The Lost Presidential Factoids

by Roger Barr

Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe. Abe the Babe. The Lincoln Log. Abraham Lincoln. No matter what you call him, it's always a name that strikes fear into the hearts of men. He's been the subject of many campfire tales over the years, but there's one scary story in particular that can send a chill up anyone's spine. Before he became president, Abe spent much of his time splitting rails and scaring young children with his freakish demeanor. Most of the kids would run away giggling when he scared them, but one young boy was truly horrified of Abe. For some sick reason, Abe really got off on this, and soon decided to take it to the next level.

[image missing]

Woodcut from the Presidential Art Series,
"Lincoln Terrorizes Sleeping Child"

Throughout 1855 Lincoln would visit the boy while he was asleep in his bed. Abe didn't even need a ladder to reach the boy's window because he was so damned tall. Abe would pry open the windows and dump a bowl of hot grits on the face of the boy, instantly waking him up as he screamed in terror and agony. Abe would run off into the moonlight cackling, "GRITS SURE ARE THE PITS, EH SONNY BOY? AHAHAHA!"

One night, when Abe came to visit the boy for more harassment, the boy was gone. Nobody knew what had happened to him, not even his parents. Still, they were sure that he had gone mad due to the fear of Abe's weekly visits. But that boy would resurface roughly ten years later.

That boy's name? John Wilkes Booth.


Now here's a guy with an inventive mind. Andrew Johnson was never satisfied with the speed of a horse and buggy. He always believed that man was destined to travel long distances at a much faster pace. The horse and buggy just wasn't cutting it. So, Johnson explored other options.

First, he tried the "kangaroo and buggy". Sure they had powerful legs—but jumping with a buggy attached to them? Bad idea. Shortly after the kangaroos jumped in the air, the buggy landed hard on the ground and shattered into pieces. Johnson opted to use an animal with powerful legs, but one that wouldn't jump around so much. He figured the Cheetah would be the perfect animal.

Unfortunately, Johnson never would learn just how fast the "Cheetah and Buggy" would really go—soon after he whipped one of the cheetahs to get it moving, it turned on him, tore him apart, and had itself a presidential dinner.


Ulysses S. Grant was quickly removed from the office of the President when it was determined that, "No man who goes by the name 'Ulysses' could have been born on American soil." Soon after his removal he was tried as a warlock and burned alive.

Rutherford B. Hayes banished wines and liquors from the White House, bringing some much-needed dignity to the office. However, that dignity quickly vanished about two weeks later, following Hayes' announcement that "stripper poles" be installed in every room.

James Garfield had one of the must difficult Presidencies in American history. This was mostly because people wouldn't stop teasing him about being lazy and having an insatiable craving for lasagna. His father Jim warned him that his buying a dog and naming it 'Odie' wasn't going to help things either.

Nobody likes a guy with two first names. That being said, Arthur Chester wasn't a very popular President. The people demanded that he change his last name or step down from office. He desperately wanted to remain President because he felt he could really help out the country, so he agreed to their terms. He changed his last name to "Puppysmasher"... Arthur Puppysmasher. He was assassinated shortly after.

Nobody knows how Grover Cleveland was elected into office. Some say he won a bet, others believed it was blackmail. Regardless, he was certifiably insane. When confronted with some railroad strikers, Cleveland responded, "If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a post card in Chicago," he thundered, "that card will be delivered."

Nobody knew what in the hell he was talking about or what post cards had to do with the railroad strikers, but the very next day, the army and navy showed up in Chicago with a single postcard in hand. The postcard was then loaded into a cannon and fired at the railroad strikers.

Since the card was instantly obliterated, nobody knew what was written on it. Cleveland simply chuckled, "Suck on that, Chicago!" He then loaded himself in the cannon, thinking he could fire himself back to the White House. His flaming corpse made it a spectacular twenty-six feet, giving rise to similar human cannonball acts from that day forward.


One of the first politicians to conduct "front-porch" campaigns, Benjamin Harrison tried to connect with the average American. It went well for a while, making him seem much more down to earth than most presidents—but he soon crossed some boundaries that could never be undone.

Never satisfied with his way of connecting with the people, he started insisting that they have him over for supper. Soon after, he instituted "sleepover" campaigns. Some months later, the world's first "I'll move in with you, but can you cover my rent this month? I'm betting on a horse next week, and there's no way I can lose! I swear I'll have the rent for you soon, okay?" campaign was met with mixed results. No president (or human) in history has received so many restraining orders.


Why the charred, cannon-launched remains of Grover Cleveland were re-elected in 1892 remains a mystery to this day. What's even more peculiar is that his corpse proved to be more effective in office than his former conscious self.

A Speaker of the House once said that William McKinley kept his ear so close to the ground, his entire skull was now full of grasshoppers. These grasshoppers inevitably laid eggs—their hatchlings took control of his mind soon after. A few weeks later he was seen hopping in an open field rubbing his legs together, a sight not seen since Andrew Jackson's presidency. He died abruptly in 1901 from pesticide poisoning.

Theodore Roosevelt constantly quoted one proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick..."

The problem was, he spoke so softly that nobody could hear a damned word he said. When they became agitated and raised their voice to him, that's when he'd break out the stick. Due to all of the "stick time" that he dished out, he went through more cabinet members than any other president in history.


It was said that, "Roosevelt has cut enough hay. Taft is the man to put it into the barn." But William Taft had no intention of stopping at the barn. Taft started putting hay just about everywhere he went... mailboxes, windowsills, baby carriages, it didn't matter. Taft just wanted to make sure everybody had enough hay. He didn't really care about whether people were starving or homeless. But the hay thing? Taft had the hay thing covered.

"No one but the President seems to be expected to look out for the general interests of the country." is what Woodrow Wilson said about his role of representing the people. "I don't know about you people, but I love me some war!" he proclaimed. Shortly thereafter, the United States had declared war on Germany.

Once the war had ended, however, Wilson found himself in need of more conflict. With Congress turning down his suggestion to declare war on Iceland, Wilson went into seclusion for the remainder of his presidency. When he was finally out of office, he headed straight for Mexico. A few years later, he returned to America and started up a massive underground cock-fighting organization. When asked about why he got into cock-fighting, Wilson said, "This is as close to war as I'm gonna get!"


Before his nomination, Warren G. Harding declared, "America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality; not butterscotch, but caramel; not asphalt, but artificial turf; not smurfs, but snorks; not Pacman, but Ms. Pacman; not metrosexuals, but gay cowboys; not Chumbawumba, but Ace of Base..."

From that point onward, his cabinet did not allow him to speak, and instead had him answer questions with a simple "yes" or "no" by stomping his feet once or twice.

PREVIOUS | NEXT
 

HELP SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!