The Bathtub: Lump Sat Alone in A Boggy Marsh*

I tried to figure out some cute connection or trivia tidbit for this week, but I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to come up with some real presidential trivia. So I hope you like my dorky trivia and that you learn a little bit too. Because I definitely did. There's even some presidential hemorrhoid trivia. Seriously. Enjoy!

*For those of you who don't remember the Presidents of the USA (the band), this is a great song and you should probably go and grab the album, dust it off, and put that on your iPod, because it's really good and I think you'll enjoy it. Dune buggy.

1. Which president was convicted of exceeding the speed limit on his HORSE?
a. Ulysses S. Grant
b. Andrew Johnson
c. Abraham Lincoln
d. James Buchanan

2. Who was the first president to ride to his inauguration in a car?
a. Calvin Coolidge
b. Warren G. Harding
c. Woodrow Wilson
d. Herbert Hoover

3. Who was the first president to visit all 50 states?
a. Dwight D. Eisenhower
b. John F. Kennedy
c. Lyndon B. Johnson
d. Richard M. Nixon

4. Which president had both of his vice presidents die in office?
a. Martin Van Buren
b. Harry S Truman
c. James Madison
d. James Monroe

5. How many presidents have state capitals named after them?
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6

6. Which president was/is allergic to Christmas trees?
a. Gerald R. Ford
b. Jimmy Carter
c. George Bush
d. Bill Clinton

7. Which president owned 80 pairs of pants?
a. Chester A. Arthur
b. Benjamin Harrison
c. Grover Cleveland
d. Woodrow Wilson

8. Which president gave electric toothbrushes as presents to his guests?
a. Richard M. Nixon
b. Herbert Hoover
c. Harry S Truman
d. Lyndon B. Johnson

9. Which president didn’t mention his First Lady in his autobiography?
a. William Henry Harrison
b. John Adams
c. Martin Van Buren
d. John Quincy Adams

10. Which president did not vote until he was 62?
a. James K. Polk
b. Zachary Taylor
c. Millard Fillmore
d. Franklin Pierce

Answers:
1. a. Ulysses S. Grant (He paid a $20 fine. His first name was really Hiram. And he didn’t have a name for a month after he was born. And his mother went with HIRAM ULYSSES?!)
2. b. Warren G. Harding (He also had the most gangster name. Warren G., yo.)
3. d. Richard M. Nixon (When he was born, the doctor who delivered him said he was “roly-poly.” I freaking love the presidential book I own.)
4. c. James Madison (One was named George Clinton. Bring on the Funk!)
5. b. Four (Lincoln, Nebraska; Jefferson, Missouri; Madison, Wisconsin; Jackson, Mississippi)
6. d. Bill Clinton (He’s also allergic to dust, mold, pollen, cats, and dairy products. And my book says he was diagnosed with hemorrhoids in 1984. This book really truly has everything you never wanted to know.)
7. a. Chester A. Arthur (His nickname was “Elegant Arthur…”)
8. d. Lyndon B. Johnson (So they would think of him every time they brushed their teeth. Weird.)
9. c. Martin Van Buren (His lady Hannah Hoes Van Buren kicked the bucket before he became President. He didn’t mention her. Even once. But he did have awesome sidewiskers.)
10. b. Zachary Taylor (He had not established an official place of residence because he was a soldier and moved so often, so he couldn’t vote until he was 62.)

Also extra facts, just because I LOVE this:

“Uncanny Similarities in the Lives of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy:
- Both were married in their thirties to women in their early twenties.
- Lincoln was first elected to Congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946.
- Lincoln was an unsuccessful candidate for his party’s vice presidential nomination in 1856, Kennedy in 1956.
- In 1860 Lincoln was elected president with less than 50% of the vote over Stephen A. Douglas, born 1813. In 1960 Kennedy was elected President with less than 50% of the vote over Richard Nixon, born in 1913.
- Lincoln was younger than his vice president, Andrew Johnson, a southerner born in 1808. Kennedy was younger than his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, a southerner born in 1908.-Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in a theater on a Friday by an assassin who fled to a warehouse and was killed before he could be tried. Kennedy was shot in the back of the head from a warehouse on a Friday by an assassin who fled to a theater and was killed before trial.”

And here are some more:

- The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain seven letters.
- Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
- Both wives lost their children while living in the White House
- Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
- John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839 while Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
- Both assassins were known by their three names, of which both contain 15 letters.
- Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford," while Kennedy was shot in a car called a "Lincoln," which is a Ford.
- A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland and the week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Oooh I just love American history!

Here is the book where I got almost all of this fantastic information, the rest is from various websites:

DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents: From George Washington George W. Bush. New York: Random House, 2001. And you can buy it here.