The word history descends from the Latin historia, meaning “narrative, take, story,” and the saga of our American presidents is festooned with fascinating stories. Here are a few of my favorites:
Our second and third presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, political rivals, then friends, both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
As Jefferson lay weak and dying in his home in Monticello on the evening of July 3, he whispered, “Is this the Fourth?” To quiet the former president, his young lawyer-confidante and grandson-in-law, Nicholas Trist answered, “Yes, grandfather.” Jefferson fell asleep with a smile. His heart continued to beat until around 1 pm the next day.
At dawn of that same day, Adams was expiring in his home in Quincy Massachusetts. A servant asked the fading Adams, “Do you know what day it is?” “Oh yes,” responded the lion in winter. “It is the glorious Fourth of July.” He then lapsed into a stupor but awakened in the afternoon to see and hear the celebratory fireworks exploding in the sky. “Thomas Jefferson survives,” Adams sighed feebly. He ceased to breathe around sunset, about five hours after Jefferson.
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In warm weather, John Quincy Adams customarily went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River. The first American woman to become a professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams’s 5:00 a.m. swims. After being refused interviews with Adams many times, she went to the river, gathered his clothes, and sat on them until she had her interview from the president, who spoke to her while chin-deep in the water. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.
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During the Confederate attack on Fort Stevens in July 1864, Abraham Lincoln journeyed to the front to inspect Union defenses. The task of showing him around fell to young Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., aide to the commanding general, and a future Supreme Court Justice. When Holmes pointed out the enemy in the distance, Lincoln stood up — all six feet four of him with a stovepipe hat on top — to have a look.
A volley of musket fire spat from the enemy trenches. Grabbing the president by the arm, Holmes dragged him under cover and shouted, “Get down, you fool!” Realizing what he had said and to whom, Holmes was sure that disciplinary action would follow. To his immense relief, Lincoln rejoined, “Captain Holmes, I’m glad to see you know how to talk to a civilian.”
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President Ulysses S. Grant was once arrested and fined $20 for exceeding the Washington speed limit on his horse. When the mortified policeman realized that he was dealing with the president, he hesitated to issue the ticket. But President Grant insisted on paying the fine and wrote a letter to the Washington Police Department commending the officer on his fine sense of duty.
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During the administration of Dwight Eisenhower, James Michener, author of Hawaii, The Source, and other mega-sellers, was invited to a celebrity dinner at the White House. Michener declined to attend and explained: “Dear Mr. President: I received your invitation three days after I had agreed to speak a few words at a dinner honoring the wonderful high school teacher who taught me how to write. I know you will not miss me at your dinner, but she might at hers.” Michener received a handwritten reply from the understanding Ike: “In his lifetime a man lives under fifteen or sixteen presidents, but a really fine teacher comes into his life but rarely. Go and speak at your teacher’s dinner.”
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Many would support Ronald Reagan as our most television-savvy president. In his 1980 debates with Jimmy Carter, Reagan, at the end of the exchange, made sure to walk across the dais to shake hands with Carter — to show that Reagan was clearly the taller, and hence the more commanding, of the two. In his 1984 televised presidential debate against his considerably younger opponent, Walter Mondale, Reagan quipped, “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”***
I’ll be performing “Fascinating Facts About Our Presidents” on February 6, 12:30 pm, at University Community Library and on February 12 at Remington II in Rancho Bernardo at 1:30 pm. Admission is free. I’d love to meet you there.