Presidents and their Favorite May Pastimes

-John Adams: picnicking by the Potomac
-Millard Fillmore: officiating graduation ceremonies
-William Howard Taft: hot dogs
-Dwight Eisenhower: as much golf as possible
-Richard Nixon: frolicking through a meadow

How to Celebrate Presidents’ Birthdays, Part 1

Washington and Lincoln have their birthdays celebrated in February, but unbeknownst to most Americans is when and how to celebrate the birthdays of the other presidents. This handy list should fit perfectly on refrigerators or taped to calendars.

January 7 – Millard Fillmore: Be a dick to everyone.
January 9 – Richard Nixon: Plant a tree. Or, protect a tree if it’s too cold out.
January 29 – William McKinley: Annex a series of tiny islands.
January 30 – Franklin D. Roosevelt: Do something fun and keep at it.
February 6 – Ronald Reagan: Have a movie marathon. Or sell some weapons to an Iranian.
February 9 – William Henry Harrison: Plan something, but stop doing it way too early.
March 15 – Andrew Jackson: Do what you feel like.
March 16 – James Madison: Confirm the fact that your parents can’t claim you as a dependent anymore by attempting to take control of their shed.
March 18 – Grover Cleveland: Grill the biggest burgers you can find. Do that for lunch, take a break, then do it for dinner as well.
March 29 – John Tyler: Create the circumstances to have a grandchild alive 150 years after your death.
April 13 – Thomas Jefferson: Buy a significant portion of land from the French. Or get to know a black lady.
April 23 – James Buchanan: Pick a fight with some Mormons.
April 27 – Ulysses S. Grant: Spend time with friends.
April 28 – James Monroe: Have some good feelings.
May 8 – Harry S Truman: Do something unexpected of you.
May 29 – John F. Kennedy: Remember the moon.
June 12 – George HW Bush: Note that today is the only presidential birthday in June, find it slightly interesting, and then forget it.
July 4 – Calvin Coolidge: Typical Independence Day fare, just be very quiet about it.

Presidents Who Stole Your Car

-Millard Fillmore
-He’ll say it was Zachary Taylor, but don’t believe him

Presidents Who Presided before the Invention of Modern Toilet Paper

Presumably, these presidents never benefitted from modern toilet paper, invented in 1857. Think about it.

-George Washington*
-John Adams*
-Thomas Jefferson*
-James Monroe*
-James Madison*
-John Quincy Adams*
-Andrew Jackson*
-Martin Van Buren
-William Henry Harrison*
-John Tyler
-James K. Polk*
-Zachary Taylor*
-Millard Fillmore
-Franklin Pierce

*died prior to 1857

Happy America Day 2011: A History of the Hot Dog and Presidents’ Favorite Hot Dog Condiments

For the third straight America Day, more popularly known as Independence Day or “July 4th,” LP takes a special look back at the holiday that not only made the United States what it is today, but also represents Americans as a people. So sit back with your mustard-and-relish-slathered hot dog, your homemade charcoal-grilled bacon doublecheeseburger, your ale of choice, and your sixer of antacid, and please enjoy this special America Day list (and a bonus history).

Of course, the most American way to celebrate America Day is with a good, old-fashioned American hot dog, and the presidents from Washington onward recognized this.  Of course, the hot dog itself only became available to the general public in the early 20th century, but its history goes back much, much further than that.

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781, the following passage was included in them:

Upon a certain passage of Time, those most respeckted [sic] and honourable Senior Members of this Government will have earned the privilege of consuming a special Dish, prepared specifically for…this Nation.

The food was intended as a reward for long-serving elected representatives who had performed their duties admirably and honestly.  Soon after the passage of the Articles, however, it was quickly forgotten, as no one was sure exactly how to implement it.  The government would get as far as naming a Chef General in 1783, but who he was has been lost to history.  His only official creation, though, would be what we know as today as the hot dog.

When the Articles were abandoned for the Constitution in 1787, the passage was dropped due to the predominant thought that it was a joke that was overlooked (many of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention would actually refer to the “Dish Passage” as a metaphor for the Articles of Confederation).  Years later, after the election of Washington, Vice-President Adams was sorting through some papers when he found an original draft of the recipe for the hot dog by the Chef General.  Thinking this the work of President Washington’s personal chef (who was prone to leaving his papers around), Adams sent it to the man.

The chef’s name was Hercules, and surprisingly, he was a very literate slave that Washington had brought with him from Mount Vernon.  Hercules was astounded upon reading the recipe.  While he did not leave a personal diary, Martha Washington did, and historians believe that this was the scene when the chef read the recipe for the first time:

Suddenly, from the Kitchen, I heard a whoop…such as I had never heard before.  I rushed in to find Hercules grasping a Note…and I enquired as to what was the matter.  He responded that nothing was wrong but that the President would soon enjoy a Meal fit for a man of his esteemd [sic] Position.

Hercules prepared the first hot dog using scraps of meat from prior presidential dinners.  Anecdotally, Washington’s first taste of a hot dog was simply outstanding; in stories passed down orally through the governmental chef corps, the president exclaimed his approval of the food and demanded more as he scarfed down the rest of it.  Knowing how good it was, Washington later told Hercules that this meal would be a symbol of the fledgling nation, and as a show of respect for the country, each newly-elected president would dine on an “open-faced Columbia-meat sandwich” (the phrase “hot dog” would come into use with the food’s spread to the common people in the early 20th century).

-George Washington: none (condiments had not yet been discovered, although he preferred his with a nice brandy)
-Thomas Jefferson: a primitive form of ketchup which was more like crushed tomatoes in a tomato juice
-William Henry Harrison: no condiments, no bun
-Zachary Taylor: oddly, liked a fruit spread on a cold hot dog
-Millard Fillmore: didn’t like it, was a dick
-Ulysses S. Grant: mustard, onions, relish, no ketchup
-Grover Cleveland: ketchup, mustard, spicy relish, onions, a pickle, and another mystery relish
-Benjamin Harrison: ketchup, just ketchup
-William Howard Taft: another hot dog
-Calvin Coolidge: none, preferred to let the meat do the talking
-Jimmy Carter: it’s rather obvious–honey
-Ronald Reagan: American condiments
-Bill Clinton: whatever you want, baby, he’s fine with it

Past America Day columns:
Happy America Day 2010: Presidents’ Favorite America Day Pastimes
America Day 2009: This America Day in History

Ranking the Presidents Fillmore

1. Rutherford B. Hayes
2. Zachary Taylor
3. Millard Fillmore

Presidents whose Names Could Be Easily Transformed Slightly into Porn Names

-James K. Poke
-Millhard Fillmore
-Warren B. Harding
-Pervert Hoover

A Selection of Presidents who Dislike this Blog

-John Quincy Adams (“Jackson is hardly as cool as he’s portrayed.”)
-James Buchanan (“This journal is not a good thing, however I find myself powerless to stop it.”)
-John F. Kennedy (“I, er uh, was not mentioned in this blog ’til a year after it started.”)
-Millard Fillmore (he’s just a dick)

Presidential Rankings Based on Google Search Results

Here’s an interesting bit of information: the following list is how the presidents are ranked based on the number of results returned on Google for the search term “president x” where x equals the president’s first and last name. There are definitely some surprises (11.5 million for John Tyler?) and some not-so-surprises (Lincoln, Washington, Kennedy in the top 10).

Also, these results are just for those presidents no longer living. Clinton’s 25-million+ would have skewed the rankings, and we would not want that. Why? There’s so much more we can do with this information. Check LP tomorrow and see.

(accessed April 12-13, 2010)

1. Abraham Lincoln … 22.8 million
2. George Washington … 22.6 million
3. Thomas Jefferson … 15.7 million
4. Andrew Jackson … 16 million
5. James Madison … 15.8 million
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt … 13.5 million*
7. Andrew Johnson … 13.2 million
8. John F. Kennedy … 13 million**
9. John Tyler … 11.5 million
10. Theodore Roosevelt … 6.72 million***
11. Woodrow Wilson … 5.57 million
12. Dwight D. Eisenhower … 5.4 million
13. Richard Nixon … 4.37 million
14. James Knox Polk … 4.17 million
15. James Monroe … 3.71 million
16. Ronald Reagan … 3.19 million
17. Lyndon Johnson … 2.8 million
18. James Buchanan … 2.37 million
19. John Adams … 2.23 million
20. Benjamin Harrison … 2.17 million
21. Gerald Ford … 2.08 million
22. Herbert Hoover … 2.08 million
23. John Quincy Adams … 2 million
24. Franklin Pierce … 1.96 million
25. Zachary Taylor … 1.52 million
26. William Henry Harrison … 1.46 million
27. James Garfield … 1.37 million
28. William McKinley … 1.3 million
29. Ulysses S. Grant … 1.27 million
30. Grover Cleveland … 1.21 million
31. Harry S Truman … 1.18 million
32. Martin van Buren … 952,000
33. William Howard Taft … 868,000
34. Calvin Coolidge … 864,000
35. Warren G. Harding … 804,000
36. Rutherford B. Hayes … 539,000
37. Chester A. Arthur … 301,000****
38. Millard Fillmore … 254,000

*as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
** as John Kennedy
***as Teddy Roosevelt
****as Chester Arthur

Presidents who Have Been to Scotland but Weren’t Impressed

-William McKinley (preferred Ireland)
-Theodore Roosevelt (nothing for him to conquer)
-Millard Fillmore (he’s kind of a dick)