Renew the Presidents

09/25/2022

ElonMusk … great capture today

04/18/2019

http://www.richmond.com/tncms/asset/editorial/5d0b103d-ff80-58b4-8fa6-83508032c5f2

Howard Hankins asks for the return of a bust of former President Barack Obama that was recently taken from his Croaker, Va., farm. The figure is about 2 feet tall

12/22/2017

Interesting facts about Christmas at the White House

The first White House Christmas party was held in December 1800. President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams gave it for their four-year-old granddaughter Susanna Boylston Adams, who was living with them. They invited government officials and their children to the party.

The first Christmas tree in the White House was placed in the second floor Yellow Oval Room (then used as a family parlor and library) in 1889 (Benjamin Harrison administration). It was decorated with candles, toys, etc. for the Harrison grandchildren.

Washington, DC doesn’t always get a white Christmas, but President Andrew Jackson made sure to remedy that with an elaborate Christmas party he threw for his children and grandchildren. It included games, dancing, a grand dinner and culminated in an indoor “snowball fight” with specially fashioned cotton balls.

President Theodore Roosevelt, an avowed environmentalist, banned Christmas trees from the White House during his presidency. The president was against real Christmas trees because he feared that Christmas trees would lead to deforestation.

The first electric lights on a family tree were used in 1894 during the presidency of Grover Cleveland. (Electricity dates to 1891 in the White House).

President Calvin Coolidge was the first chief executive to preside over the National Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in 1923.

First Lady Lou Henry Hoover established the custom of decorating an official tree in the White House in 1929. Since that time, the honor of trimming the Christmas tree on the state floor has belonged to our first ladies.

12/01/2017

The Little White House

The Harry S Truman Little White House in Key West, Florida was the winter White House for President Harry S Truman for 175 days during 11 visits. The house is located in the Truman Annex neighborhood of Old Town, Key West.
The house was originally waterfront when it was built in 1890 as the first officer's quarters on the submarine base naval station.

President Harry S Truman began using this former naval officer residence in November 1946 as his winter White House. This Key West retreat gave Truman a restorative atmosphere to deal with the tumultuous events of the time, from the first use of nuclear weapons, post-World War II reconstruction, and the beginning of the Cold War. To date, six American presidents have used it as the functioning White House of America and as a retreat and summit meeting location.

In November 1946, President Harry S Truman had finished 19 months in office, but was physically exhausted. His doctor, Wallace Graham, ordered a warm vacation. Truman arrived in November 1946. As he was leaving, he promised to return whenever he felt the need for rest. Changing technology allowed the President to communicate with multiple political or world leaders at one time and he could summon staff to Key West for a meeting in three hours flight from Washington. Most importantly, Truman realized that where the President was, the White House was.

11/22/2017

Thanksgiving at the White House

As you celebrate an American tradition, here are some interesting facts.

President George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation, designating Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving for the first time under the new Constitution. Thanksgiving Day became a unified national celebration under President Abraham Lincoln, who declared the last Thursday in November to be regularly commemorated as Thanksgiving Day.

The origin of presidential turkey pardons could also be traced back to Lincoln — though that turkey was brought to the White House for Christmas dinner, not a Thanksgiving feast. Lincoln's son, Tad, "interceded" on behalf of a live turkey, according to a White House reporter at the time.

Back in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt moved back into the White House with his family in the midst of a renovation project at the White House, WHHA senior historian Matthew Costello said. When he found out that the workmen on site were going to miss their own Thanksgiving meals, he had the kitchen staff prepare and deliver the workmen food.

Turkeys have been sent as gifts to American Presidents from as early as the 1870s, sometimes arriving in elaborate crates and costumes. By the 1920s, the influx of these turkeys had increased so greatly that President Calvin Coolidge discouraged Americans from sending them. The most unusual gift was a raccoon, which was not served for dinner but became a Coolidge family pet.

11/17/2017

First Ladies have a difficult job that’s not even an official job. Here are some interesting facts.

Martha Washington may have been the first First Lady, but she was also the last woman to appear on paper currency in the United States—that is, at least until Harriet Tubman shows up on the $20 bill in 2020. Her face can be found on the $1 banknote in 1886 and 1891, and alongside her husband's in 1896.

Elizabeth Monroe was a francophile. Mrs. James Monroe's beauty and fashionable appearance earned her the quaint nickname "La Belle Americaine" in France. She later used her prestige to save the life of Adrienne de Lafayette, wife of French revolutionary Marquis de Lafayette, during the French Revolution.

Julia Tyler was the Kardashian of her day. Tyler’s second wife and second First Lady, she used her title as an opportunity to make herself famous. She befriended reporters and made sure there were constant descriptions of events she went to, although the articles usually talked more about her clothes and glowing skin than whatever actually happened at the event. There's some evidence she may have handed these out like press releases rather than just waiting and hoping a reporter would cover her. Not only did she introduce the polka dance to Washington ballrooms, but she was also known to drive a coach of matching white Arabian horses around the D.C. area. TRIVIA: Julia Gardiner Tyler reportedly insisted that “Hail to the Chief” be played at Tyler’s entrance to every official event, thus establishing a presidential tradition.

Jane Pierce was reluctant to become a first lady, to say the least. Before husband Franklin Pierce became president, his wife prayed every night that he would lose the presidential election.

Florence Harding was REALLY into the occult. A clairvoyant named Madame Marcia read her zodiac and would go into trances to warn Florence of anyone in the administration who was out to get her husband. She supposedly even told her that winning the presidency would cost him his life, which amazingly it did. She consulted a homeopath (practitioner of a “quack” science) and was so impressed that she talked President Harding into appointing him official presidential physician. This would prove deadly when he misdiagnosed President Harding's heart attack as mere food poisoning.

Bess Truman refused to use Washington laundries. Absolutely nothing in the capital was good enough for the first lady. This included the delicate job of washing her delicates. She decided that the only thing to do when it came to getting her clothes clean was to send them back by long-distance mail all the way to Kansas City.

In April of 1933, Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt made history by becoming the first first lady to fly in an airplane. She snuck out of a White House dinner with famed aviator Amelia Earhart and other guests, and together they commandeered an airplane near Hoover Field (where the Pentagon stands today) and spent hours flying around Baltimore.

11/14/2017

Best/Worst Presidents

Here are the best 5 and worst 5 Presidents in the opinion of a panel of presidential experts polled by C-Span. Do you agree? If not, who should be on the lists? NOTE: Please, be nice. :)

Here are the best 5 Presidents on the list:

Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Here are the worst 5 Presidents on the list:

John Tyler
Warren G. Harding
Franklin Pierce
Andrew Johnson
James Buchanan

What do you think?

11/03/2017

The President Who Didn’t Speak English

Presidents of the United States have often spoken more than one language. Franklin D. Roosevelt was raised to speak French and German. Thomas Jefferson spoke six languages, and claimed to have taught himself Spanish in two weeks with a copy of Don Quixote. But only one President used English as a second language.

Early mid Atlantic America saw settlements by non English speaking settlers, notably the Swedes and the Dutch. Dutch settlers created “New Netherlands” in the area that is now New York. This Dutch colony was particularly influential, which is still reflected in the names of places in the area. Words like Manhattan, Catskill, and Hackensack are all derived from Dutch interpretations of Native American place names. Those settlements were eventually taken over by the British and absorbed into the English speaking society, but many of the settlers kept their cultural traditions and language alive.

Martin Van Buren (or Maarten as he was originally named) was born in 1782 in the small community of Kinderhook, New York, and grew up speaking Dutch. He didn’t become fully fluent in English until his teens.

He joined the Republican party (not the same party of Lincoln) at 18, and eventually became a protégée of Andrew Jackson. Later becoming President, he is the only President to whom English was not his first language.

Martin Van Buren trivia:

Van Buren owned a single slave, named Tom. Tom escaped, and Van Buren allowed him to remain free.

In contrast, Van Buren supported Spanish slave owners during a court case involving the Amistad, which was a slave ship where the slaves managed to kill their captors and take control of the ship. Van Buren argued against the opinion of a US court that the ship and the people on board should be turned over to Spain. However, the slaves won the case, and public opinion wasn’t kind to Van Buren.

He ordered the relocation of 20,000 Cherokee to the West, an event that formed a major part of the “Trail of Tears,” which led to the deaths of thousands of Native Americans.

But Van Buren also did some good things in the office. In 1838, Van Buren successfully negotiated peace in a territory dispute with Great Britain, thus avoiding a war.

10/24/2017

George Washington and the expense account

We are huge fans of George Washington! But hey, once in awhile, you tease the ones you love.

George Washington was very “magnanimous” in refusing a salary as General of the Continental Army. He offered to keep an expense account. The problem is that the expense account turned out to be rather… exorbitant. Keeping in mind that these are NOT adjusted for inflation, here are examples of a few of his expenses:

Telescope from France: $1274
A light Phaeton (a “chariot”):$1,430 and a riding mare: $1248
Household expenses (Nov. 21,1780-Sept.6, 1781 including food like “pidgeons,” veal, eggs, “hurtleberries”, cork cask, 400 limes, Madeira wines: $20,800.
Mrs. Washington’s traveling expenses: $27,665.30
Expenses for retreating from the British in New Jersey - $3,776
Over $6,000 on alcohol between September 1775 to March 1776

All in all, he billed the government $449,261.51, in 1780 dollars. Taking into account 220 years of inflation that'd be worth over $4,250,000.00 today.

After being elected America’s first President, George Washing made the same offer to Congress. Congress wisely declined, and insisted on paying a salary of $25,000.

Don’t get upset George, we’re just having a little fun...

10/13/2017

Party like it’s 1787!

Early Americans routinely consumed alcohol at rates that would put today’s college freshmen to shame, and our founding fathers were no exception. With no electricity, modern transportation or digital media, there simply wasn’t much else to do at night.

A great example was George Washington’s farewell dinner on Friday, September 14, 1787 hosted by the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry. How do we know that? We have the bar tab! Yes, food was served, sort of. One item on the tab was “Rellishes, Olives etc.”, which sounds more like things you put in a cocktail than things you eat. Here are some of the charges:

• 54 bottles of Madeira
• 60 bottles of claret
• 22 bottles of porter
• 12 bottles of beer
• 8 bottles of hard cider
• 8 bottles of Old Stock (a.k.a. colonial whiskey)
• 7 large bowls of spiked punch

OK, you might think that’s not too bad for a large party. But it wasn't that large of a party, there were only 55 people there… once you do the math, that’s pretty impressive.

10/06/2017

This week's Friday Fun is the coolest thing you will see today. This is a never seen before image from my personal collection. It was taken by my mother when she was a little girl, at the site of the construction of the then unfinished Mount Rushmore. Look closely at the inset. Do you see anything... unusual?

09/29/2017

Who is YOUR favorite President? Washington to JFK.