The Christian Broadcasting Network

A Presidential Primer

Greetings citizens one and all.

In light of the up and coming election, and as an immigrant (I literally came over in the boat from Scotland) having to be naturalized as an American citizen back in the 1970s, I had to memorize a lot of this.

I just thought that a look back at the foundation and roots of the USA as a nation would be a good refresher course, reminding us from whence we came. Lots of interesting facts here.

Gratitude is the word that comes to mind.

Scott

Facts and Characteristics About U.S. Presidents

Forty-three men have occupied the political office of President of the United States. Each President has handled this position with his own unique personal style.

“But taking the obscure with the great, the mediocre with the brilliant, collectively they have provided the best leadership any nation in history ever enjoyed for so long a period of time, or from so many different men.”*

George Washington (1789-1779), the first American president, brought an austere dignity that helped him set crucial precedents.

John Adams (1797-1801) and Thomas Jefferson, (1801-1809) the second and third presidents of the United States, both died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826. It was the 50th anniversary of the nation's independence.

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) brought a sense of humor amid crisis. One month after Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration, the U.S. Civil War began. He was the first president to be assassinated. Five days after the end of the Civil War, he was fatally shot.

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) brought zest. At forty-three years of age, he was the youngest president in the history of the United States.

Warren Harding (1921-1923)—back-room conviviality.

Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945)—Effervescence. He was elected president four times, more than any other president.

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)—Youthful sophistication. John Kennedy was 43 when elected president. Theodore Roosevelt was 42, making Roosevelt the youngest U.S. president. In 2001, at the age of 54, Bill Clinton was the youngest president to leave office since Teddy Roosevelt left the White House at age 50.

The backgrounds of these men range from frontier log cabins ( Lincoln; Polk, 1845-1849) to upper-class wealth (Jefferson, 1801-1809; both Roosevelts; and Kennedy). Most were well educated, but several were dropouts, and one (Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869) never went to school a day in his life.

Though the majority were lawyers, many had military backgrounds, including four Civil War generals, Grant (1869-1877), Hayes (1877-1881), Garfield (1881), Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893), and one Civil War mess sergeant, McKinley (1896-1900), who rose to captain. One (Grant) had to overcome a drinking problem, and another (Andrew Jackson, 1828-1832) carried a dueling-piston ball in his body throughout his life.

Four were tragically slain by fanatics (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy), and six others (Jackson; both Roosevelts; Harry Truman, 1945-1953; Gerald R. Ford, 1974-1977; and Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989) were the target of assassins. Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest en route to Milwaukee; he refused to go to the hospital before giving his speech. After speaking for more than an hour, he was taken to a hospital. Gerald Ford survived two attempted assassinations.

Four (W.H. Harrison, 1840; Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850; Warren Harding, 1921-1923; Franklin Roosevelt) died of illness in office, while several lived to be revered as elder statesmen long after their terms expired (Jefferson; Madison, 1809-1817; Hoover, 1929-1933; Truman; Eisenhower, 1953-1961). William Henry Harrison served the shortest term of any U.S. president. He served only 32 days, from March 4 to April 4, 1841. He fell ill with pneumonia shortly after his inauguration and never recovered.

A few had to endure post-White House poverty or worse, obloquy (Pierce, 1853-1857; Buchanan, 1857-1861).

Harry Truman became the first U.S. president to take office in the midst of a war.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969) was the eighth vice president to succeed to the presidency.

Only one, Richard Nixon, (1969-1974) was the first president to resign from office to avoid impeachment. When he was a boy, Nixon's mother wanted him to become a Quaker missionary.

Another first, as a result of the Nixon resignation, was Gerald R. Ford, (1974-1977) the first chief executive to become vice president and president by appointment rather than election.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) was the first American president to openly declare in the parlance of the day that he was “born again.” He avoided using his initials because “J.C.” is usually associated with Jesus Christ.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)was the oldest president in history. He was 77 when he left office. He was also the first president who had been divorced. He and Theodore Roosevelt were the only presidents to be wounded and survive an assassination attempt.

President Bill Clinton’s book is entitled My Life. It was reported in 1990 that former President Ronald Reagan's autobiography, A Life, was a financial catastrophe.

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) – At the age of 18, George Bush was the youngest pilot to see action during World War II. He was awarded the Flying Cross Award for heroism. Bush was also the first president to parachute out of an airplane, four times! Bush was the first vice president since Van Buren to be elected president. He was also the first vice president since Van Buren to lose re-election.

William Jefferson Clinton (1993-2001) was the first American president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson in 1868. Clinton and Johnson were both acquitted. Clinton was also the first president to both be sued for sexual misconduct and forced to give a deposition while in office. He was also the first president to have been a Rhodes Scholar.

George W. Bush (2001 - 2008) – It was the first time that the Supreme Court, and not the electorate, determined the outcome of the presidential election. He succeeded his father as president, making him one of two presidents to do so. The others being John Adams (1797-1801) and John Quincy Adams (1825-1829).

Religious Affiliations of U.S. Presidents

Three U.S. presidents have been the sons of ministers: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Woodrow Wilson.

There have been only two U.S. presidents who were Quakers: Herbert Hoover and Richard M. Nixon.

There have been four Baptist U.S. presidents: Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. 

In light of challenges to the use of the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and so called “separation of church and state” (which is not in the Constitution of the U.S.), it is historically enlightening to note the views of previous presidents and the Bible.

What U.S Presidents Said About the Bible

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible" —George Washington

"So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society..." —John Quincy Adams

"That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests" —Andrew Jackson

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong" -- "It is the duty of nations as well as men to recognize the truth announced in Holy Scripture and proven by all of history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."—Abraham Lincoln

"Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" —Ulysses S. Grant

"If you take out of your statutes, your constitution, your family life all that is taken from the Sacred Book, what would there be left to bind society together?"—Benjamin Harrison

"Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon the teachings of the Bible" —Theodore Roosevelt

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government ... not in the Constitution... (but) upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments" —James Madison

"The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of the law for the virtues of men" —Calvin Coolidge

Sources:
*The American Presidents, David C. Whitney, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. ©1975

Kane, Joseph Nathan. Facts About the Presidents (Fourth Edition). New York: The H. W. Wilson Co. (1981), pg. 360

DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (Second Edition). New York: Dembner Books (1989)

Religious Affiliations of U.S. Presidents: http://www.adherents.com/adh_presidents.html

The Bible & U.S. Presidents: http://www.bebaptized.org/u.htm

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