Thursday, November 21, 2013

Wondering about Old Presidents.

I got wondering about some of our past presidents.  The first thing I discovered was that some of them had different names than they were born with.  Some were only a little different but some quite a bit more.  For example:

Bill Clinton - born William Jefferson Blythe III

Gerald Ford - born Leslie Lynch King

Dwight David Eisenhower - born David Dwight Eisenhower

Calvin Coolidge - born John Calvin Coolidge

Woodrow Wilson - born Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Grover Cleveland - born Stephen Grover Cleveland

Ulysses S. Grant - born Hiram Ulysses Grant

The first two on this list were really different.  Did you know that President Abraham Lincoln was the first non-Christian president?  Also, three presidents had little or no schooling.  They are Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, and Andrew Johnson.

Did you know that two people who eventually became president avoided the draft?  During the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was drafted but paid a substitute $150 to take his place, which was legal at the time.  Also, Bill Clinton avoided the draft during the Vietnam war by going to college in England.

There are just way too many stories to tell about the presidents of the U.S. and it would take way too many blog postings to cover them all.  So, I will stop at these for now and hope that you all have a great day, you hear


9 comments:

  1. Wow! I didn't know ANY of this. Thanks for giving me my "Learn something new everyday" goal.
    Have a Super Day,
    Sci

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    1. I guess turn around is fair play, since I learn something from your blog, too.

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  2. People often change the original spelling of their names, and I guess it's ok to call yourself whatever you want, drop a name you don't like, etc.

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  3. There is a town in Pennsylvania that according to my cousin was named after our ancestors, but the spelling is one letter short of our name. He said that since there was a problem with mail deliveries, some added the letter to keep from getting the other's mail. Sounds like a good story to me.

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  4. I used to say "call me anything but late for dinner!"

    Didn't know most of these!

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    1. Anything but late for dinner is also what I say. I love to eat, but my wife keeps me under control.

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  5. Replies
    1. That is what my book says. Of course, I don't know any one that knew him. I am old but not that old (grin).

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  6. You left one president with no schooling off your list. President Obama received a lot of education but I don't believe he got much schooling.

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