Surprising facts about all 45 US presidents

John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) - Adams liked to skinny dip in the Potomac River, which is the reason he became the first president to be interviewed by a woman. The story goes that journalist Anne Royall knew about Adams’ 5 am swims, and so she went to the river and sat on his clothes until he agreed to give her an interview.

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Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) - Jackson participated in many duels. In one of them, he was hit in the chest by a bullet before killing his opponent, Charles Dickinson. Jackson carried that bullet in his chest for the rest of his life.

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Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) - Van Buren was the first president born in the United States as a country. All presidents that preceded him were born when the US was still a British colony.

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William Henry Harrison (1841) - Harrison had a pet goat with him at the White House during his short tenure as president.

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John Tyler (1841-1845) - Tyler was the only president to hold office in the Confederacy.

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James Polk (1845-1849) -

Polk was baptised a Methodist a week before he died.

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Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) - Taylor didn’t receive notification of his nomination for presidency until several days after the fact. That’s because he refused all postage due correspondence.

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Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) - Fillmore refused an honorary degree from Oxford University, contending that he had "neither literary nor scientific attainment."

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Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) - Pierce was arrested in 1853 for running over a woman with his horse. The charges were later dropped for insufficient evidence.

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James Buchanan (1857-1861) - Buchanan is the only bachelor president. He remained unmarried his entire life.

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Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) - Lincoln was a fan of Edgar Allan Poe’s work.

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Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) - Johnson was the first president to be impeached. His offense was violating the Tenure of Office Act when he attempted to remove the then-Secretary of War from office. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote.

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Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) - Grant was fined for riding his horse too fast down Washington Street.

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Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) - Hayes signed the act that allowed women to plead before the Supreme Court.

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James A. Garfield (1881) - Garfield was not only ambidextrous, but he could also write in Latin with one hand and in Greek with the other. At the same time.

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Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) - Arthur is regarded by many historians as the president who added “so help me God” to the presidential oath.

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Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) - Before marrying his wife Frances Folsom, Cleveland was the girl’s legal guardian. Folsom was the daughter of his law partner. He took custody of her when she was 11 years old, after her father died, and they married a decade later.

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Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) - The body of Harrison’s father was stolen and sold to Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati by grave robbers. The body was later recovered and reburied.

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Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) -

Cleveland is the first president to have served two non-consecutive terms.

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William McKinley (1897-1901) - After being shot, McKinley was taken to the hospital in an electric ambulance, which makes him the first president to ride in a self-propelled vehicle.

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Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) - A political cartoon about a bear hunting trip Roosevelt took in 1902 is believed to be the inspiration for the teddy bear.

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William Howard Taft (1909-1913) - Taft served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making him the only president to serve as the head of two branches of government. As Chief Justice, he swore in Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover to the presidency.

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Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) - Wilson is the most educated US president. He had a doctorate in political science and history from Johns Hopkins University.

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Warren Harding (1921-1923) - Harding suffered nervous breakdowns when he was 24 and spent some time in a sanitarium.

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Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) - Coolidge was born on July 4, making him the only president to share America’s birthday.

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Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) - Hoover was an orphan. His first job involved picking bugs off potato plants. He later also worked in a mine.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) - Before running for president in 1932, FDR unsuccessfully ran as vice president with James Cox.

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Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) - The S in his name doesn’t stand for anything as he had no middle name. Editors are still unsure about whether to follow the letter with a period, though Truman himself did.

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Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) - While serving in World War II, Eisenhower had an affair with Kay Summersby, a driver who later wrote a book in which she claimed he was impotent.

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John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) - JFK is the only president to have received a Purple Heart.

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Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) - Johnson apparently invited staffers into the bathroom to continue conversations while he relieved himself.

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Richard Nixon (1969-1974) - Nixon’s name is the third most recognized Western name in China. He is preceded only by Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley.

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Gerald Ford (1974-1977) - Before becoming president, Ford was a model and appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan.

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Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) - Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital. He is also the only president to officially claim to have seen a UFO.

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Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) - In the 1984 election, Reagan won in all states but Minnesota, where he lost by a small margin. He also lost in D.C.

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George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) - Bush Sr. threw up in the then-Japanese Prime Minister’s lap, an incident that gave birth to a new word in Japanese: Bushusuru, meaning “to do the Bush.”

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Bill Clinton (1993-2001) - Clinton is the winner of two Grammy Awards: one in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album For Children, and the second in 2005 for Best Spoken Word for the audiobook, ‘My Life.’

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George W. Bush (2001-2009) - Bush Jr. was a head cheerleader his senior year at Phillips Academy.

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Barack Obama (2009-2017) - Obama has read every ‘Harry Potter’ book. He also collects ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Conan The Barbarian’ comics.

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Donald J. Trump (2017-2021 and 2025- ) -

Trump's wife, Melania, cuts his hair.

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Joe Biden (2021-2025) -

Biden’s early years were tough, as he faced relentless teasing in school due to his stutter. He didn’t let it break him. Instead, he fought back by practicing speeches in front of a mirror and reciting poetry to smooth his speech.

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George Washington (1789-1797) - Washington never ran for the presidency for any political party, and actually warned of the dangers of political parties in his farewell address.

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James Madison (1809-1817) - The Father of the Constitution was the shortest and lightest president standing at 5 ft 4 in and weighing less than 100 lbs.

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James Monroe (1817-1825) - The capital of Liberia, Monrovia, is named after Monroe.

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