Presidential Tales

[lsardisco]

I believe it was on one of the more recent episodes that Gene and Bryan brought up the idea of doing a show on Presidential Tales, and not the typical ones (i.e. Washington chopped down the Cherry Tree). Thought it was a cool idea so I figured I'd start a thread.

[lsardisco]

The interesting story about George Washington isn't that he chopped down a cherry tree, but rather the relationship he had with his mother. George Washington's mother's tombstone reads: "Mary, the Mother of Washington." Perhaps a more fitting epitaph is "Mary, the Bother of Washington." Mary Ball Washington spent a great deal of her efforts to keep her son at her disposal and was resentful or envious of his success because they kept him along with his money away from home, more specifically her. Evidence would support that Washington was generous with his mother, it was never enough for the woman to the point that she delighted in humiliating him as publicly as possible. In one instance in 1781 Washington received a letter from Bejamin Harrison (speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates) in which he was advised of a movement in the House in response to Mary's cries of poverty. Washington was thus forced to publicly defend his treatment of his mother, reassuring the public that he had made every effort to ensure her comfort. Six years later when Mary suffered with breast cancer he tried to convince her to move in with one of her children, just not him. Eventually he offered her a half-hearted invitation to his Mount Vernon estate, telling her she wouldn't like it because the house was like a tavern filled with strangers and that she'd be required to dress for every day or stay a prisoner in her room. She declined, insisting that she remain independent.

Source: "Treasury of Great American Scandals" by Michael Farquhar, 2003

[lsardisco]

Zachary Taylor arrived in the White House in 1849, just in time to face the issue of slavery. At this time it was "increal=singly apparent to an enlightened civilization that the forced bondage of a race of people was morally indefensible." Not to mention that most other nations had outlawed the practice. Taylor wanted the see the end of the slave trade, the problem was he owned slaves, and had paid quite a sum for them. The issue was so contreversial that he decided to hide his slaves in the White House attic.

Source: "A Treasury of Great American Scandals" by Michael Farquhar, 2003.

[lsardisco]

In spite of the failure of James Buchanan's administration, Buchanan may be distinguished after all because he may be the country's first gay chief executive. It wasn't so much his "failure to get married" that stared the snickering of his contemporaries as much as it was his relationship with Senator Rufus King of Alabama. The two lived together for many year before King's death and Buchanan's election to the presidency. Rep. Aaron Brown of Tennessee "referred to King as Buchanan's 'better half' and 'wife' in a letter to Mrs. James K. Polk." King was commonly referred to as "Aunt Fancy" and "Miss Nancy" by peers. Certainly gossip isn't fact, but Buchanan's own words add a bit of credibility to it. When President Tyler appointed King to minister to France in 1844, Buchanan wrote to a friend saying that he felt alone with no comanion and had "gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but not succeeded with any of them... and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick... and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

Source: "A Treasury of Great American Scandals" by Michael Farquhar, 2003.

[lsardisco]

William McKinley's wife, Ida, was a semi-invalid suffering from piercing headaches and epileptic seizures. William often proke protocol by having her sit next to him at formal dinners. At one such event, William Howard Taft recalled sitting with the President and the First Lady when Taft asked for a pencil for notes. When McKinley reached into his pocket the First Lady emitted an unusual hissing sound, who was apparently having a seizure as her face began to contort. Without hesitation, the McKinley dropped his napkin over her face as he handed the pencil to Taft. When Mrs. Mckinley recovered, she removed the napkin and resumed dining.

Source: "A Treasury of Great American Scandals" by Michael Farquhar, 2003.

[flyingcar]

Curse of Tippecanoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Tippecanoe

[fruittrees]

Add one more to the list ...
Lincoln and the myth of 'Team of Rivals'
United States
http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... 2347.story

[flyingcar]

Found yet another tail this one is JFK. At a speech in berlin He said "Ich bin ein Berliner" which because he should have said Ich bin Berliner which meant that I am a person of berlin but what he said actualy translated to I am a Jelly donout. As a Berliner is doughnut made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, with a marmalade or jam filling and usually icing, powdered sugar or conventional sugar on top. So basicly the whole error came from adding the word ein to the snetence.