Post random factoids about American history here!

[UrbScotty]

I'll start:

Norm Coleman was the first US Secretary of Agriculture.

[CubsFan1982]

1. Martin Van Buren was the first muttonchopped President.

[elperromagico]

13. Oh really? And what do you call these?

John Quincy Adams

[Cooley Hurd]

2. FDR was actually a superhero whose powers included...

...hypmotizing scottiedogs.:D

[sasquatch]

44. I always wondered if "Professor X" of the X-Men was based on FDR

[tjwmason]

3. The flag of Hawaii contains the Union Flag

The Kingdom of Hawaii was a traditional friend of Britain and so when King Kamehameha I commissioned a flag they stuck it in the first quarter.

[CubsFan1982]

43. You mean the Union Jack?

Was Hawaii ever a British colony, I wonder?

[tjwmason]

53. No, I mean the Union Flag.

It is identical in appearance to the Union Jack, but the Jack is only flown from the Jackstaff of a ship, and can only be flown thus from vessels of the Royal Navy. When flown on land it is the Union Flag, and this is it's usual designation - though it is commonly called the Union Jack.

Hawaii was briefly taken by the British, but that was after the flag was created. There was quite a long history of involvement with British traders (empire was an after thought to trade in most cases), but then a British captain decided to seize the islands - Queen Victoria ordered that it be given back to the King of Hawaii, noting the long friendly history between us.

[tjwmason]

54. Dupe

Delete - duplicate.

[AngryAmish]

4. Abraham Lincoln was over 18 feet tall

[MrScorpio]

5. American soldiers killed approx. 250,000-1,000,000 Filipinos...

During the Philippine Insurrection after we conquered their Spanish rulers, denied them independence and took the country for ourselves.

Ain't Empire grand?

http://www.answers.com/topic/philippine-american-war

[Zuni]

9. MC

[MrScorpio]

15. Slaughter is slaughter

"Consequenses

During the war, 4,324 American soldiers were killed and 2,818 were wounded. There was also 2,000 casualties that the Philippine Constabulary suffered during the war, over a thousand of which were fatalities. Philippine military deaths are estimated at 20,000 (16 thousand actually counted) while civilian deaths numbered in 250,000 to 1,000,000 Filipinos. The high casualty figures are do mostly to the combination of superior arms and even more superior numbers of the Americans. They had the most modern and up-to-date weapons in the world, and had also gained much battlefield experience in the Civil War and other military conflicts. With the most superb bolt action rifles and machine guns they were also lavishly armed and well led. Even better where the U.S. warships at the ready to fire their big guns and desimate Philippine positions when needed. In contrast the Filipinos were armed with motley rifles. A number of which taken from dead Spanish or American soldiers, or smuggled in by Philippine patriots. Their artillery was not much better. Mostly worn out artillery pieces captured from the Spanish. Allthough they did have a few Maxim and Gatling machine guns, along with a few modern Krupp artillery pieces, these were highly prized and taken to the rear for fear of capture before they could play any decisive role. Ammunition along with rifles also became scarce as the war dragged on, and they had to manufacture their own, like the homemade paltik. Still most did not even have firearms. Many used bolos, spears, and lances in fighting, which also contributed to high casualty figures. Despite these disadvantages, they managed to win some small battlefield encounters, but these only delayed their inevitable defeat."

[Zuni]

6. Chester A Arthur

had a live sex show in Lower Manhattan in 1874

[saltpoint]

57. And I for one am sorry to have missed it. n/t

[elperromagico]

7. The office of Vice President has been vacant

sixteen times since 1812.

From 1850-1857, the office was vacant for all but one month.

[CubsFan1982]

8. Though appearing fit in most photographs, President Truman...

...tipped the scales at 360 pounds. He disguised his girth by always standing next to his wife Bess, who weighed in at more than 400. :P

[Zuni]

10. Alexander Hamilton was once jailed for impersonating

a sheep

[fishnfla]

11. The Spanish Influenza of 1918 contributed to starting WWII

eom

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. Arthur McArthur was the father of

Gen Douglas McArthur

[randr]

14. The use of federal military troops to quell civilian

riots or protests is the longest debated issue in our nations history.
Up until Reagans use of the military in the drug war it had always been decided that a law that needed federal troop intervention was a bad law.

[Zuni]

16. McArthur Park

was recorded by Donna Summer in 1976 for no explainable reason

[elperromagico]

20. The reason is clear. The original wasn't awful enough.

:D

[elperromagico]

17. JFK was the only President to be outlived by both his parents.

I might be wrong about that, though.

[UrbScotty]

58. Oswald acted alone in killing JFK.

Another interesting fact. Of course, I could be wrong on that one.

[Zuni]

18. LBJ was known to urinate in the sink

[UrbScotty]

59. Did he splash the urine on the Koran? (nt)

[Zuni]

19. Andrew Jackson once shot 3 men in the White House

and then wrestled a bear later that day

[AllegroRondo]

23. just for snoring too loud?

[Zuni]

25. no, they chewed all his tobacco

[Zuni]

21. Millard Fillmore took the largest dump in WH history

[CubsFan1982]

22. James Madison was the shortest President...

Yet ranks as a historical anomaly as the President with the largest penis.

[Zuni]

24. Lewis and Clark had a porter carry a flush toilet on their expeditions

[deutsey]

26. Wink Martindale was somehow implicated in Watergate

but G. Gordon Liddy took the fall for him.

[intheflow]

29. I've always said you can't trust a game show host. n/t

[NoPasaran]

27. Andrew Johnson

Delivered his inaugural speech while roaring drunk.

[elperromagico]

28. Here is the original text of George W. Bush's speech to the nation

on the morning of 9-11:

My fellow Americans:

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Ohhhhh shit! Shit on a shit cracker! SHIT! SHIT! Holy fucking shit!

Shit!! Shit!!! Ahh shit!!! I just shit my pants!!! Shit!

Thank you, and may God bless America.

SHIT!!!

The text was later revised.

[elperromagico]

30. The title of WH Harrison's inaugural address was "I Am Invincible."

[UrbScotty]

40. How many days did it take for him to die?

31, right?

[elperromagico]

50. 30, I believe.

[Gildor Inglorion]

31. John Tyler shook George Washington's hand...

and later got married while in the White House himself (hew as a widower). He had a daughter by this marriage who lived into her 90's. When she was 87 years old, she held the infant Bill Clinton in her arms, creating a direct link from Washington to Clinton with only two intermediaries.

:patriot:

[Strawman]

45. I don't think that's true

First, because George Washington never shook hands
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tbrown117735mi/legendsliesmyths.html

Second, because I think this might come from an article on the 200th anniversary of George Washington's death where the historian Richard Shenkman shrinks the passage of time by imagining that the daughter of Presdient Tyler (Pearl)who died in 1947 and whose father was a child during the Washington administration could have (hypothetically) held a baby Bill Clinton in her arms.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/2418/view/print

I looked this up because I thought it was a fascinating bit of trivia. Where did you learn about it from and do you have a link to a site confirming it to be true?

[Gildor Inglorion]

46. I actually meant it "tongue-in-cheek"...

in keeping with the other posts! I remember reading it somewhere, but never took it seriously. I'm sure even stranger coincidences have taken place, but I really have doubts about this one.

[Zuni]

32. Billy Carter was a quantum physicist

[deutsey]

52. I heard he was the subject of "You're So Vain"

[AngryAmish]

33. The Wright Brothers invented the Dewey Decimal System

[Zuni]

34. Thomas Edison inbvented 2000 flushes

[sasquatch]

35. Kentucky wasn't inhabited by Indians

It was a hunting sanctuary that wasn't allowed to be inhabited and that was shared by the Cherokee & Shawnee tribes.

[Zuni]

36. Einstein theorized the existence of Taco Bell in 1949

[Cooley Hurd]

37. ...he had a fascination with inert gasses.

[WMliberal]

38. Richmond, Charleston, and Atlanta were burned by the Confederates

not Union soldiers. Ditto for "Sherman's March to the Sea." They were practicing a scortched-earth policy similar to the Russians ahead of Napolean's armies. The goal being to deny the invading army any food or refuge.
Well, unless this is during school hours. Then according to Commonwealth of Virginia Standards of Learning, I'll have to tell you that it's the other way around. :eyes: Okay, so this is a slightly sore subject for me :P

[sasquatch]

41. Gee, did it dawn upon them that.....

THERE'S NO FUCKING ARTIC WINTER IN THE FUCKING SOUTH!!!

:banghead:
You see that's why Napoleon's army was destroyed after the Moscow retreat because father Winter came in and destroyed Napoleon's troops.

And on the other hand, Lincoln should've just emancipated the slaves and let the south go it's own way. Think of it as having your wisdom teeth removed, yeah it might hurt at first, but you'll be in much better shape after it's over.

[WMliberal]

39. Only about 400 whites moving west were killed by Native Americans

in the 19th century.

[Iterate]

42. More whites were killed by gun accidents than by Native Americans

[NoPasaran]

47. Time zones

Came about because railroads needed to standardize times for their schedules so trains wouldn't run into each other.

[Lannes]

48. Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother

Died on the same day in the same house.His wife after chidbirth.He left afterwards for the Dakota bad lands to be a cattle rancher and a sheriff.

[James T. Kirk]

49. Byrd is the only senator to vote against both black supreme court justices

[Zuni]

51. American Jimmy Buffett maybe the spawn of satan

[Heidi]

55. More than 60,000 Americans in 33 states were involuntarily sterilized

under US eugenics laws between early 20th century and the mid-1970s. The Buck v. Bell precedent allowing sterilization of the so-called "feebleminded" has never been overruled.

[saltpoint]

56. Meriwether Lewis likely was a suicide enroute to DC

returning from the Louisiana Purchase expedition.

[WeRQ4U]

60. Chef Boyardi was the actual winner of the 1968 presidential election....

The write in winner was not elected president, however, due to his birth in Italy.

[Taverner]

61. Squanto (from Thanksgiving fame)

Was one of the few survivors of a tribe that lived where the Plymouth Colony originally started. His tribe died of disease brought by the Europeans.