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46 misconceptions about the 46 presidents of the United States. It turns out, we don't know everything about our Commanders in Chief. Did George Washington actually chop down a cherry tree? Did Lincoln own enslaved people? And how did Theodore Roosevelt REALLY feel about teddy bears? Host Justin Dodd breaks down one misconception about EACH American president. From George Washington to President Joe Biden, we have a lot of myths to bust. Let's get started. Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss?sub_confirmation=1 About Mental Floss: Mental Floss is where curious people come for trivia-tastic information. Mental Floss produces lists of fun facts, debunks common misconceptions, and tells untold stories from history, science, culture and more. Website: http://www.mentalfloss.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mental_floss Facebook: https://facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine Copyright Notice: This video and YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are property of Mental Floss. You are authorized to share the video link and channel, and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to this YouTube Channel is provided. 2025 Mental Floss One Misconception About Each U.S. President | Mental Floss https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss
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0:00
We've all heard the story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree and then fessing up
0:04
because he just couldn't bring himself to lie. The tale has been told for centuries to illustrate
0:08
that our first president always had an unshakable moral compass. If you ask me
0:13
hacking a tree to death for no reason seems like a real jerk move, but whatever, maybe he wanted to
0:18
whittle himself a canoe. The anecdote first showed up in 1806 in the fifth edition of Washington's
0:23
biography, The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington by Mason Locke Weems
0:28
In the book, six-year-old George mutilates a cherry tree with his beloved hatchet
0:32
though he doesn't cut it down per se. He confesses the crime to his father, crying out
0:36
I can't tell a lie, pa. You know I can't tell a lie. George's father is so proud of his son for telling the truth that he then says
0:43
Glad am I, George, that you killed my tree, for you have paid me for it a thousandfold
0:48
Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees
0:53
though blossomed with silver and their fruits of purest gold. You know, the way that every father talks to their six-year-old son
1:00
Though Weems credits the story to an old family friend of the Washingtons, there's no evidence to suggest the story ever actually happened
1:07
It's also suspicious that Weems failed to mention such a compelling tale in any of his first four editions
1:13
Plus, he was known to sometimes play it pretty fast and loose with facts about Washington
1:18
Hi, I'm Justin Dodd. George Washington definitely wasn't the only U.S. president for whom a healthy dose of fiction gets mixed in with the facts
1:25
Today, I'll try to debunk one misconception about each U.S. president, and while I'm at it
1:31
probably remind a healthy number of you that Millard Fillmore existed. John Adams was a monarchist. Okay, fine. John Adams did argue that everyone should call George
1:48
Washington His Majesty the President or His Highness the President, but that was mainly because
1:53
he thought the office should have a title that elevated it above the presidents of random
1:58
clubs and other organizations. And, okay, fine, he was sort of an elitist who favored a strong central government and
2:05
wasn't keen on majority rule, but that was partially because he was worried America might
2:10
otherwise be susceptible to anarchy in the vein of the French Revolution
2:14
In practice, however, Adams was a Federalist who staunchly believed in a republic
2:18
He just wasn't as democratic-minded as Thomas Jefferson. When the two ran against each other for president in 1800, Adams was depicted as a raging monarchist
2:28
Jefferson's camp even spread a rumor that Adams wanted his son to marry King George III's daughter
2:33
so they could start a British-American dynasty. Adams lost his bid for re-election that year
2:38
and his largely propagandized affinity for the monarchy became part of his legacy
2:43
So did the title his rotundity, which is what people nicknamed Adams
2:46
when he said he wanted to call the president his majesty. Thomas Jefferson Introduced Ice Cream to the U.S
2:52
At a dinner party in May 1744, Maryland Governor Thomas Bladden served a dessert that one attendee
2:59
described as containing some fine ice cream. The previous month, Thomas Jefferson had turned one year old
3:05
So consider that proof that ice cream arrived on these shores before Jefferson could even
3:10
say ice cream. In 1789, in fact, before the White House had even been built, let alone occupied by Jefferson
3:17
Abigail Adams commented on a reception put on by First Lady Martha Washington
3:21
According to Adams, the company are entertained with ice creams and lemonade
3:26
James Madison always wanted a Bill of Rights. The right to peaceably assemble, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, the assurance
3:34
that you won't have to become an unwilling Airbnb host for soldiers
3:38
The Bill of Rights has some bangers. But when George Mason first proposed the Bill of Rights at the Constitutional Convention
3:44
he was unanimously voted down. Even James Madison, the man who would eventually shepherd the U.S. Bill of Rights into law
3:51
was initially against it. Some felt that defining individual rights didn't make sense for a government based on enumerated powers
3:58
By definition, the thinking went, any power not granted to the government in the Constitution
4:03
belonged to the people. Choosing to proactively assert some rights might muddy the waters
4:09
When pro-Constitution federalists agreed to eventually pass a Bill of Rights, Madison
4:13
wrote that the amendments are a blemish. but noted it was the least offensive form. Eventually, either because of ideological
4:20
evolution, political expediency, or some combination thereof, Madison became a staunch supporter of the Bill of Rights. As he said to Congress in 1789, after the Constitution had gone
4:31
into effect but before some of the individual states had ratified it, I think we should obtain the confidence of our fellow citizens in proportion as we fortify the
4:40
rights of the people against the encroachments of the government. James Monroe was the mastermind behind the Monroe Doctrine
4:47
In his 1823 message to Congress, James Monroe included a section that basically said the U.S
4:52
would henceforth stay out of European affairs and European nations would no longer be allowed
4:58
to try to take over places in the Western Hemisphere. It became known as the Monroe
5:02
Doctrine and affected foreign policy for decades to come. Monroe was originally keen on issuing
5:07
some sort of joint statement with Britain to that effect. It was John Quincy Adams
5:11
then-Secretary of State, who urged Monroe to go it alone. Adams also wrote most of the actual
5:17
doctrine. John Quincy Adams died on the Senate floor. John Quincy Adams was elected to the House
5:23
of Representatives after his presidency was over, so he probably wouldn't have been on the Senate
5:27
floor at all. And he didn't die on the House floor either. He had a stroke there in February 1848
5:34
but he was taken to a nearby room where he died a few days later. Andrew Jackson won the War of
5:39
1812 at the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson was considered a war hero for his victory at New
5:45
Orleans, but oddly enough, the War of 1812 was, in some ways, already over by the time U.S. forces
5:51
claimed victory there. The Treaty of Ghent, which established peace between Great Britain and the
5:56
U.S., was signed on Christmas Eve 1814. So why did the Battle of New Orleans take place in early
6:02
1815? The treaty specified that hostilities wouldn't cease until it was ratified by the
6:07
governments on both sides of the war. The British did so quickly, but the United States didn't
6:12
ratify until February, providing time for the Battle of New Orleans to be fought
6:17
Historians' debate if Jackson's victory had any influence on the treaty's ratification, but
6:21
considering it had already been signed, it's safe to say Jackson's victory did not win the war
6:30
Martin Van Buren and his parents were definitely Dutch. In fact, he was the first U.S. president
6:35
who wasn't of British descent and the first to speak English as a second language. He was born
6:40
and raised in a close-knit Dutch community in Kinderhook, New York, but his parents were also
6:44
born in New York, not the Netherlands. According to the National Park Service, Van Buren's family
6:49
was the fifth generation of descendants of Dutch immigrants. William Henry Harrison caught a fatal case of pneumonia at his inauguration
6:58
On March 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison gave a nearly two-hour-long inauguration address without
7:04
wearing a coat, a hat, or gloves. Exactly one month later, he was dead, supposedly from a case
7:09
of pneumonia that he caught at the event. But there's no real proof that it was pneumonia
7:14
or that he caught it at the inauguration. He didn't summon his doctor, Thomas Miller
7:18
until March 26. At that point, he complained of a few days of anxiety and fatigue
7:23
Those issues soon gave way to an illness that included a cough, difficulty breathing
7:27
and other symptoms of pneumonia. But Harrison suffered much more from gastrointestinal grief
7:33
that didn't match the pneumonia diagnosis. Even Miller admitted this, writing, "...the disease was not viewed as a case of pure pneumonia. But as this was the most
7:41
palpable affection, the term pneumonia afforded a succinct and intelligible answer to the innumerable questions as to the nature of the attack.
7:49
In 2014, researchers Jane McHugh and Philip McAviak published a study that presented an
7:54
alternative diagnosis fever a typhoid fever According to their theory Harrison may have contracted the bacterial infection from drinking contaminated water The White House got its water from springs that weren far from a sewage depository Two future presidents James Polk and Zachary Taylor
8:11
fell ill with gastroenteritis while living in the White House, which supports the idea
8:16
that there could've quite literally been something in the water. When Harrison died, everyone knew John Tyler would become president
8:23
The Constitution says that, In case of the removal of the president from office or of his death, resignation, or inability
8:30
to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice president.
8:36
So when William Henry Harrison died, it seems pretty obvious that his VP
8:40
John Tyler, would become president. But if you look at that text closely
8:44
you'll see that it says the president's powers and duties will devolve on the V
8:48
but not necessarily the job title. Some of Harrison's cabinet initially called Tyler
8:53
Vice President Acting As President. John Quincy Adams, among others, felt this was proper
8:58
and it went beyond semantics. If the Vice President was only acting as President
9:03
perhaps a special election to choose a new President would make sense. Tyler acted quickly, though, taking the oath of office as President and probably moving into the
9:12
White House, establishing a President for Presidential Succession. That President saw seven more VPs take the office before it was officially codified by the 25th Amendment to
9:21
the Constitution a few years after John F. Kennedy's death. The amendment says, in part
9:27
in case of the removal of the president from office or of his death or resignation
9:31
the vice president shall become president. Alcohol was banned from the White House during
9:36
James Polk's presidency. James Polk's wife, Sarah, was a devout Presbyterian and a bit of a party
9:42
pooper. As first lady, she prohibited card playing, dancing, and hard liquor in the White House
9:47
Receptions during Polk's presidency weren't exactly the highlight of the social season
9:52
But Sarah Polk didn't ban all booze at the White House. After a dinner party in December 1845, one attendee wrote in her diary about the adult
10:00
beverages on offer and their colorful presentation, saying, "...pink champagne, gold sherry, green hawk, madeira, the ruby port, and sauterne formed
10:09
a rainbow around each plate." Zachary Taylor died on July 9, 1850, after
10:17
several days of debilitating cramps, diarrhea, and other related issues. His official cause of
10:22
death was listed as cholera morbus, a gastrointestinal infection. Taylor had washed down a big bowl
10:28
of cherries with a bunch of milk shortly before falling ill, for some reason, and some have
10:32
suggested that the acid and dairy combo caused his demise. More likely, something he ate or drank
10:38
harbored bacteria, as we discussed with William Henry Harrison. But in the early 1990s, author
10:43
Clara Rising pointed out that Taylor's symptoms sounded suspiciously like arsenic poisoning
10:48
The theory proved so compelling that authorities actually exhumed Taylor's body and had it tested
10:53
for arsenic. The traces they found were hundreds or even thousands of times lower than what you'd
10:59
need to poison someone to death, in line with the expected arsenic levels found in any human being
11:04
Rising didn't dispute the results. As she told the Associated Press in June 1991
11:09
We have the truth, and that's what we were after. Millard Fillmore was Mormon
11:14
During his first year in office, Millard Fillmore appointed Mormon leader Brigham Young as governor
11:19
of the Utah Territory, where thousands of Mormons were already residing. To thank Fillmore, Young
11:24
named a county, Millard, and a city, Fillmore. Those places still exist today, which has given
11:29
rise to the notion that Millard Fillmore himself was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of
11:34
Latter-day Saints. He wasn't. Based on the available information, scholars generally associate
11:39
Fillmore with Unitarianism, although to muddy the waters just a bit. It seems that he declined
11:44
to self-identify as a member of the Unitarian Church on at least one occasion
11:48
Okay, maybe we don't all grow up being taught that Miller Fillmore was Mormon, but 21% of
11:53
Americans in a YouGov poll said they'd never even heard of him, and an additional 53% had
11:58
no opinion as to his quality as president, so come on, we had to get creative
12:02
Franklin Pierce ran over a woman with his carriage. While he was president, Franklin Pierce was supposedly arrested for running over an old
12:09
woman with his horse or carriage. According to biographer Peter A. Waller, there's no evidence
12:14
that this ever occurred. As he told Mental Floss, the fact that there are no newspaper stories about
12:19
the accident and it wasn't mentioned in any correspondence convinced me that it probably
12:23
didn't happen. James Buchanan was single his entire life. James Buchanan is the only president
12:30
to have never been married. But in 1819, 28-year-old James got engaged to one Anne Caroline Coleman
12:37
She ended the engagement that same year, possibly over rumors that her fiancé was unfaithful and or
12:42
because she thought he might only be marrying her for her money. Buchanan also lived at one point
12:47
with an Alabama senator named William Rufus King. The two were extremely close, and people have
12:52
speculated ever since that their relationship was romantic. After King relocated to France in 1844
12:59
Buchanan wrote to a friend, Other scholars have posited that Buchanan might have been asexual, though this is mainly
13:27
based on a lack of evidence suggesting otherwise. Abraham Lincoln owned enslaved people
13:33
In our episode about the Civil War, we covered the oversimplification-slash-misconception that Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. But here's an apparently widespread
13:44
misconception I wasn't aware of. A lot of people think Abraham Lincoln owned enslaved
13:49
people himself. So many, in fact, that Professor Gerald J. Prokopovich wrote a book called
13:54
Did Lincoln own slaves and other frequently asked questions about Abraham Lincoln
13:58
There is no evidence that Lincoln owned enslaved people, for the record, but his wife's family, the Todds, assuredly did
14:06
Andrew Johnson was the first American president to be impeached. Basically, the radical Republicans in Congress weren't happy with Johnson's forgiving attitude
14:17
toward former Confederate states after the Civil War. In March 1867, they enacted the Tenure of Office Act
14:23
which prevented the president from firing certain officials without the Senate's OK
14:28
When Johnson fired an official without the Senate's OK months later, he was impeached
14:32
but the Senate acquitted him by a margin of one vote, so Johnson got to keep his job
14:38
Ulysses S. Grant's name was Ulysses S. Grant. Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant
14:44
but when Ohio Congressman Thomas Hamer submitted his name for a spot at West Point, he wrote Ulysses
14:50
S. Grant. It's generally agreed that Hamer thought the S stood for Simpson
14:54
which was Grant's mother's maiden name and also the middle name of his brother Samuel
14:59
Grant reportedly tried to right the wrong, but ended up just rolling with it. In an 1844 letter
15:04
to Julia Boggs, whom he'd later marry, he wrote, "...find some name beginning with S for me
15:08
Julia. You know, I have an S in my name and don't know what it stands for.
15:12
I would have gone for Serpentine because it sounds kind of cool, but that's just me
15:17
Rutherford B. Hayes was a lifelong teetotaler. Unlike the Pokes, the Hayes' did fully ban
15:23
alcohol from the White House. Rutherford's wife Lucy never drank, earning her the nickname
15:28
Lemonade Lucy. But Rutherford was known to imbibe before he became president. The ban
15:33
which was his idea, was mostly a way to appeal to prohibitionists
15:37
Garfield the Cat is named after Garfield the President. Garfield creator Jim Davis named the lethargic
15:43
carb-loading cartoon cat after his grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis. Was James A. Garfield Davis named after President James A. Garfield
15:51
Yeah, yeah, he was. So depending on how you interpret the transitive property of cartoon cat names, which I just
15:58
made up maybe there is some truth to this misconception Chester Arthur was secretly born in Ireland Before and during Chester Arthur presidency his opponents spread a rumor that he actually been born outside the United States which would of course make him ineligible to become
16:14
the commander-in-chief. One of the bigger sources for these conspiracies was Arthur Hinman, who originally claimed that
16:19
Arthur had been born in Ireland. When that unfounded claim failed to gain traction, Arthur's opponents began saying he was born
16:26
in Canada, not in Fairfield, Vermont, as he said. Arthur's official birthplace is in Fairfield, and the Canada story was likely concocted as a way to discredit him
16:36
So while nobody's ever come up with incontrovertible proof that he was born in Vermont or Canada
16:41
we can safely say the 21st president wasn't originally from the Emerald Isle
16:47
When Oscar Folsom died in a carriage accident in 1875, his friend and former law partner Grover Cleveland took over managing his estate
16:56
Cleveland continued to be close with Folsom's daughter, Frances, and eventually married her during his first presidential term
17:03
Yeah, they were 27 years apart in age, and Cleveland seems to have started out as something of a father figure to Francis
17:09
leading some to say the president had married his adopted daughter. For what it's worth, though, Francis' mother was still alive
17:16
and Cleveland was never formally her guardian or adoptive father. Weird, but not illegal, I guess
17:22
President Benjamin Harrison signed the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was signed, as you probably know, in 1776. Benjamin Harrison was
17:32
born in 1833, which means he definitely didn't sign it. His great-grandfather, however, who was
17:38
also named Benjamin Harrison, did sign it. So that's probably where people get confused
17:42
By the way, William Henry Harrison is the son of the Declaration signing Benjamin Harrison
17:46
and the grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison. This is too many Harrisons
17:51
46 people have been president. Joe Biden may be commonly called the 46th president, but only 45
17:57
people have actually had the job. However, Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms throw a
18:02
wrench into the presidential numbering machine. As of now, Cleveland is the only president to
18:07
serve non-consecutive terms as president. William McKinley immediately succumbed to his gunshot
18:12
wounds. On September 6, 1901, at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York
18:17
Leon Chagash shot William McKinley once in the chest and once in the abdomen. The president was
18:23
operated on almost immediately, and the doctors originally thought he'd recover. For the next
18:27
five days or so, McKinley appeared to be doing pretty well. Then suddenly, his health completely
18:32
deteriorated, and he died early on September 14th. His cause of death was gangrene that had
18:37
developed internally, perhaps from the unsanitary way his wounds were treated. Theodore Roosevelt liked the nickname Teddy
18:44
After Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear in 1902, a Brooklyn couple named Morris and Rose
18:50
Mitchum decided to make stuffed bears in his honor. Supposedly, they asked him if they could
18:55
call them teddy bears, and he agreed. But there are some problems with that story, not least because
19:00
Roosevelt disliked the sobriquet, possibly because it's what his first wife, who died very young
19:06
called him. No word on how he felt about Mr. Unusually Largebelly, which is what his African
19:10
safari guides nicknamed him, William Howard Taft got stuck in a bathtub. Speaking of large bellies
19:17
at his largest, William Howard Taft tipped the scales at roughly 340 pounds, and he did love a
19:22
good bath. As president-elect, he even had a custom 2,000-pound bathtub created for his use
19:28
during a voyage to expect construction on the Panama C. But there isn't strong evidence
19:32
that he ever got lodged in a White House tub. There is, however, a children's book inspired by
19:37
the myth. It's called, President Taft is stuck in the bath. Woodrow Wilson was progressive on all
19:43
fronts. Woodrow Wilson was considered a leader of the progressive movement. He spearheaded economic
19:48
and labor reform and pushed for a bill granting railroad workers an eight-hour workday, among
19:53
other liberal moves. But the word progressive implies that Wilson was a progressive person
19:58
and he really wasn't. Wilson supported segregation. He said he thought that it was the best way to
20:03
reduce, quote, friction between Black and white Americans. He supported government agencies
20:08
segregating workers during his presidency. A lot of Black employees were simply dismissed
20:13
some by Wilson himself. He also had positive things to say about the Ku Klux Klan
20:19
Even for his time, you'd be hard-pressed to call Wilson anything close to progressive
20:22
on issues related to race. Warren G. Harding had no children It's true that Warren G. Harding had no biological children with his wife Florence
20:31
but he was an infamous philanderer. In a series of explicit letters with one of his paramours
20:37
Kerry Fulton Phillips, he sometimes referred to his penis as Jerry. This is, of course
20:42
the most erotic first name in the English-speaking world. A mistress of Harding's, Nan Britton
20:47
insisted that Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth. She even published a memoir
20:51
in 1927 detailing their affair. Harding's supporters did everything they could to discredit
20:56
Britain, though Harding himself had died back in 1923. Then, in 2015, ten years after Elizabeth's
21:03
death, it was announced that DNA tests done on one of her sons and two of Harding's living relatives
21:08
proved Britain's claim correct. Calvin Coolidge was a man of few words, which earned him the
21:16
nickname Silent Cal. But he wasn't always a dull guy. He could even be a bit eccentric. While in
21:22
office, Coolidge was fond of exercising on what was called an electric horse, which was basically
21:27
a mechanical saddle that simulated horseback riding. He and his wife, Grace, were also enthusiastic
21:32
pet owners. In addition to the traditional White House dogs, they had a bunch of house cats and a
21:38
goose named Enoch, who had apparently been a famous acting goose before his time in the White House
21:43
Incredible. They also had canaries named Nip and Tuck, and a bobcat named Smokey Bob. Bob was
21:49
immediately put in the National Zoo, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you feel about
21:54
the words White House and Bobcat mauling appearing in the same headline. The star of The Coolidge
21:59
Show was a raccoon that someone had gifted Coolidge in 1926, intending for him to eat it
22:04
at Thanksgiving dinner. But instead, Coolidge pardoned the creature, named it Rebecca, and let
22:09
it run around the White House for the next two years. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to a party
22:13
with Enoch, Rebecca, and Silent Cal. Everyone was happy to name the Hoover Dam after Herbert Hoover
22:20
Herbert Hoover had helped kickstart the construction of a Colorado river dam when he was
22:24
Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s, and the project began during his presidency. Hoover's
22:29
Secretary of the Interior attended the groundbreaking ceremony in 1930, proclaiming, "...I have the honor to name this dam after a great engineer who really started
22:38
the greatest project of all time, the Hoover Dam. Considering Hoover's unpopularity during the Great
22:44
Depression, it's no surprise that people weren't too excited about adopting the name. Plenty just
22:49
called it the Boulder Dam, as they'd already been doing. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in
22:53
1933, his Secretary of the Interior went with Boulder Dam. FDR didn't invite Hoover to the
22:59
dedication ceremony two years later and didn't even mention him in his speech. It wasn't until
23:03
1947 that Harry Truman made the Hoover Dam label permanent. Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn't drive
23:11
In 1921, 39-year-old FDR contracted polio. Possible bonus misconception, some sources actually think it could have been Guillain-Barre syndrome afflicting the president, not polio
23:22
I don't even think I have Band-Aids in my house right now, so I'll refrain from offering my
23:26
medical opinion on the matter, but I thought I'd point out that there isn't universal
23:30
agreement on his diagnosis. Either way, Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down
23:35
That meant he couldn't operate the foot pedals of a car, but that didn't stop him from driving
23:40
an activity he loved. He had a 1936 Ford Phaeton and a 1938 Ford convertible coupe
23:46
customized with special control so he could drive by hand. Harry S. Truman Never Put a Period After the S
23:53
The S of Harry S. Truman wasn't meaningless or accidental like Grant's. It was a nod to
23:58
to both his grandfathers, Anderson Ship Truman and Solomon Young. Because it didn't stand
24:03
for a particular name Truman often omitted the period But there are plenty of examples where he included the period so feel free to do whatever you want with this one I promise he will not care
24:18
If you're hurting your brain trying to figure out how Ike is short for Dwight
24:21
just don't. It's meant to be short for Eisenhower, and Dwight's older brother Edgar went by it too
24:27
Edgar was Big Ike, and Dwight was Little Ike. The JFK assassination was the only attempt on his life
24:34
In December 1960, a retired postal worker filled his car with dynamite
24:38
intending to ram into JFK's car and blow them both up in the process
24:42
The Secret Service uncovered the plot, and the man was arrested before he could carry it out
24:47
According to former agent Abraham Bolden, the Secret Service found evidence of another
24:51
potential assassination planned for Kennedy's trip to Chicago in early November 1963
24:56
He canceled his visit out of caution, but followed through with his ill-fated
25:00
appearance in Dallas just weeks later. Lyndon Johnson was called Landslide Lyndon because he won by a landslide
25:08
In the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Johnson beat Republican Barry Goldwater by a landslide. He won 61.1% of the popular vote—the highest popular vote percentage
25:18
achieved by a president in the modern era. But that's not how LBJ earned the nickname
25:23
Landslide Lyndon. That was coined after Johnson won the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat in
25:29
in 1948 by just 87 votes out of more than 988,000. People were just being sarcastic
25:36
Richard Nixon was impeached. The Watergate scandal did result in Richard Nixon's removal
25:41
from office, but it wasn't because he got impeached. In July 1974, the House Judiciary
25:46
Committee delivered three articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives, accusing Nixon
25:51
of high crimes and misdemeanors. If the House approved the articles by majority vote, Nixon
25:56
would have gone down in the history books as an impeached president. After House approval, the Senate would have held a trial and decided whether he was guilty
26:03
If convicted by two-thirds vote, Nixon would have then gone down as the only president
26:08
to have been impeached and convicted. But none of that happened. Nixon chose to resign before the House got a chance to vote, making him the only U.S
26:16
President to have quit the job. Gerald Ford was related to Henry Ford
26:21
Gerald Ford's birth name wasn't even Gerald Ford. it was Leslie Lynch King Jr., after his father, Leslie Lynch King. His parents separated just
26:29
a couple weeks after his birth in 1913, and his mother married Gerald R. Ford a few years
26:34
later. Soon after that, the unofficially switched little Leslie's name to Gerald R. Ford Jr
26:40
So even if Ford's adoptive father had been biologically related to the automobile magnate
26:45
which does not seem to be the case, the future president still wouldn't have been
26:49
Jimmy Carter founded Habitat for Humanity Jimmy and Rosalind Carter started working with Habitat for Humanity back in 1984 and
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just never stopped. Every year since then, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, they've held a
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Carter Work Project where they spend a week building houses. So far, the tradition has resulted in the construction or repair of more than 4,300 houses across
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14 countries. The Carters' high profile has helped increase awareness of Habitat for Humanity more generally
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It's also given rise to the notion that they founded the organization, which they did not
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It was founded in the 1970s by Millard and Linda Fuller. Ronald Reagan was supposed to star as Rick Blaine in Casablanca
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To be fair, this rumor was started by Warner Bros. itself. In January 1942, the studio put out a press release claiming this, Anne Sheridan and Ronald
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Reagan co-star for the third time in Warner's Casablanca, with Dennis Morgan also coming
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in for top billing. According to Snopes, it wasn't uncommon for studios to make erroneous announcements like this
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as a way to keep their contracted actors in the headlines. Warner Bros. had a good reason for planting this one
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Sheridan and Reagan's film King's Row was slated for release just weeks later
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When the press release was published, Casablanca didn't even have a screenplay yet
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and no casting decisions had been made. George H.W. Bush banned broccoli from Air Force One
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As George H.W. Bush famously declared in 1990, I do not like broccoli, and I haven't liked it since I was a little kid, and my mother made me
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eat it, and I'm president of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli
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Very similar to the speech I made to my mother on my seventh birthday. In 2013
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data journalist Eric Ostermayer crunched the numbers and reported that Bush mentioned the
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cruciferous veggie about 70 times during his presidency. He absolutely hated it
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and the media loved that he hated it. But contrary to popular belief, he didn't literally
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banned broccoli from the White House or Air Force One. He just didn't want it served to him
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Bush clarified that his wife, Barbara, was a big fan of broccoli and, quote, eats it all the time herself. While speaking to the press at a state dinner, Bush said
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I have not ordered broccoli off Air Force One. I have just said, don't you dare bring me another sprig of that vegetable
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Bill Clinton attended WrestleMania 10. If you think it seems a little weird for a sitting
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president to attend WrestleMania, you are correct. The WWF made it seem like the real
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Bill Clinton was in attendance at 1994's WrestleMania X at Madison Square Garden, but
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in reality it was Clinton impersonator Tim Waters. Waters would later portray the president
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in a 1998 episode of The Nanny, among other programs. It's kind of his thing
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George W. Bush's head was intentionally featured in Game of Thrones. In 2012, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Wise mentioned in the DVD
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commentary for season 1's 10th episode that one of the prosthetic decapitated heads was George W
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Bush. George Bush's head appears in a couple of beheading scenes. It's not a choice
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it's not a political statement. We just had to use whatever head we had around
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This caused quite a bit of backlash, and Wise and Benioff released an apology, explaining
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we can't afford to have the prosthetic body parts all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was
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already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush. HBO then
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digitally altered the head to make it less recognizable, so Bush is no longer part of
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the Game of Thrones universe. Ed Sheeran still is. Barack Obama chartered a private jet for his dog
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While covering the Obama's visit to Acadia National Park in July 2010, Waterville, Maine's
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morning, Sentinel included this line in an article. Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Beau, a Portuguese water
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dog given as a present by the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and the president's personal
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aide, Reggie Love, who chatted with Governor John Baldacci. That made it seem like the Obamas had charted a private jet for just their dog and his handler
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The newspaper almost immediately issued a clarification that quote, there were other
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occupants on the plane, including several other staffers. It also explained that two smaller jets had been used because the airport couldn't accommodate
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the president's regular, larger jet. Bo was a pampered pooch for sure
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Just not that pampered. Donald J. Trump is the only U.S. president to have gotten divorced
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There's actually one other—Ronald Reagan, who was married to actress Jane Wyman from
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1940 to 1949. Joe Biden first ran for president in 2008. Joe Biden's winning presidential campaign in 2020 wasn't his first rodeo, and neither
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was his failed bid to become the Democratic nominee in 2008. He also tossed his hat in the ring in 1987 for the election coming up in 1988
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It did not go very well. He lifted parts of several fellow politicians' speeches without citing them and exaggerated
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his law school achievements at a campaign stop. The future president admitted fault and took responsibility for all the missteps, but ultimately
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decided to drop out of the race about three months after entering it
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There you have it, 46 misconceptions about the 45 presidents of the United States of America
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I tried to fit an extra one in about my president, Josiah Bartlett, but my producer wouldn't
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have it. Oh well. Leave a comment letting us know the most surprising misconception you learned today, and we'll
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see you next time
#education