Posts Tagged ‘President’
Question Asked: Why Do We Celebrate President’s Day?
The obvious answer is to celebrate the past Presidents of our country, and to honor what they’ve done for us over their years in office.
The less obvious answer is as follows:
Washington’s Birthday is the official name designated to what many of us know as President’s Day. During the month of February the birthday of two of our greatest President’s takes place. Both George Washington who was born on Feb. 22nd and Abraham Lincoln born on Feb. 12th.
However, Washington’s birthday has been publicly celebrated since he was in office, before Abraham Lincoln was even born. Much of the debate over the name of the holiday springs from the fact that state’s can follow their own holidays how they see fit and many of them chose to also honor Lincoln, calling the celebration President’s Day.
It was in 1968 that the term President’s Day came up for legal consideration in the Congress but was shot down, though the holiday was moved to fall between the two President’s birthdays. Again in the 1980’s there was a resurgence of the term with advertisers which solidfied the holiday name in American culture. Today, few Americans perfer to call the holiday Washington’s Birthday in lieu of President’s Day.
This information was taken from Patriotism.org
Question Asked: Has The U.S. Ever Had A Jewish President?
No, the US has not had a confirmed Jewish President.
Going back to the 1800s, many believe that Abraham Lincoln was Jewish. The following is widely believed:
Honest Abe was Jewish.After all, his name was Abraham. His great-grandfather was named Mordechai. Lincoln was the only President not to have a formal religious affiliation. He was neither raised in a church nor did he ever belong to a church.
Though many may believe it, it hasn’t been proven (or disproven, for that matter), so it’s not official.
Question Asked: Who Came Up With The Term “President?”
In researching this answer over the last few hours, it’s pretty evident that we really don’t know who first coined the leader of the United States as the “President.”
We do find, from Clinton Rossiter’s “The Grand Convention” (chapter 11):
We do not know the name of the individual who first proposed this title.
Early drafts of the Constitution referred simply to the “Executive” at first leaving open even whether it should be one man or several, though the latter notion was soon dropped.
The word “President” first appears in the report of the Committee of Detail, submitted to the full Convention on August 6, 1787. This committee consisted of John Rutledge (SC), Edmund Randolph (Va), James Wilson (Pa), Oliver Ellsworth (Conn) and Nathaniel Gorham (Mass).
The terms Speaker, Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, and Supreme Court also appear for the first time in this report, along with expressions like “We, the People”, “State of the Union”, “privileges and immunities”, “necessary and proper”, and reference to “vacancies” in House or Senate, “disability” in the Presidency, and “extraordinary occasions” on which Congress might be assembled. So this group of relatively obscure men made a big impact, semantically at least, on the future of the United States, coining many expressions in everyday use to the present time.
The word president originates from the Latin praesident-, praesidens, based on the present participle of praesidEre. Thus, a president is an official who presides over a body of people. That body could be a club or it could be a nation. The president occupies the role of authority over the body.
Question Asked: How Many Presidents Had Kids While In The White House?
From the information I can gather, thus far there have been six Presidents who’ve had children live with them in the White House. (Soon to be seven, when Obama is sworn in, in a couple of weeks.)
Abraham Lincoln was the first President who had children young enough to live with him in the White House.
John F. Kennedy was next, with Caroline and John Jr.
Lyndon B. Johnson was next, with Lynda Johnson (who later went on to get married in the White House.)
Richard Nixon had Tricia and Julie (who both moved out while Nixon was in office.)
Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy.
Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea.
While there were only six Presidents who had kids live with them at the White House, there are a far greater number of Presidents who have children in general.
The list below outlines the number of children each President had (biological children only):
- George Washington – 0 (though Martha had two surviving children from her first marriage, when she married George Washington.)
- John Adams – 5 (a sixth child was stillborn.)
- Thomas Jefferson – 6 (his wife had one son from a previous marriage, and Jefferson had 7 other alleged children.)
- James Madison – 0 (Dolley Madison had 1 child from a previous marriage.)
- James Monroe – 3
- John Quincy Adams – 4 (one of which passed away shortly after birth in 1806)
- Andrew Jackson – 0 (Jackson was the first President to adopt, he and his wife adopted two children and were the guardians of 8 additional children.)
- Martin Van Buren – 6 (two of which were stillborn.)
- William Henry Harrison – 10
- John Tyler – 15 (8 with first wife, 7 with second wife. Also one allegedly with a slave, never proven.)
- James K. Polk – 0
- Zachary Taylor – 6
- Millard Fillmore – 2
- Franklin Pierce – 3
- James Buchanan – 0
- Abraham Lincoln – 4
- Andrew Johnson – 5
- Ulysses S. Grant – 4
- Rutherford B. Hayers – 8
- James A. Garfield – 7
- Chester A. Arthur – 3
- Grover Cleveland [first term]- 0 (. He got married while in office.)
- Benjamin Harrison – 4 (one of which died during birth. [3 with first wife, 1 with second wife])
- Grover Cleveland [second term] – 5
- William McKinley – 2
- Theodore Roosevelt – 6 (1 with first wife, 5 with second wife)
- William Howard Taft – 3
- Woodrow Wilson – 6 (3 with first wife, 3 with second wife)
- Warren G. Harding – 0 (one alleged with another woman, but never proven.)
- Calvin Coolidge – 2
- Herbert Hoover – 2
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 6 (one of which didn’t live to be a year old.)
- Harry S. Truman – 1
- Dwight D. Eisenhower – 2
- John F. Kennedy – 4 (one daughter was stillborn.)
- Lyndon B. Johnson – 2 (one alleged, but never proven.)
- Richard Nixon – 2
- Gerald Ford, Jr. – 4
- James Carter, Jr. – 4
- Ronald Regan – 5 (3 from first marriage, 2 from second.)
- George H.W. Bush – 6
- William Jefferson Clinton – 1
- George W. Bush – 2
- And soon to be: Barrack Obama – 2
Some interesting things there. I never realized how many Presidents had been married more than once, especially dating back that far. If you want all the names, dates, and ages, head on over to Wikipedia for the details.