Today, during a presidential election cycle, we get to hear just about everything there is to know about the candidates, fact or fiction. We learn about their follies and strong points, their former girl friends and how much they pay for a hair cut.
Past presidents have gone down in history books and from the time we are school kids we read about their terms in office, their policies, successes and failures. But unless we are serious students of history, we don’t know much about the man; his personality, his family history, his appearance. So let’s take a look at a lesser known fact or two about a couple of former presidents, perhaps some details that shaped the man who would become president.
Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, 1865-1869
Johnson was born in 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina into an impoverished family. His father, an inn porter, died when Johnson was three years old after rescuing two men from an icy pond. Andrew had one brother, William.
Due to dire financial straits, Andrew and William were indentured to a Raleigh tailor by their mother. Two years later, the brothers ran away; a price was put on their heads and they went into hiding. Johnson’s mother remarried and settled in Tennessee. He later moved to Tennessee and opened a tailor shop.
Lacking a formal education, he taught himself to read. In later years his wife educated him further. Johnson was 18 when he married Eliza McCardle; she was 16. They had five children and, after 48 years of marriage, Johnson died of complications of cholera and multiple strokes in 1875. Eliza died of consumption in 1876.
During his presidency Johnson was impeached by Congress for “high crimes and misdemeanors” but was acquitted by just one vote in the Senate. He later became the only former president to be elected to the Senate after his presidential term ended.
William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, 1909-1913
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1857, Taft’s father was a lawyer and politician, his mother a woman of strong political convictions. He grew up in comfortable surroundings, graduated from Yale, went to Cincinnati Law School and passed the bar before graduation.
Taft had a life-long struggle with obesity and, while in the White House, he tipped the scales at over 300 pounds. Unable to use the bath facilities, a special tub had to be installed to accommodate his girth.
It’s said that he was very intelligent and sociable but a private person with few close associates. He was called the “reluctant president,” feeling he’d be better suited to the judicial life.
After his presidency he taught at Yale Law School then was appointed Chief Justice of the United States by President Harding in 1921. He resigned in 1930 for health reasons and died the same year from heart disease.
James Madison, 4th President of the United States, 1809-1817
While the office of the president may evoke an image of an imposing figure, James Madison was the smallest of United States presidents, standing at 5’4” tall and weighing in at 100 pounds.
He had a nervous disposition and a life-long tendency toward illness. He was attentive to his appearance and exercised regularly. He was shy among strangers but had the reputation of a skilled debater.
He came from a long line of English farmers who settled in Virginia when they crossed the ocean. His father was a sheriff, a justice of the peace and a farmer; his mother was the daughter of a tobacco planter.
Madison attended the College of New Jersey at Princeton and graduated in two years. Although he studied law, he was never admitted to the bar.
At age 43, he married a 26-year-old widow, Dolly Todd. She became one of the most well-known first ladies in history due to her outgoing personality, a trait in stark contrast to Madison’s reserved mannerisms.
After his presidency he took over the family Virginia estate, Montpelier. He died in 1836 from heart failure.
Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, 1921-1923
Now here’s a president today’s tabloids would love. Scandal, bribery and graft – the stuff of dreams for a rumor-hungry press and avid political junkies.
Born in Ohio in 1865, his father was a farmer and a doctor, his mother was a mid-wife. Harding worked on the farm, toiled as a laborer and learned the newspaper trade while working for a local publication. At age 15, he went to Ohio Central College, graduating in 1882.
At age 25, he married Florence DeWolfe, a divorcee. Her family was opposed to the marriage and, as it turned out, the union was not a happy one. Harding owned his own newspaper by this time and Florence was a significant asset to its success but otherwise they lived separate lives.
Harding became involved in extra-marital affairs when he took up with his friend’s wife, Carrie Phillips. On two occasions Phillips threatened to expose their affair, once while he was running for the White House. She was hushed up by a lump sum of cash and monthly payments from Harding’s political party.
Nan Britton was his next paramour and their affair went on until his last year in the White House. They met in hotels and in the White House and eventually they conceived a child. After Harding died, Britton sought a trust fund for their daughter and, failing that, in 1927 she wrote a book, “The President’s Daughter,” the profits from which helped support her child.
The guy had a lot on his mind between the corruption of his administration and his love life. He died in office from a heart attack in 1923.
Sources: “The American Presidents: From Washington to Clinton” – John Pynchon Holms; www.whitehouse.gov; en.wikipedia.org