Martin Van Buren Spoke English as a Second Language Martin Van Buren, the eight president of the United States and first to be born a US citizen, spoke English as a second language. In fact, he didn’t learn to speak English until he went to school and never lost his Dutch accent. Van Buren and …
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John Quincy Adams Liked to Skinny-Dip in the Potomac John Quincy Adams was an avid skinny dipper. That’s right, you heard correctly. This was a president who loved to take a naked dip in the Potomac River. Adams’ morning routine was quite the spectacle. He would start off with a brisk six-mile walk, followed by …
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Madison Rejected Measures to Delay His Death Until July 4th Many Americans viewed the deaths of both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — the second and third US presidents respectively — on Independence Day, 1826, as a sign of the new nation’s divinity. The death of James Monroe — the fifth US president — on …
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The Wretched Execution of George Spencer . . . and a Pig George Spencer was not an attractive man: he was described as bald, one-eyed and pig like. He was also a known to be a godless troublemaker and petty criminal. So, when the pious puritans of New Haven, Connecticut discovered that a local sow …
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Jefferson’s Tombstone Doesn’t Acknowledge His Presidency Thomas Jefferson left precise instructions regarding his tombstone and epitaph. He even provided the design for his grave marker and the words to be inscribed upon it. “Because by these,” he wrote, “As testimonials that I have lived, I wish most to be remembered.” “On the faces of the …
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Did James Polk Work Himself to Death? It’s amazing that Polk remains one of the lesser known US presidents. The circumstances of his election and accomplishments as a president are fascinating. Elected in 1844, the eleventh and youngest president of the USA to that time, Polk was enthusiastic and full of vigour. Many scholars argue …
John Adams And Thomas Jefferson Died On The Same Day – July 4th, 1826 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within hours of each other on 4th July, 1826. Both men were of great age, particularly for the time, so their deaths could not have been unexpected. Yet, for the second and third presidents of …
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Jackie’s Premonitions That J.F.K. Jr. Would Die In A Plane Crash Jackie Onassis had premonitions that J.F.K. Jr. would be killed in his own aircraft and restrained him from obtaining a pilot’s licence[1]. Nevertheless, following the death of his mother, Kennedy, who had long dreamt of flying, commenced pilot training and acquired his licence in …
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The Curse of Tippecanoe (The 20 Year Presidential Curse) The Death of William Henry Harrison (1841) The Curse of Tippecanoe is the name given to a freakish pattern of presidential deaths. From William Henry Harrison to John F Kennedy, every president elected on a score year (a year divisible by twenty) died in office. Tippecanoe …
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Did George Washington Say, “I Cannot Tell a Lie”? It’s unlikely anyone ever heard George Washington say, “I cannot tell a lie”. If he did say it, he was lying. Ironically, disinformation was Washington’s superpower. Without his sophisticated intelligence gathering strategies and the seeding of disinformation, it’s very likely that the American Revolution would have failed …
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