President’s Day falls on the third Monday of February, that’s Feb. 17 this year. Here are 11 little-known facts about U.S. presidents.
11. First president born a U.S. citizen
Martin Van Buren, in Kinderhook, NY, 1782
10. Most common presidential home state
Virginia, with 8 presidents:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Zachary Taylor
Virginia is also the state where the most presidents, 7, are buried:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Tyler
William Howard Taft
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
9. First president photographed while in office
James K. Polk, in 1849
8. First president to have a telephone in the White House
Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1877. The phone number was 1. That’s it, 1. The phone was installed in the Oval Office, but it’s not the same Oval Office as today’s Oval Office.
Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1877. The phone number was “1.”
7. First president born in a hospital
Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia, 1924
6. Only bachelor presidents
James Buchanan, never married
James Buchanan, president from 1857 to 1861.
Grover Cleveland, married Frances Folsom in the White House in 1886
Grover Cleveland, 1903
5. First president to appear on TV
Franklin D. Roosevelt at the opening ceremonies for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York
4. First president to hold an Internet chat
Bill Clinton, in 1999
3. Presidents who died on July 4
Both the second and the third presidents of the United States died on July 4.
Thomas Jefferson (L), John Adams (R)
John Adams, second president, 1826
Thomas Jefferson, third president, 1826
James Monroe, 1831
2. Presidents who lost the popular vote while winning the election
John Quincy Adams, in 1824
Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1876
Benjamin Harrison, in 1888
George W. Bush, in 2000
1. Elections with the highest and lowest voter turnout, by percentage
Kennedy-Nixon, 1960, had the highest voter turnout at 62.8 percent. This was also the first election in which the presidential debate was televised. Clinton-Dole-Perot, 1996, had the lowest turnout at 49 percent.
(AP Photo)
