Mortgage Blog

Fun Facts about the Presidency

1)Chances are you know that Barack Obama is the 44th president.
But did you know he’s only the 43rd person to hold the office?
That’s because Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive
terms as president - so he’s listed as the 22nd and the 24th
president. As a result, the number of people who held office
is actually one less than the number of presidents the United
States has had.

2)First president to live in the White House?
Officially, John Adams became the first president to live in
the presidential residence that we know as the White House.
However, when he moved into the residence during 1800,
it wasn’t called the White House. Instead, it was referred
to as the President’s Palace, the President’s House, or the
Executive Mansion. The first president to live in the
"White House" was Theodore Roosevelt, who gave the residence
its official name in 1901.

3)Tallest president?
The tallest president of the United States was Abraham
Lincoln, who stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall. Conversely,
the shortest president was James Madison, who was only
5 feet, 4 inches tall - an entire foot shorter than
Lincoln.

4)First president to be born as a US citizen?
Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born as a
citizen of the newly created United States of America.
The seven presidents prior to Van Buren (Washington,
J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J.Q. Adams, and
Jackson) were considered British subjects. Incidentally,
William Henry Harrison, who took office immediately after
Van Buren was also born as a British subject. It’s also
interesting to note that Abraham Lincoln was the first
president born outside of the original colonies.
Herbert Hoover was the first president born west of
the Mississippi River. And, finally, Richard Nixon
was the first and only president born in California.

5)Youngest president?
This is another tricky one. Theodore Roosevelt was
actually the youngest president of the United States.
He was only 42 years old when he took office;
however, he became president after William McKinley
died in office. John F. Kennedy was the youngest
president ever "elected" to office. He was only
43 years old when he was elected president in
November of 1960. So depending on how you
interpret the question, either answer could be
correct. On the flip side, Ronald Reagan was
the oldest president. He was 69 when he took
office and 77 when he left.

6)Born on July 4th?
The only president to be born on the Fourth of
July was Calvin Coolidge, who was born on July 4,
1872. However, three presidents died on this
national holiday. Both John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. And James Monroe
died on July 4, 1831.

7)Lost the popular vote, but was still elected president?
John Quincy Adams was actually voted into office
by the House in 1824 after the general election
failed to produce a majority of the electoral
votes. In addition, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876,
Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and most recently
George W. Bush in 2000 also took office despite
losing the popular vote.