Things You Probably Didn't Know About Our Presidents

     All the U.S. presidents have been written about ad infinitum, yet there are things we still don't usually know about them individually. These are usually little things that kept them recognizably human while they toiled in a job that transcends "difficult". Here are some things you probably didn't know about some of them.

Each of the first ten U.S. presidents - from Washington to Tyler - lived to be at least 70 years old, this in a time when the average male life expectancy was under 40 years of age!

Military service used to be almost a requirement for winning public office. Twenty-seven of  44 presidents served in the military.

Vice Presidents have become President 14 times - five via election, four via assassinations, four via natural deaths, one via resignation.

Grover Cleveland, who won the 1884 election when hardly anyone thought he had a chance, once hanged a man, personally. That was when he was sheriff of Erie County in New York state, and was called upon to execute a murderer.

Biggest losers in presidential campaigns have been Norman Thomas and Eugene V. Debs. Both were nominated by the American Socialist Party but lost: Debs in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920; Thomas in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948.

In the 1912 campaign then-President William Howard Taft came in third, behind Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. This is the only time an incumbent President finished third in his re-election campaign. He did beat Debs (see above).

John Adams, later becoming President, sent a letter to Abigail Smith (who was later to become his wife) cataloguing her "Faults, Imperfections, Defects..."  Among them: She wasn't a good card player. She was prudish. She blushed too often.

President Andrew Jackson, who had some real enemies, was the first president in an assassination attempt. In 1835 Richard Lawrence fired a couple shots at him, but missed. Lawrence was declared insane. (Some said he was insane to shoot and some said he was insane to miss.)

There are 25 counties and 24 cities named for Abraham Lincoln, as well as nearly 600 schools and a room in the White House. He has also been depicted on U.S. coinage, currency and postage stamps.

Lincoln used a top hat to carry letters, bills and notes in for quick reference.

The first President to visit all 50 states while in office was Richard Nixon.

Calvin Coolidge stayed fit by riding a mechanical horse.

George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all were avid player of marbles.

Thomas Jefferson was an inventor. The most unusual of his inventions? An indoor weather vane.

James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other hand.

Andrew Johnson kept pet white mice.

William Taft had an oversize bathtub built in the White House. Other Presidents have installed a bowling lane, a golf putting range, a swimming pool and a gym.  

Gerald Ford had pro football offers from the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

Ronald Reagn is reported to have saved 77 swimmers' lives as a lifeguard.