Unexpected facts about America’s past presidents you probably didn’t know
Katie McGonagle
12 November 2024
Amazing facts about American presidents
Lost_in_the_Midwest/Shutterstock
Ulysses S Grant was fined for speeding – on a horse
Library of Congress
The S in Ulysses S Grant was a mistake
Brady-Handy Photograph Collection/Library of Congress/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Harry Truman didn’t have a real middle name either
Harris & Ewing/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Teddy Roosevelt set a world record for most handshakes in one day
Glasshouse Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Theodore Roosevelt’s son brought a pony up in the White House elevator
Frances Benjamin Johnston/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Woodrow Wilson kept sheep on the White House lawn
Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on 4 July
National Gallery of Art/CC0/Wikimedia Commons; Rembrandt Peale/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Thomas Jefferson wrote the first US recipe
Colin Dewar/Shutterstock
James Monroe was elected (almost) unopposed
Bettmann/Getty Images
Zachary Taylor never voted – except for himself
Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
George Washington’s false teeth were not made of wood
BakedintheHole/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
Abraham Lincoln may have had Marfan syndrome
Antony Berger/Brady National Photographic Art Gallery/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent
Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo
Ulysses S Grant was invited to Ford’s Theatre
Buyenlarge/Getty Images
Martin van Buren had two pet tigers
Barbora Polivkova/Shutterstock
James Garfield wrote Latin with one hand and Greek with his other
Photo12/Ann Ronan Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo
Grover Cleveland once worked as a hangman
GL Archive/Alamy Stock Photo
Gerald Ford named his dog Liberty
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
Andrew Johnson made friends with mice
Landshark1/Shutterstock
Franklin D Roosevelt was an avid stamp collector
Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress
Rutherford B Hayes was tech-savvy
Stacy Ochoa-Luna/Alamy Stock Photo
William Howard Taft was first to throw out a pitch at baseball
Bettmann/Getty Images
Herbert Hoover gave his name to a new sport
Herbert Hoover Library Museum Collection/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Gerald Ford could have been a pro-footballer
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Dwight D Eisenhower installed a putting green on the White House lawn
Bettmann/Getty Images
Richard Nixon extended the White House bowling alley
White House Photographer/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
John F Kennedy donated his entire salary to charity
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo
Jimmy Carter wrote a kids’ book about a sea monster
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Ronald Reagan saved 78 lives
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Lyndon B Johnson graduated aged 15
Yoichi Okamoto/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
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