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Sometimes odd, other times a little too normal, these presidential fun facts cover the last 23 men that have occupied the Oval Office.

Fun Facts About Arthur, Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) was a night owl, rarely going to bed before 2 a.m. At 6’2” and 220 pounds, Arthur was one of the all-around larger presidents.
Grover Cleveland(1885-1889) (1893-1897) is the only president to have served two inconsecutive terms. He was sheriff of Erie County, New York and served as its public executioner.
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893), the grandson of the 9th president, William Henry Harrison, was one of 13 children. He didn’t campaign for his own reelection due to his wife being ill.
William McKinley (1897-1901) was the first president to own a car and to campaign via telephone.
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) was the first vice president who ascended to the presidency following the commander-in-chief’s death to go on to in the presidency in his own right. Roosevelt was the first president to win the Nobel Prize.

Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover Trivia

William Howard Taft (1909-1913) is the only man to serve as both president and Chief Justice. He began the custom of the president throwing out the first ball kicking off the baseball season.
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) is the only president with a Ph.D. Second wife, Edith, was Pocahontas’ great-granddaughter.
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) attended burlesque shows regularly. Harding, an avid poker player, once lost all the White House china gambling.
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) was sworn into office by his father, John Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge loved his sleep ensuring to get nine hours nightly plus two hour naps in the afternoon.
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) was the youngest member of Stanford University’s first graduating class. He donated his presidential salary to charity.

Facts About FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon and Ford

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), the only president elected to four terms, was related by blood or marriage to 11 former presidents.
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) is the only 20th century president to not attend college. Truman’s middle name is “S”.
The last president born in the 19th century, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961), was the first president to have a pilot’s license.
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was the only president to be survived by both parents. He is the only president to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) only president present at his predecessors assassination. He nominated the first African American to the Supreme Court.
Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) was one of two Quaker presidents and weighed 11 pounds at birth.
Leslie Lynch King Jr. is the birth name of Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977). He worked as a male model in the 1940s.

Carter, Regan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama Trivia

James Carter (1977-1981) was sworn in by his nickname, “Jimmy”. He was the first president born in a hospital.
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court. He is the first president to have been divorced.
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) was ambassador to the United Nations under Nixon and served as director of the CIA in 1976.
William J. Clinton (1993-2001) in 1978, at 32 years of age, he was the youngest governor in the U.S. He is the only president to have been a Rhodes Scholar.
George W. Bush (2001-2009) is the only president with an MBA. He is the president with both the highest and lowest approval ratings.
Barack Obama (2009- ) won a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Recording. He collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comics.

So many of the Presidents of the United States have been Renaissance men taking on and conquering areas of life unrelated to politics; architecture, science, theology, farming and writing are just a few. The one thing they all have in common is holding the rare honor of having led their country

Sources:

Lederer, Richard Presidential Trivia: The Feats, Fates, Families, Foibles, and Firsts of Our American Presidents. Utah. 2009
McCullough, Noah. The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia. New York. 2006
“The Presidents”. The White House Online. Retrieved 2 November 2009