagan and before Bill Clinton?