Presidential Fun Facts

With Presidents’ Day happening later this month, brush up on your presidential trivia with the fun facts listed below.

• Benjamin Harrison (1889-93), the 23rd president, was the first to attend a baseball game. He saw the Cincinnati Reds beat the Washington Senators 7-4 on June 6, 1892.
• William Howard Taft (1909-13), the 27th president, was the heaviest president and weighed more than 300 pounds. In fact, he got stuck in the White House bathtub the first time he used it.
• James Madison (1809-17), the fourth president, was the shortest president and stood 5 feet 4 inches tall.
• Harry S. Truman (1945-53), the 33rd president, would get up at 5 a.m. to practice the piano for two hours every day.
• William Henry Harrison (1841), the ninth president, served the shortest presidency, as he died just 32 days after he was elected.
• William McKinley (1897-1901), the 25th president, was the first president to campaign by telephone.
• Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09), the 26th president, coined the term “White House” to describe his residence. Prior to his term, it had been called the Executive Mansion or the President’s House.
• Donald Trump (2016-present), the 45th president, is the oldest president elected at the age of 70.
• Grover Cleveland (1885-89 and 1893-97), the 22nd and 24th president, was elected for two nonconsecutive terms.
• Chester Alan Arthur (1881-85), the 21st president, was nicknamed “Elegant Arthur” for his sense of fashion.
• James Buchanan (1857-61), the 15th president, was the only unwed president.
• Franklin Pierce (1853-57), the 14th president, was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House.
• For two years, the nation was run by a president and a vice president who were not elected by the people. After Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973, President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as vice president. Nixon resigned the following year, which left Ford as president and Ford’s appointed vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, was second in line.