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American Idols?
Looked at your spending lately? Well, what have you spent the most money on? If you lived in Woodrow Wilson’s family, you’d have spent the most money on, not clothes, but books! Do you ride on horseback constantly? If so, you might have been a great friend of Calvin Coolidge, who rode a mechanical horse almost every day. Trying to find a gift for someone special? Ask Jimmy Carter, who made his wife Rosalind sign the letters I.L.Y.T.G (I love you the goodest) to him. Appalled? This is just the beginning.
LIVE ME SOME LIFE!
Presidents, even though all of them except for George Washington lived in the White House, led their own private lives. However, that didn’t mean that they always lived it normally.
1 in 10 people are left-handed, and it’s even rarer to find ambidextrous people. Our 20th president was one of them. James Garfield was multilingual, too, and was able to write with one of his hands in Greek, while simultaneously writing in Latin with his other hand. How come I can’t do that?
Do you like staying up stringing decorations, yelling at caterers, and writing out gazillions of invites for a party? Unfortunately, presidents didn’t have a choice. Were their parties always that awesome? Er, no. Take James Know Polk. At his parties, the following weren’t allowed: music, alcohol, and dancing. Care to join me in turning down his invite?
We’ve had presidents since April 30, 1789, when Washington took office, so presidents didn’t always have TV, computers, and i-Pods. When Benjamin Harrison and has family installed electric lights, they were too afraid of getting shocked, so they never turned them off! Have you ever heard of wasting electricity, Ben?
HOBBIES, ANYONE?
No matter who or where you are, everybody has hobbies to while away time!
Gambling is ILLEGAL- unless you’re over eighteen, that is, which is why many adults gamble. Presidents were adults, right? They gambled, especially Warren G. Harding, who has a rep for being our worst president. He once bet all the White House china on a deck of cards. Reckless? Totally. Especially since he lost. Tough luck, buddy!
Any of you play a sport? If you were Harry S. Truman, you wouldn’t have been able to, as Harry wore thick, expensive classes as a child. Sports were definitely off-limits. Don’t feel too bad for him, though. He became exceptionally talented at playing the piano, and even thought about becoming a concert pianist.
WE LIKE THIS!
You probably know your best friend’s favorite color, food, song, book, store, etc. Did you know a few presidential favs?
Girls are usually the fashionistas, right? Not in this case. Chester Alan Arthur was fashion crazy. He had more than eighty pairs of pants (think about all the laundry!) and changed clothes several times a day. No wonder his nickname was “Elegant Arthur”.
All of us have that one special food that we know we shouldn’t eat, but we do anyway. For Ronald Reagen, it was jelly-beans. He always tried to save the coconut ones for himself! He has my empathy.
When it comes to quirks, the presidents have done it all! Well, it makes sense if you think about it. They rule the country; they should rule this, too!
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~unearthlyhaphazard
I learned sooooo much from this article. It was a super great idea. I think you should definately keep writing! Great work and keep it up!!!! :)
-Katelyn H