Despite what was going on in secret in the oval office, Clinton apparently had some other secrets at the time, as well. According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Bill Clinton had “misplaced” the personal ID code to launch nuclear attacks. Fortunately, the codes were only missing for a few months.
John Quincy Adams began to follow the “hollow Earth” crowd and even gave permission for a proposed expedition to the middle of the Earth to take place. Fortunately, when Andrew Jackson became president, he brought a little bit of sense with him and put an end to Adams’ crazy ideas!
He once wrote in his diary: “I rise usually between four and five—walk two miles, bathe in Potowmack river, and walk home, which occupies two hours—read or write, or more frequently idly waste the time till eight or nine when we breakfast—read or write till twelve or one, when I go to the office; now usually in the carriage—at the office till five then home till dinner. After dinner read newspapers till dark; soon after which I retire to bed.”
George W. Bush hated broccoli so much that he banned it from being in the White House and on Air Force One. When Bush was asked why there was a rule about broccoli, he simply said: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!”
At the height of the scandal, Nixon became extremely paranoid about being exposed to the public. Because of this, he had a personal vendetta towards Washington columnist Jack Anderson. According to journalism professor Mark Feldstein, Nixon’s paranoia took control and he began to think of a plan to “off” Anderson. His plans included putting poison in Anderson’s medicine cabinet or exposing him to large amounts of LSD on the steering wheel of his car. Fortunately, Nixon either got some sense, or someone intervened because his plan of murder was abandoned.
Not only was he known for urinating in public, and holding interviews while he was using the bathroom, but it was also well-known that LBJ had quite a foul mouth. In fact, he trained his pet parrot to cuss right along with him. His parrot had such a potty-mouth that he was carried away from Johnson’s funeral for causing a disruption.
Cleveland met his future wife when she was just a baby. And after her father died, he became her guardian. When the young girl started to go to college, Cleveland began to court her. They eventually tied the knot when the young girl turned 21 years of age.
During this time, incredible advances in technology were being made, such as electrical lighting. Harrison was the president who brought electricity to the White House, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable with it. In fact, he was so worried about getting electrocuted that he wouldn’t touch any of the light switches or panels.
Shortly after joining the Navy in 1942, Ford appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan. He even went on to marry fellow model, Elizabeth Bloomer, who would later be known as First Lady Betty Ford.
But he was also known for being a bit odd. While Carter was running for president, he admitted having seen a green and red orb in the sky outside of the 1976 Southern Governors Conference in Leary, Georgia. Carter was quoted saying: “I don’t laugh at people any more when they say they’ve seen UFOs. I’ve seen one myself.”
In fact, the First Lady was so religious that she completely banned dancing from the White House while Polk was president. They didn’t even dance together at the Inaugural Ball.
Before he got into politics, he opened a bar with his friend William F. Berry. They sold wine for 25 cents a glass and whiskey for 12.5 cents a glass. Unfortunately, the business went under when his alcoholic partner consumed almost their entire supply.
Taylor’s death came on as a complete surprise. During a 4th of July celebration, Taylor spent the day eating large amounts of cherries and drinking iced milk. Cholera bacteria was most likely was present in the milk Taylor drank. He died after four days of suffering from diarrhea, cramping, dehydration, and nausea. His doctor claimed that he died from cholera morbus, a bacterial infection of the small intestine.
Jackson was known for being a war hero during the War of 1812, but very few people knew just how much Jackson enjoyed battling with others. In fact, Jackson was a part of more than 100 duels! He even sustained several injuries, including a shot to the chest.
But he was pretty good at creating a bit of tension on his own with animal right’s activists. During his presidency, Eisenhower had a brand new putting green installed and squirrels had a habit of digging holes on the golf course. Eisenhower was furious, so he decided to put a stop to it. He told his staff, “The next time you see one of those squirrels go near my putting green, take a gun and shoot it!” Fortunately, his staff was much kinder than him and they chose to catch and release the squirrels instead.
In trying to do so, he met with the infamous hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Because of their political influence, Truman thought it would be a good idea to get them on his side, but boy was he wrong. The Ku Klux Klan attempted to get Truman to cut ties with Tom Pendergast because he was a Catholic, but Truman refused. The hate group wasn’t happy, to say the least, and Truman later came out saying: “They threatened to kill me. And I went out to one of their meetings and dared them to try.”
According to sources, George Washinton’s teeth were most certainly not made out of wood, but instead, of other people’s teeth. There’s a good chance that the teeth once belonged to slaves and other impoverished people. It’s also rumored that Washington’s teeth contained a bit of ivory, as well!
It wasn’t exactly in the budget to completely redecorate the White House, so he decided to have a fundraiser. Arthur gathered presidential memorabilia, two-dozen wagon loads to be exact, and had a yard right on the front lawn of the White House. After earning a bit of money from Abraham Lincoln’s pants, he hired an interior designer to redecorate!
Well, an animal lover that is! Coolidge brought the zoo to the White House when he adopted Ebeneezer the donkey and Smoky the bobcat, but he completely shocked everyone when he introduced some of the world’s greatest hunters to the White House. Instead of adopting a dog or a cat, Coolidge was given two lion cubs from the South African government, whom he named Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau.
The 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt, was also an animal lover. Roosevelt had a menagerie of animals, but his most well-known pet was a black bear that he adopted from West Virginia. The bear, who was named after the religious leader Johnathan Edwards, was eventually brought to live at the Bronx Zoo.
Fillmore went to a school that was across town from where he lived, and he began to develop a crush on one of his teachers, Miss Abigail Powers. According to the Miller Center of Public Affairs: “She loaned him books, challenged him to study difficult subjects, and cheered him on. Nathaniel Fillmore, meanwhile, finally saw that his son might have meant what he said about wanting to become a lawyer and arranged a clerkship with a local judge that would also allow Millard to study law. The teenager attacked the difficult bookwork with untiring relish, teaching school to support himself. He also began courting Abigail Powers. Impressed with his work ethic and aspirations, she accepted his engagement proposal in 1819.”
But that’s not all that Washington did during his lifetime. After serving the United States, he went on to own his very own whiskey distillery. In 1799, just a few short months before Washington’s death, he owned the largest distillery in the country. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the business to go under after his death.
A lot of people remember Kennedy as the man who dated Marilyn Monroe. Allegedly, Marilyn wasn’t the only woman Kennedy had his eyes on. According to sources, Kennedy had affairs with at least 12 different women.
His staff became so nervous, that they would make themselves scarce every time he was around. They even went so far as to hide in bushes or in closets when he would approach.
Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed Christmastime, but he enjoyed nature just a bit more. Instead of decorating the White House with Christmas trees, he actually banned them because he was more concerned with preserving them, instead. His 8-year-old son Archibald had a different plan. Apparently, Archibald didn’t agree with his father’s decision, so he hid a Christmas tree in his closet until Christmas morning!
The King of Siam, or what is now known as Thailand, offered to provide several pairs of young male and female elephants for Lincoln during the Civil War. He explained that they could be used as “beasts of burden” to help out the military. Lincoln politely declined and decided to use steam power, instead.
Reagan could be seen on the big screen playing different roles, but once the acting roles began to dry up, he decided to try his hand in comedy. But once the stand-up comic act didn’t last in Las Vegas, he became a talk-show host, and eventually, the president of the United States.
Taft liked taking baths so much that he needed to make sure that there was one aboard the USS North Carolina. So before it was set to sail off to Panama, Taft had a seven-foot-long bathtub installed on the ship.
He enjoyed it so much that he ordered his 19-year-old chef to teach him how to cook. When he returned home, Jefferson served some of the things he learned how to cook during dinners. Because of him, waffles, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese are now American favorites. Thank you, President Jefferson!
