Here are 10 presidents you may not have heard much about...
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was one of Andrew Jackson's vice presidents. He succeeded him, becoming the 8th president (and the 2nd to be a Democrat). Here are some facts about Van Buren:
He was from Kinderhook, NY but he still owned one slave.
He was the first president whose first language was not English; it was Dutch. His family was from The Netherlands. That makes it less surprising.
One of his Supreme Court appointments was John McKinley -- that's like William McKinley and John McCain combined!
Not only did he lose the 1840 election, but he didn't even get his party's nomination.
Warren Harding
Sorry, President Harding. All you're remembered for is bad things. He was only president for 29 months and, in that time, he admitted he didn't know how to do the job. Next, we'll talk about the bad stuff he did:
He was president during the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1922. Someone in his cabinet took bribes of $400,000. Whoa!!
But in 1923, the year he died of heart failure, he lost popularity.
Gerald Rudolf-the-Red-Nosed-Reindeer Ford
Even I don't know much about Gerald Ford. But he was the 38th president. Seems like the only three things he's remembered for are playing ball when he was young, pardoning Nixon, and having the middle name "Rudolf." Sorry, guys, that's about all I know...
#10 Tyler (unpictured)
I don't know much about him, but he was the 10th president in history, and in the Sienna polls he usually ranks as the 6th worst. In my opinion, he was the 12th worst, thanks to him disagreeing that he was president. He didn't think he was president when he took over for William Henry Harrison (the first president to die in office). And you're about to learn about William Henry Harrison...
William Henry Harrison
In my opinion he's the hardest president to rank, thanks to his 32-day term. That's probably all you remember about him, but it's not all I know.
His nickname was Old Tippecanoe because he was a war hero in Tippecanoe.
He was one of our shortest and skinniest presidents.
He was the oldest president at inauguration for over 100 years, until Ronald Reagan beat him by one year. William Henry Harrison was 68 years old when he took office (and when he died).
Benjamin Harrison
His grandfather was William Henry Harrison! And William Henry Harrison's father (Benjamin's great-grandfather) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence!!!!!!!!!!!! His name was also Benjamin Harrison.
Chester A. Arthur
He was our most forgettable president. Only 5% of people remember him. He took over after James A. Garfield died. He redecorated the White House, and he prided himself on style. Though he also said a bad word in one of his quotes, and this is what it was: "I may be president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's damned business." He was hated at first, but later he was respected--such a great president!!!!
Millard Fillmore
He was the last Whig. A Whig was a party that existed at that time. These presidents were Whigs: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, as you know Millard Fillmore, and Abraham Lincoln (before he was president). Each president who was a Whig either died in office or took over when a president died. Millard Fillmore took over when Zachary Taylor died of getting ill. When Millard Fillmore was older, he was in the Know Nothing party.
He was a great president! You probably don't agree with me here, but he would do anything to save our country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I know why you think he was a terrible president; it's because he was #13. According to a presidential scientist his IQ was 149.0.
William H. Taft
All he's remembered for is being so fat he got stuck in the bathtub. That's probably a myth!
He was dddddddefinitely anti-war. He gave a lot of great quotes about war being bad.
The #1 most amazing fact about William Taft was that he was the only person to ever serve in all three branches of government. He was in Congress, he was president, and finally his dream came true to be the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But not just that, he was also the governor of the Philippines, which was a U.S. territory at the time, thanks to William McKinley.
He didn't want to be president, but here's a story about Helen Herron Taft (that was his wife). When Helen was young she went to the White House. She enjoyed it so much she wanted to come back as First Lady. When she married Taft, she started asking him to become president. So Taft just had to say, "Yes, I'll become president."
He ran for a second term against President Teddy Roosevelt (who wasn't a Republican anymore) and Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Wilson won. How did Wilson win against Teddy Roosevelt? I don't know.
Zachary Taylor
He was obscure. That means that he was little known. But not as much as President Arthur. Dun-dun-dun! I know why Zachary Taylor was un-famous:
He is a mystery man.
He was only president for 16 months.
He was in the military for 40 years. That was almost his whole life (40 out of 65 years). He was such a great general, and he didn't even rank as high as William Henry Harrison in the military. But he gained fame as a general in the U.S./Mexican War (Polk's war).
Hi, grandfather. You sure do look like a grandfather.
Hope you learned some stuff about these folks!
Love,
Langston