Thought You Knew Our Presidents? Well Think Again

Presidents
  1. James Buchanan, elected in 1856, is the nation’s only bachelor president to date
  2. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected the nation’s 44th president. However, only 43 individuals have held the office. Grover Cleveland was elected twice to nonconsecutive terms; first as the 22nd president and later as the 24th.
  3. It is possible for a candidate to win the most popular votes and still lose the electoral vote. Just ask Al Gore, who won the largest share of the popular vote in 2000, but still lost to George W. Bush.
  4. The 26th amendment dropped the voting age in all election from 21 to 18, immediately giving hundreds of thousands of young people the right to vote. 1972 was the first year this bill was enacted.
  5. By the year 2015, statistics calculate that young people between the ages of 18-30 will represent one-third of the entire population of eligible voters.
  6. In the 2008 election President Obama earned 66,882,230 votes; while McCain earned 58,343,671 votes; that’s a close race.
  7. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, created the party symbols of the Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant in 1828 and 1874.
  8. Lincoln was our tallest president 6’4” while James Madison was the shortest, at 5’2”
  9. Eight of our nations presidents never attended college. Of those that did, Harvard counts the most presidents as alumni.
  10. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is the only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Illinois.
  11. William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) holds the record for the longest inauguration speech in history at 8,578 words long and one hour and 40 minutes. Unfortunately, he gave the speech during bad weather and a month later, he was dead from pneumonia, making his the shortest presidency on record.

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