10 Presidential Fun Facts

In history lessons, we often focus on the best and worst parts of a president’s life, but what about all the quirky stuff in between? Check out these 10 fun facts about U.S. presidents.

1. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were close friends despite having a bit of a rivalry. In 1786, Jefferson and Adams went together to visit William Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon. While there, they chipped off a piece from Shakespeare's chair to take as a souvenir.

2. James Madison was Princeton University's first graduate student.

3. James Monroe rode a mule from Paris to Madrid to negotiate with Spain for the area around and including Florida. Unfortunately, his trip was unsuccessful, but Monroe saw success 15 years later when he oversaw the peaceful acquisition of the Florida territory during his first presidential term.

3. Historians estimate that Andrew Jackson, known as “Old Hickory” may have participated in anywhere between 5 and 100 duels.

4. John Tyler had 15 children, more than any other president.

5. Martin Van Buren was the first president who was born as a citizen of the United States. All presidents before Van Buren were British-born.

6. Abraham Lincoln is renowned for guiding the U.S. through the Civil War, but few people know about his skill in wrestling. When he was young, Lincoln competed in around 300 wrestling matches and was only defeated once.

7. James A. Garfield was ambidextrous and spoke many languages. His talents were fascinating to the people, and many claimed he could write a sentence in Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing the same sentence in Greek with the other hand.

8. William McKinley almost always wore a red carnation on his lapel, claiming it was a good luck charm. In 1901, McKinley gave his lapel flower to a little girl in a greeting line. It was seconds later that he was shot by an assassin and died eight days after that.

9. The "S" in Harry S. Truman doesn't stand for anything. His parents couldn't decide on a middle name for over a month, so they settled on the letter "S" in honor of his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandfather.

10. Gerald Ford worked as a fashion model during college, appearing on the cover of Cosmopolitan.