Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Trivia Week: US Presidential Trivia





Continuing a week of trivia.  Today: US Presidents. 
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Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) is the only American president to be elected four times (1933-1945). After his service, the 22nd Amendment ratified in 1951, limited the presidential office to two terms.
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Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) used to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to practice the piano for two hours.
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It has been open to conjecture as to whether William Taft, who weighed 150 kil;os/332 pounds, really did get stuck in the White House bathtub the first time he used it. Although a larger one was ordered, the truth of the story remains unknown. It comes from Ike Hoover, the chief White House usher during the Taft presidency. Hoover wrote a book, titled "42 Years in the White House," which published in 1932 and made mention of Taft getting stuck in the White House tub.



After Taft lost office in 1912, President Warren Harding appointed him Chief Justice of the United States, where he served until weeks before his death in 1930. He died at the age of 72. Taft, according to the National Archives, is the only person to hold the highest office in both the executive and judicial branches. The year after leaving the White House he lost 32 kilos/70 pounds and kept it off for the rest of his life.
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The term "O.K." is credited to Martin Van Buren who was raised in Kinderhook, New York. After he went into politics, Van Buren became known as "Old Kinderhook." Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren and the word "okay" was derived.
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Harry S. Truman's mother, a Confederate sympathiser, refused to sleep in Lincoln's bed during a White House visit.

Harry S. Truman was also the first president to give a speech on television.


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At age 69, Ronald Reagan became the oldest person ever elected U.S. president.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt was paralysed from the disease polio; he served his entire presidency without the use of legs. The public was generally not aware.
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Witness to some of the bloodiest battles in history, Ulysses S. Grant could not stomach the sight of animal blood. Rare steak nauseated him.
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Theodore Roosevelt craved attention. It was said of him that he wanted to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.

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