Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. The holiday was originally celebrated February 22 to honor the birthday of the first president of the United States, George Washington.
The holiday was first established in 1879 and became a federal holiday in 1885. At first, the holiday was only celebrated in the District of Columbia, but in 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed, which moved several federal holidays to Mondays to create more three-day weekends for the American workforce. Presidents’ Day was one of the holidays affected by the act, and it was moved to the third Monday in February, between Feb. 15 and Feb. 21.
Forty-six men have held the office of president of the United States, and some day a woman will. This year The Reporter looks at basic facts as well as Delaware County’s connection to the presidency in popular culture.
• Oldest president at inauguration: Joseph Biden, 78 years old.
• Youngest president at inauguration: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, 42 years old.
• Average age of presidents at inauguration is 55 years old
• Tallest president - Abraham Lincoln at 6’4”.
• Shortest president - James Madison at 5’4”.
• Average presidential height is 5’11”.
• The heaviest president - Howard Taft at 330 pounds.
• The thinnest - James Madison at 122 pounds.
• Average president’s lifespan is 74 years old.
Delaware County and presidents
• Former Delaware County resident Charles Evan Hughes was the Republican nominee for president against Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Wilson won by 9,126,688 votes (277 electoral votes) to Hughes’ 8,548,728 votes (254 electoral votes). Hughes went on to serve as secretary of state in Harding and Coolidge administrations and was appointed by Herbert Hoover as chief justice of Supreme Court (1930-1941).
• Town of Kortright received its name from its patent holder, Lawrence Kortright, a wealthy New York City privateer (pirate), who was also the father of First Lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.
• Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt both visited Delaware County as governors before they became president.
• Eleanor Roosevelt vacationed at Belle Terre, South Kortright, during her time as first lady.
• Butter, cream and cheese from Bovina were served at Ulysses S. Grant’s inaugurations.
• President Martin VanBuren’s son, John VanBuren, was New York State attorney general at the time of the Anti-Rent War and prosecuted Anti-Renters and became involved in a fist fight in court with defense counsel Ambrose Jordan of Otsego County. He lost his reelection bid in 1847.
First Ladies
• Oldest first lady: Jill Biden, 69 years old.
• Youngest first lady: Frances Cleveland, 21 years old.
• Tallest first ladies - a tie: Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump - all 5’11”.
• Shortest first lady: Eliza (Andrew) Johnson, 4’9”.
• Wives and mothers of United States presidents: Abigail Adams - wife to John, mother to John Quincy Adams; Barbara Bush - wife of George H.W. Bush, mother to George W. Bush.
• Only first lady to appear on American currency: Martha Washington on the one dollar bill, 1891-1894.
• Three first ladies died while their husbands served as president: Letitia Taylor from complications of a stroke, 1842; Caroline Harrison from tuberculous, 1892; and Ellen Wilson from kidney failure, 1914.
First lady fun facts
• Martha Washington at the time she married George Washington, owned 17,000 acres and 300 slaves.
• Abagail Adams was nicknamed “Mrs. President” for the strong opinions she shared with both her husband John and son John Quincy Adams on her abolitionist views.
• Dolly Madison is famous for saving Washington’s portrait when British troops were advancing on Washington in 1814. She loved ice cream.
• Rachel Jackson gave disapproving looks or words to her husband Andrew Jackson, who was known for his brawling and crude language, and he immediately became quiet and well-behaved.
• Sarah Polk served as her husband James Polk’s secretary and banned dancing and card playing on White House grounds.
• Abigail Fillmore created White House library.
• Mary Todd Lincoln was 5’2” to Abraham Lincoln’s 6’4”. She also dated Lincoln’s political rival, Stephan Douglas.
• Eliza Johnson brought cows to White House and had them graze on White House lawns.
• Julia Grant rebelled against her southern parents and supported abolishlist movement.
• Lucy Hayes banned alcohol at White House and hosted first East Lawn Easter egg hunt.
• Caroline Harrison had first White House Christmas tree.
• Lucretia Garfield advocated for equal pay for women.
• Frances Cleveland gave birth to a daughter, the first family baby to born at White House.
• Helen Nellie Taft was the first First Lady to be in an inaugural parade, drive a car, smoke in public and wear pants. She also advocated for women’s suffrage movement and better labor conditions.
• Edith Wilson was a direct descendant of Pocahontas and made decisions and signed documents for Woodrow after his stroke.
• Florence Harding was the first first lady to vote, and was accused of poisoning and assassinating her husband over his affairs; she had his body embalmed before an autopsy could be done.
• Louise Hoover graduated Sanford with degree in geology and was fluent in Chinese.
• Eleanor Roosevelt initially declined Secret Service protection and carried a loaded pistol until World War II; she advocated for racial justice.
• Mamie Eisenhower enjoyed afternoon soap operas.
• Jackie Kennedy donated the pink suit worn the day John Kennedy was assassinated to National Archives on the condition it could not be displayed in public until 2103.
• Rosalynn Carter was first to have her own office.
• Hillary Clinton - the only first lady to be elected to the U.S. Senate and run for president.
• Laura Bush - the only first lady to give birth to twins.
First children and grandchildren
• Tammy Bruce - great, great, great-granddaughter of Ulysses Grant - is a Fox news commentator and conservative columnist.
• Mike Reagan was adopted by Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman and is a popular conservative talk show host.
• Ronald Reagan Jr., son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, is a liberal radio talk show host and activist.
• Patty Davis, daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, posed in Playboy magazine, and worked as actress with roles on Love Boat, Simon and Simon, Trapper John, M.D., and Curse of Pink Panther.
• Amy Carter had a tree house on South Lawn and roller skated through White House.
• Susan Ford Bates, daughter of Gerald and Betty Ford, worked as photographer for the Associated Press, Newsweek, Topeka Journal, and married Charlie Vance, a member of Gerald Ford’s Secret Service detail.
• Steven Ford, actor, starred on the Young and the Restless, had roles in Escape From New York, JAG, When Harry Met Sally, Black Hawk Down, Babylon Five.
• Tricia Nixon-Cox worked as lawyer in New York City.
• Julie Nixon-Eisenhower, married to Dwight Eisenhower’s grandson, is a writer.
• Luci Baines Johnson is chairperson of LBJ Assets (Johnson family businesses) and Business Suites Office development firm. She married LBJ Ranch manager Ian Turpin.
• Caroline Kennedy is ambassador to Australia and former ambassador to Japan. Caroline’s daughter, Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, is a reporter for the New York Times; Caroline’s son, Jack Schlossberg, guest stars on Blue Bloods.
• John Eisenhower was brigadier general in United States Army and ambassador to Belgium.
• May Margret Truman Daniel wrote 31 murder mystery novels set around Washington D.C., and nine non-fiction books about her parents and the White House. Her husband Clifton Daniels was a reporter and managing editor of New York Times.
• Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was a writer and newspaper editor.
• James Roosevelt rose to rank of colonel in the U.S. Marine Corp during World War II, and served during the Battle of Midway, invasion of Philippines and received the Navy Cross and Silver Star. He later served as an eight-term congressman from Los Angles.
• Franklin Roosevelt Jr. served in United States Navy during World War II, rescued wounded sailors and soldiers during invasion of Sicily and received a Silver Star. He was called “Big Moose” by his crews, was a New York Congressman, married five times and owned a horse and cattle farm in the Hudson Valley.
Presidents in pop culture
• Abraham Lincoln is the most frequently portrayed president.
• Presidents portraited in movies and television: Abraham Lincoln 408 times; George Washington 266 times; Thomas Jefferson 158 times; Barack Obama 151 times; George W. Bush 120 times; John Kennedy 118 times; Franklin Roosevelt 117 times; Donald Trump 116 times; Ulysses Grant 114 times; Teddy Roosevelt 111 times; Ronald Reagan 110 times.
Presidents’ favortie movies
• Franklin Roosevelt: Mickey Mouse; Harry Truman: My Darlene Clementine; Dwight Eisenhower: High Noon; John Kennedy: Spartacus, Dr. No; Lyndon Johnson: The Searchers; Richard Nixon: Patton; Gerald Ford: Home Alone; Jimmy Carter: All the Presidents Men and Midnight Cowboy; Ronald Reagan: High Noon, It’s Wonderful Life, Sounds of Music; George H.W. Bush: Viva Zapata; Bill Clinton: High Noon, Casablanca; George W. Bush: Field of Dreams, We Were Soldiers; Barack Obama: Godfather I and II; Donald Trump: Citizen Kane, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Goodfellas, Gone with the Wind.
