All right, I'm always interested in why and how people know things. Do you celebrate Nixon Day in the Heiks household? Have you memorized birth and death dates of all our presidents? Do you search the internet each morning to see what of importance happened that day? Everyone knows that Millard Fillmore was January 7th, of course, but how many know Nixon's? --John Bear, who once visited the highly amusing Millard Fillmore Birthday Party Society in Spring Valley, New York
No. Actually, the only reason I knew Tricky Dick's birthday was because he was the first US president who was really within my living memory and so I remembered his birthday from having read the 1972 World Book Encyclopedia article on him many moons ago.
Good catch. I've got Oliver Stone's Nixon on DVD. Found it tough going the first time (very grim, a little tedious), but maybe tonight, with help from a couple bourbons, it'll go down better.
Presidential Birthdays, Anyone? January: 7 (Millard Fillmore, 1800); 9 (Richard Nixon, 1913); 29 (William McKinley, 1843); 30 (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882) February: 6 (Ronald Reagan, 1911); 9 (William Henry Harrison, 1773); 12 (Abraham Lincoln, 1809); 22 (George Washington, 1732) March: 15 (Andrew Jackson, 1767); 16 (James Madison, 1751); 18 (Grover Cleveland, 1837); 29 (John Tyler, 1790) April: 13 (Thomas Jefferson, 1743); 23 (James Buchanan, 1791); 27 (Ulysses S. Grant, 1822); 28 (James Monroe, 1758) May: 8 (Harry S. Truman, 1884); 29 (John F. Kennedy, 1917) June: 12 (George H. W. Bush, 1924) July: 4 (Calvin Coolidge, 1872); 6 (George W. Bush, 1946); 11 (John Q. Adams, 1767); 14 (Jerry Ford, 1913) August: 10 (Herbert Hoover, 1874); 19 (Bill Clinton, 1946); 20 (Benjamin Harrison, 1833); 27 (Lyndon B. Johnson, 1908) September: 15 (William Howard Taft, 1857) October: 1 (Jimmy Carter, 1924); 4 (Rutherford B. Hayes, 1822); 5 (Chester A. Arthur, 1830); 14 (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890); 27 (Theodore Roosevelt, 1858); 30 (John Adams, 1735) November: 2 (Warren G. Harding, 1865; James Knox Polk, 1795); 19 (James A. Garfield, 1831); 23 (Franklin Pierce, 1804); 24 (Zachary Taylor, 1784) December: 5 (Martin Van Buren, 1782); 28 (Woodrow Wilson, 1856); 29 (Andrew Johnson, 1808) www.presidentsusa.net
Presidential Death Dates, Just For Grins? January: 5 (Calvin Coolidge, 1933); 6 (Theodore Roosevelt, 1919); 17 (Rutherford B. Hayes, 1893); 18 (John Tyler, 1862); 22 (Lyndon Johnson, 1973) February: 3 (Woodrow Wilson, 1924); 23 (John Q. Adams, 1848) March: 8 (Millard Fillmore, 1874; William Howard Taft, 1930); 13 (Benjamin Harrison, 1901); 28 (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1969) April: 4 (William Henry Harrison, 1841); 12 (Franklin Roosevelt, 1945); 15 (Abraham Lincoln, 1865); 22 (Richard Nixon, 1994) May: none June: 1 (James Buchanan, 1868); 5 (Ronald Reagan, 2004); 8 (Andrew Jackson, 1845); 15 (James Knox Polk, 1849); 23 (Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1885); 24 (Grover Cleveland, 1908); 28 (James Madison, 1836) July: 4 (John Adams, 1826; Thomas Jefferson, 1826; James Monroe, 1831); 9 (Zachary Taylor, 1850); 24 (Martin Van Buren, 1862); 31 (Andrew Johnson, 1875) August: 2 (Warren G. Harding, 1923) September: 14 (William McKinley, 1901); 19 (James A. Garfield, 1881) October: 8 (Franklin Pierce, 1869); 20 (Herbert Hoover, 1964) November: 18 (Chester A. Arthur, 1886); 22 (John F. Kennedy, 1963) December: 14 (George Washington, 1799); 26 (Harry S. Truman, 1972)
As an Englishman my pitiful contribution to US Presidential trivia is that the tallest was Abraham Lincoln at 6'4". John; my source was the well of academic information - 'Who wants to be a millionaire'... Peace, Dave C.
Ted, I'm on a roll, my Anglo-saxon blood enjoyed these: EIGHT PRESIDENTS were born British subjects: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison. THE ANCESTRY of all 43 presidents is limited to the following seven heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, or German. Peace, Dave C.
Are future generations going to look to Oliver Stone for history lessons? That would be scarier than anything Nixon did.
For me Stone is just an entertaining polemicist. Ditto for Michael Moore. The distortions and paranoia are part of the fun.
That will soon change. Warren Harding is said to have been asked by an aide if it was true that he had a black ancestor. His reply is said to have been something like, "How the hell would I know?"
My dad shared his birth date with Adolf Hitler (April 20th), much to his consternation and the hilarity of my brother and I.
Dave C. included only ex-presidents, up to 43. DNA analysis is changing standard history. I think genealogy is mostly bunkum as famine, natural disasters, war, remarriages and infidelity must have broken many apparent bloodlines. And surnames, where they were used, were rather fluid until the taxman demanded accountability.
And as Heinlein noted, on average your great-grandkids will only have 12.5% of your genes, and even that requires three women in a row to tell the truth.