Andrew Johnson Was the First President to Be Impeached

Andrew Johnson became President in 1865, during one of the most turbulent moments in American history. The Civil War had just ended, and the nation was still reeling from that violent conflict and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. When Vice President Johnson took office following Lincoln’s death, his principal task was the reconstruction of the former Confederate states. President Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee, was criticized by Republicans in Congress for being too lenient with former members of the Confederacy, and for vetoing legislation designed to protect the rights of newly freed Black Americans. 

The escalating tensions between Johnson and the congressional Republicans reached a crisis point in 1868, when the President fired Edwin Stanton, his Republican secretary of war, without the required congressional approval. In response, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, marking the first time in U.S. history such an action had been taken against the President. Johnson narrowly escaped conviction by just one vote, but by the end of his first term, he found himself with few political allies in Washington, and was not elected to a second term.

Chester A. Arthur Earned the Approval of Mark Twain

Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency following the death of President James Garfield in 1881. During Arthur’s one term in office, he advocated lower tariffs for businesses and tax cuts for American citizens. President Arthur also passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which made some federal government jobs attainable only through merit-based examinations instead of through the “spoils system.” The “spoils system” allowed politicians to hire and fire civil servants based on their loyalty and political affiliations, and had frequently been denounced as a tool of political corruption. Through policies like these, Arthur managed to earn the praise of one of the sharpest and most unsparing satirists of his day, Mark Twain. Though Twain was noted for his pointed criticisms of many politicians, he claimed that it would be “hard to better President Arthur’s administration” — glowing praise indeed from a writer who once called President Teddy Roosevelt “the most formidable disaster that has befallen the country since the Civil War.”

Theodore Roosevelt Was the First President to Win a Nobel Peace Prize

Theodore Roosevelt was Vice President to William McKinley until President McKinley’s death in 1901. During his time in the White House, President Roosevelt became many things: a conservationist, a trust buster, and, in 1906, a Nobel Prize-winning peace negotiator. From 1904 to 1905, Japan and Russia were locked in the Russo-Japanese War over conflicting imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The war threatened to destabilize Asia and disrupt the balance of power in the Pacific, so Roosevelt decided to intervene to de-escalate the conflict. In August 1905, Roosevelt invited delegates from Japan and Russia to convene in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for peace negotiations. The President presided over the peace talks for 30 days before the two warring countries ended the conflict by signing the Treaty of Portsmouth. For his role in brokering the peace, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, making him the first U.S. President to receive the honor.

Calvin Coolidge Was Administered the Oath of Office by His Own Father

After serving as Vice President from 1921 to 1923, Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States after Warren G. Harding passed away following a sudden illness. Coolidge was at his family home in Vermont when he learned that Harding had died and he needed to take the oath of office. While the oath is typically administered by the chief justice of the United States, Coolidge wound up going for someone less formal: his own father. As a notary public, Coolidge’s father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., had the legal power to administer the oath. The modest inauguration ceremony was attended by just a handful of people, and since it was the middle of the night and the house had no electricity, the new President took his late-night oath by the flame of a kerosene lamp.

Harry Truman Had the First Televised Presidential Inauguration

Harry S. Truman had been Vice President for just 82 days when Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away in 1945. After completing his first presidential term, during which he oversaw the end of World War II, Truman ran for a second term (the first to which he would need to be elected) in 1948. In a famous upset, the incumbent President beat his Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey. When it came time for Truman to take the oath of office, the event was a far cry from Calvin Coolidge’s candlelit affair. The inauguration ceremony was the first in history to be broadcast on television, and was watched by some 10 million viewers. 

Lyndon B. Johnson Was Elected by the Widest-Ever Margin at the Time

Lyndon B. Johnson’s first presidential term began in 1963 under tragic circumstances following the death of President John F. Kennedy. During his time in office, Johnson laid out his “Great Society” platform, which included new social policies such as Medicare and numerous laws designed to alleviate poverty. In 1964, when it was time for Johnson to seek election to a second term, it quickly became clear that his first term had made a good impression. Johnson won the presidential race against Republican challenger Barry Goldwater by 15 million votes, the widest margin of any U.S. presidential election at the time. (Richard Nixon later won the 1972 election by nearly 18 million votes, and Ronald Reagan won reelection in 1984 by around 16.8 million votes.) 

Gerald Ford Replaced a Resigning Vice President and a Resigning President

Though Gerald Ford served as President Richard Nixon’s Vice President from 1973 to 1974, he was never Nixon’s running mate. Ford was a leading Republican congressman when, in 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned amid a corruption scandal. To fill the vacancy left by Agnew’s resignation, President Nixon appointed Ford as his new VP. Ford’s tenure as Agnew’s replacement didn’t last long, however, because just one year later he became Nixon’s replacement. Following the events of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, leaving Ford to take his place in the Oval Office. To this day, Ford remains the only person to serve as U.S. President without winning a general election as either a presidential or vice presidential candidate.

• Fascinating Facts About Every First Lady
• Who Wrote the Constitution?
• The Bizarre Election of George Washington

Ben Franklin Invented a Musical Instrument Used by Mozart and Beethoven

In the mid-1700s, while spending time in Europe, Benjamin Franklin experienced what was a popular musical performance at the time: singing glasses. Intrigued by the beautiful sound of a wet finger on glass, Franklin developed an instrument known as a “glass armonica” in 1761. Working with a glassblower in London, Franklin altered the thickness of glass bowls interlocked along a rod in order to produce a range of pitches. Franklin had his share of odd ideas over the years (such as his failed phonetic alphabet), but the glass armonica was an 18th-century sensation. Some of the era’s greatest composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, wrote music for the instrument. However, it was largely forgotten by the 1820s — many musicians complained of dizziness and other symptoms after playing it, which may have been due to lead poisoning (the instrument used lead paint to color code each bowl) or the instrument’s vibrations. Today, a few musicians still practice the subtle, ethereal art of the glass armonica. 

Alexander Hamilton Likely Lied About His Age

Thanks to the hit 2015 musical Hamilton, America’s first treasury secretary is now one of the most famous Founding Fathers. Yet historians are still unclear on one very basic piece of information about him: his age. Hamilton always insisted that he was born in 1757, but official documents from the Caribbean island of Nevis, where Hamilton was born, state the year as 1755. Experts have debated the reason behind this discrepancy, and most believe Hamilton lied about his age on purpose. Why? Well, there are a couple theories. One theory put forward by historians takes us back to 1768, when Hamilton was (probably) 13. That year his mother died, and since his father had abandoned the family years earlier, Hamilton was effectively an orphan. To score an apprenticeship with a local businessman, Hamilton may have lied and said he was 11, which was a more appropriate age to begin training for a trade. Ron Chernow, author of the biography Alexander Hamilton (the literary inspiration behind the musical), has offered a different theory, suggesting Hamilton might have altered his age on his application to Princeton to appear as a prodigy in the eyes of his peers. 

Thomas Jefferson Wrote His Own Epitaph and Didn’t Mention Being President

Before his death, Thomas Jefferson outlined a few specific instructions for his burial; for instance, he wanted the obelisk to be made of coarse stone. Always the writer, Jefferson also crafted his own epitaph highlighting the achievements for which he hoped to be remembered, and, as he put it, “not a word more.” It reads: “Here was buried / Thomas Jefferson / Author of the Declaration of American Independence / of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom / & Father of the University of Virginia.” 

Strangely, nowhere on this epitaph does Jefferson state that he was President of an entire nation; he also fails to mention that he served as governor of Virginia, secretary of state, and Vice President. It’s possible that Jefferson was more proud of his intellectual contributions than the moments he held power. In 1883, Jefferson’s descendants donated the original gravestone to the University of Missouri — a campus designed in a similar fashion to Jefferson’s University of Virginia and the first university in the region acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. Today, a new gravestone marks the founding father’s final resting place, but the epitaph remains the same — still omitting Jefferson’s time as the nation’s chief executive.

Thomas Paine Wasn’t Popular Until Long After His Lifetime

Writer and political activist Thomas Paine played a unique role in America’s road to independence. Instead of fighting with a sword and musket (he didn’t prove to be a very good soldier), Paine fought for his fledgling country with his pen. One of his most important works is the political pamphlet Common Sense. Published on January 10, 1776, it lays out the American colonies’ united cause against the British Empire and King George III, and was one of the bestselling works in 18th-century America. His follow-up pamphlet The American Crisis (published between 1776 and 1783) opened with the iconic line, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” and gave much-needed encouragement to the struggling Continental Army. 

Without Paine’s writing, which stirred up the revolutionary spirit throughout the colonies and persuaded many Patriots to fight on, there may not be an America, so it’s strange that at the time of his death (and for more than a century afterward), many Americans didn’t think very highly of him. When Paine died in 1809, only six people attended his funeral in New York’s Greenwich Village — an obituary at the time even wrote, “He had lived long, done some good, and much harm.” The “harm” referred to his radical anti-Christian views found throughout his work The Age of Reason. Although Paine was actually a deist and not an atheist, his reasoning was too controversial for a deeply religious America, and many U.S. schools avoided teaching Paine because of his radical views. But times changed, and in 1937 an article in the Times of London referred to Paine as “America’s Voltaire,” a reference to the influential 18th-century French writer who also questioned religious beliefs. Paine’s legacy has been on the mend ever since with statues and memorials dedicated to him throughout the U.S. Today his former cottage in New Rochelle, New York, is considered a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

George Washington Lost More Battles Than He Won

General George Washington embodies the phrase “losing the battle but winning the war,” because during the American Revolution, he lost more battles than he won. Despite some experience in the British army, Washington had little experience fielding a large fighting force, and the Continental Army was filled with soldiers who were far from professional fighters. However, Washington’s resilience, determination, and long-term strategy eventually won the day. According to Washington’s aide Alexander Hamilton, the plan was simple: “Our hopes are not placed in any particular city, or spot of ground, but in preserving a good army … to take advantage of favorable opportunities, and waste and defeat the enemy by piecemeal.” Washington, also aided by competent generals and assisted by the French navy, decisively ended British ambitions in the colonies at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. 

James Madison Is the Shortest President in U.S. History

Although James Madison’s signature doesn’t adorn the Declaration of Independence, as the nation’s fourth President and chief architect of the Bill of Rights, he’s widely regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers. Madison had a large impact on early U.S. history even though he is also the country’s shortest President thus far, standing just 5 feet and 4 inches tall. That makes Madison a full foot shorter than America’s tallest President, Abraham Lincoln (and no, that height doesn’t include Lincoln’s signature stovepipe hat). 

• Fascinating Facts About Every First Lady
• Who Wrote the Constitution?
• The Bizarre Election of George Washington