The particulars of President’s Day and obscure facts about the men in office

Editor’s Note: This article was first published Feb. 17, 2019. We are re-posting it today in honor of President’s Day.

IDAHO FALLS – It’s President’s Day, but what you might not know is that the actual day is paying tribute to George Washington.

Then in 1885, February 22 became nationally recognized as Washington’s birthday.

In honor of President’s Day, we thought it would be fun to share some facts about other men who have held the office.

We’ll start with our first president, George Washington.

• Washinton was the only president in U.S. history to be elected unanimously.
• The fourth president, James Madison, is the shortest president to date. He was 5 feet 4 inches tall. At 100 pounds, he was also the lightest.
• Martin Van Buren was the eighth president and the first one to be born an American citizen. Prior to him, all presidents were born in Britain.
• The 15th president, James Buchanan, was the only bachelor to hold office.
• And Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, was apparently a tough competitor in the wrestling ring. In his youth, he was only defeated once out of approximately 300 matches. He made it to the Wrestling Hall of Fame with the honor of “Outstanding American,” according to Mashable.com.
• The nation’s 18th president Ulysses S. Grant, established Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park on March 1, 1872.
• During Rutherford B. Hayes’ presidency, the 19th president, Alexander Graham Bell installed the first telephone at the White House. The phone number was 1.
• Twenty-sixth U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt lost his mother and first wife on the same day. It happened on Valentine’s Day in 1884.
• Roosevelt’s successor, William Taft, was the largest U.S. President. At 332 pounds, he got stuck in the White House bathtub the first time he used it. A larger one was later ordered.
• Warren Harding, the 29th president, had the largest shoe size. Harding wore a size 14. He was also the first president to speak over the radio.
• The 33rd president, Harry Truman, got up at 5 a.m. every day to practice the piano for two hours.
• Thirty-fifth President John F. Kennedy was the first president to hold a press conference on television.
• In China, the most well-known Western names are Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Richard Nixon, who was the nation’s 37th President.
• Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, was the first president born in a hospital.
• When Ronald Reagan was elected as the nation’s 40th president, he was 69 years old. At that time, he was the oldest person elected to the office. Donald Trump now holds that distinction, who succeeded 44th president Barack Obama at age 70.
• Our previous president, Barack Obama, collects comic books. His favorites are “Spiderman” and “Conan the Barbarian.”
• And Donald Trump, our current president, is the only president except for Reagan, who has been divorced.

Note: All presidential facts come from Mashable and LegendsofAmerica.com