Pub trivia: US Presidents
US Presidents
From Watergate to the White House, from assassinations to taped interrogations, from actors to dodgy senators, the presidency of America has been a rollercoaster of corruption and success over the years. Here are a few facts to impress your US counterparts.
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Fact
William Henry Harrison had the shortest US presidency ever. He died of a cold just 30 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes into his first term.
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Fact
Richard Nixon had a dog named Checkers and Clinton had a cat named Socks. But John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, went the whole hog and had a pet alligator which lived in one of the White House bathrooms.
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Fact
The former second and third US presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died on exactly the same day - July 4th, 1826. Strangely, this also happened to be the day of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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Fact
The "toughest US president" crown must go to Andrew Jackson, the seventh man to rule the roost. This swaggering gunslinger fought more than 13 duels in his time, taking bullets to the chest and once killing a rival almost at point blank range. And you thought George W Bush was a cowboy.
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Fact
Every time you say the word "OK", you're actually referencing a US president you've never heard of. He was Martin Van Buren, the eighth commander-in-chief, who was known as Old Kinderhook or "O.K." after his hometown.
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Fact
President of the US Harry S. Truman's middle initial didn't actually stand for anything. His middle name, in its entirety, was "S".
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