WEBVTT - Who's our Weirdest President? 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.760 Guess what will? What's that mango? So I love invented games, 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:06.360 like the idea of things like Worlie ball, which is 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:10.080 just like lacrosse played from bumper cars, or elephant polo. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:14.400 But my new obsession is Hoover Ball, like President Hoover. Yeah, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.240 apparently Hoover's physician told him he needed to lose weight 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.919 and be more fit, so they designed this game that's 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.640 like tennis meets volleyball, but is played with a medicine ball. 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.280 It actually sounds really fun. You can only do certain 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.639 types of throws from certain places on the court, and 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.200 players actually get sent out of the game for making 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.000 errors and how they catch the ball. But as I 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.199 was reading up on Hoover and how addicted he was 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.120 to the sport, like he played every single morning with 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.840 his medicine ball cabinet and he only canceled the game once, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.440 well it made me wonder about American presidents and what 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.240 their weird hobbies are. I mean, none of my American 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.960 history textbooks had any mention of Hoover Ball. But what 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.840 else don't we know about presidents and what juicy, ridiculous 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.280 secrets are they hiding? And that's what today's show is 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:20.600 all about, right, say their podcast listeners. Welcome to Part 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.119 Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:24.960 by my good friend man guest, have ticket here, and 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.320 today we're talking about President because the President isn't someone 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.560 we talk about enough these days, right. You know, I 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:32.840 feel like i've seen him in the news recently, like 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.520 he said a few things and done a few things 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.679 recently a couple and a few of those things have 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.559 been a little strange, don't you think, I mean, maybe 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:43.600 just a little. But here's the thing. I think the 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.199 number of odd things we're hearing and seeing these days 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.720 are making us forget just how weird many of our 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.680 past presidents were, and we should appreciate them for it. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:53.800 So that's what I want to talk about. I think 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:55.960 we should give people a little break from hearing about 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:57.920 our current leader of the free world and talk about 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.040 the weird personalities who have occupied this office in the past. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.040 You know, you and I have been revisiting one of 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.640 our favorite books about the president's Cormack O'Brien's Secret Lives 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.079 of the US Presidents, and I know there's a ton 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.920 of fascinating stuff in there too. So let's talk history. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.040 That's a great idea, and I think we should tell 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.079 our listeners about our big plan. Uh are you sure? 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.800 I mean, why not? Okay, So listeners, A few months back, 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.080 Will and I discovered a piece of property located on 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.840 the mountain side. And on that mountain side we noticed 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.639 a rock that looked so much like our eighth President, 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.680 Martin Van Buren. And side note, he was the only U. 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.560 S President who learned English as a second language. That's right, 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.320 his first language was Dutch. And that's crazy how much 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.440 this rock looked like him though, you know, with the 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.079 eyes and the nose and the hair. It was just striking, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.320 almost scary. So we thought, it's been ninety years since 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.240 construction on Mount Rushmore started, and Mount Rushmore is so 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.560 far from where we are in Atlanta, we really need 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.320 another mountain with the faces of former presidents carved into it. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:56.760 So let's figure this out. And wouldn't you know it 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.600 that properties for sale. Now. We can't tell you guys 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.600 where it is because we don't want anyone else to 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.120 beat us to this idea. How no one else has 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:06.440 noticed the face of old Marty v b and that mountain? 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.000 I have no idea, Yeah, we really need to act quickly, 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.240 but first we've got to decide whose faces are going 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.320 to be in this mountain. I feel like it shouldn't 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.200 be as generic as great presidents. Speaking of which, while 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.560 I was doing a little research on our competition, I 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.320 learned that Mount Rushmore was originally supposed to be just 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.320 Washington and Lincoln. It was only once they started working 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.560 on it that they decided to add Thomas Jefferson and 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:32.200 Teddy Roosevelt because they wanted to create a manifest destiny theme. 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:34.600 You know. It's that idea that the US and it's 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.760 settlers were destined to expand across the continent, which I 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.400 guess plays well into the fact that Rushmore was basically 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.400 built to lure a new breed of car bound tourists totally. 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.560 By the way, did you know in seven Congress briefly 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.040 toyed with adding Susan B. Anthony into the mix? Didn't anyway, 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.200 I think our monument needs to be something much more 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.760 specific and weird, especially if we're gonna work Old M. 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.280 Van B's face on there. Now. While I agree, I 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.280 don't want to commit to having the Martin ter in 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.960 this mountain just yet, but I definitely think we should 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.520 have a strange and memorable theme to it. Okay, I 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.720 think we can agree. We're on the same page. Let's 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.960 talk themes. What are you thinking? Well, I have a 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.240 few ideas, and I know you do too. But if 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.400 we're considering including Vanny be, is it okay to call 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.520 Martin Van Buren Vanny b Definitely? But if we're considering 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:20.560 Vanny b I think we should have a wall of 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.880 presidents who believed in the weirdest health remedies. I'd say 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.039 that's pretty specific, but I can already see the sponsorship 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.760 angles from kombucha companies and big Ginka. Okay, hit me 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.640 with it. What's Van buren'sinfa Well, it turns out Old 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.560 Marty was dealing with some pretty chronic stomach issues, and 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:40.120 many scholars think his health declined because of the Panic 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.279 of eighteen thirty seven, which was the economic recession that 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.040 lasted the better part of a decade or so. So 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.680 in order to give his stomach some relief, he decided, 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.560 for some reason, to mix up a soothing elixir of soot, charcoal, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.520 and water. Your mom never gave you chimney water to 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.400 settle your tongue tongue. I mean, if you had an 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.280 irritable stomach to begin with, I can't imagine what this 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.280 mixture would do. It's hard to imagine it helped at all. Yeah, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.400 it does not sound tasty, But I like this unusual 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.760 health remedies idea. I've got one to add to it, 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:14.599 old vasoline head himself, Calvin Coolidge vasolene head. I always 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.479 thought Calvin Coolidge was so boring, and that the most 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.440 interesting part about him was his pranks, which were also boring. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.000 Like in the White House he used to ring the 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.200 buzzer for the maids and ushers to come and then 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.040 runaway or gleefully hide for them, which just kind of 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.359 makes him sound like an idiot. But Coolidge was so 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.680 much weirder than that. Apparently he enjoyed having petroleum jelly 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.360 rubbed all over his head every morning while he enjoyed 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.159 his breakfast in bed. I don't know exactly why he 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:42.680 thought this was a good idea for his health, but 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.719 he did. Lord, that's weird. It's it's it's an excellent addition, 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.440 all right. So let's stick with that one. And then 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.719 I think we should include John Quincy Adams for his 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.520 love of ice baths and skinny dipping. So he would 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.080 apparently take these five am naked swims as a way 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.600 to relieve stress. And this wasn't exactly secret journalist and 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:02.080 Royal reportedly ended a big interview with John Quincy Adams 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.279 by hiding his clothes after he got in the water. 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:06.800 She then refused to give them back until he answered 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.840 her questions, which, of course he did. That's brilliant. I 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:11.880 know you can't imagine a reporter getting that sort of 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.719 access to a president these days. Of course, he wasn't 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.600 our only president who liked ice baths. Thomas Jefferson did too, 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.360 at least for his feet, and he claimed these daily 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.440 cold footpaths, which he did for six decades, were the 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.839 main reason he lived into his eighties. And I know 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.760 he's already on Rushmore, but that's pretty good, right, Definitely 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.760 let's keep him in the mix. I think that's a 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:37.159 solid foresome Van Buren, Coolidge, John Quincy Adams and Jefferson. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.240 I'd put my kids in a station wagon and drive 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.680 them to see those weirdos, all right, So that's one option. Now, 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:44.960 what were you thinking we should do with this mountain? Well? 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.279 Sticking with this idea of shaky or non existent science. 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.839 Let's jump to twentieth century presidents and a slightly different category, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.920 presidents with superstitious or supernatural beliefs. All right, okay, so 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.600 who do you have in mind for me? The most 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.559 surprising superstitious president was f d R. I'm not sure why, 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.640 but I think of him as a dealmaker and a 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.000 pretty reasonable president. But he had some big quirks. He 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.000 wouldn't sit at a table set for thirteen, he refused 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.360 to begin to trip on a Friday, and he wouldn't 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.760 light three cigarettes off the same match. But as Cormac 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.400 O'Brien points out, after FDR died, the funeral train that 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:24.560 carried his body from Georgia it started its journey on Friday. Well, 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.280 he was pretty superstitious. So as a side note, I 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.760 was thinking about how much things have changed in terms 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.800 of interaction between the president and the press since FDR's 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.280 time in office. It's just so strange to think that 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.520 he had this gentleman's agreement with the press that they 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.600 wouldn't photograph him in his wheelchair and they were okay 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.480 with it. It's funny I had read that a lot 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.360 as well. This kind of romanticized view of the press. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.760 But Matthew Pressman, a professor and journalist, studied this and 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.960 found the FDR's disabilities were actually written about quite a lot. 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.560 There were New York Times mentions of the ramps he'd 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.920 put up for access at the White House, or how 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.800 Roosevelt would tool around Hyde Park in his chair. But 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.040 most of the narrative, and this is something that FDR 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:05.240 and the press seemed to sell to the public, was 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.680 that he was on his way to defeating his disability 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.800 through vigorous swims and forcing himself to walk with braces. 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.280 Also that whole gentleman's agreement thing. He'd often send his 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.120 secret servicemen after anyone taking a photo of him to 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:21.040 basically break their cameras. He was a little more thuggish 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.720 about protecting his image than people think. I'd say, Well, 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.640 there's no denying he was superstitious, though, So back to 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.480 our monument. Do you think we should add Reagan to 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.800 the list of presidents who had unusual beliefs? You mean 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.240 because of his astrologer? Well, exactly. So It's fair to 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.440 say that Ronald and Nancy were pretty superstitious to begin with. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.640 But after the attempted assassination on Reagan when he was 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:44.520 shot back in nine that superstition got cranked up a 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.120 few notches for Nancy. The astrologer Joan quickly entered the 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.160 picture and began advising Nancy on how they could avoid tragedy, 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.800 and after quickly looked at the president's star charts, they 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.960 developed his entire schedule around them. Everything he did was 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.920 affected by his chart. It's including the takeoff and landing 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.280 times of Air Force fun. Let me repeat that in 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.720 the nineteen eighties an astrologer was helping to determine the 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.600 takeoff and landing times of Air Force one. That's so, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.559 I wonder if this even affected the timing of their 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.160 movie watching. I'd forgotten until reading O'Brien's book that Nancy 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.240 had also been an actor, and that the two of 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.320 them found time almost every day to watch movies. And actually, 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.280 there's this great story where Reagan's chief of staff, Jim Baker, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.960 questioned the president on why he hadn't opened a briefing 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.520 that he dropped off the night before, and Reagan just 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.480 calmly explained, well, Jim, the sound of music was on 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.599 last night. I really like your Reagan impression. That's impressive, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.080 and the sound of music is a great movie, so 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.400 I kind of get it, all right. So here's another one. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.520 You were just telling me the other day about Jimmy 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.040 Carter and the old UFO signing, so we should probably 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.640 add that to the list. Definitely. So this happened before 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.240 his time as president. This was back in nineteen sixty 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.560 nine at a Lions Club meeting in Georgia. He and 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.440 some friends reported an object as bright as the moon 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.520 to the International UFOB euro and to this day, Carter 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.800 is the only president to have reported seeing a UFO, 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.600 and he stood by his account, saying it was the 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.960 darnest thing I've ever seen. All right. So if we 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.719 go with this theme, we have Fdr for his superstition, 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.520 Reagan for his astrologer, Carter for his UFOs citing, and 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:18.960 maybe one more. So while we think on that, what 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:27.880 do you say we play a game? Sounds great? So 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:29.360 our guest today is the author of one of our 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.320 favorite books about the history of the presidency. It's called 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.080 Secret Lives of the U S Presidents, and it's recently 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.720 been updated and rereleased with new information on our most 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.720 recent presidents. Cormac O'Brien. Welcome to Part time Genius. Thanks 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.000 for having me so so, Cormac, have you always been 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.800 a huge history of buff Yes, good answer. Yeah. I 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.120 knew that I was going to be into history from 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.520 a pretty early age, Cormac. Today's episode is about some 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.040 of them are bizarre behaviors of our past presidents, and Uh, 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.200 when you're doing your sarch for this book, I was wondering, 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.360 if you're surprised just how weird some presidents could be. Well, 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.520 yes and no, You're right, so many of them are 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.800 have been really strange. But on the other hand, I've 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.080 often wondered why someone would want to be president in 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:18.960 the first place, given how you know, the rigors of 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.559 the office, demands of the office, and it seems like 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.200 a losing proposition. Uh. You know, no, no matter what 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.360 you achieve, people are going to remember you for your faults, 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.400 for your flaws, for your failures, as well as whatever 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.680 you achieve, And it almost seems impossible, especially uh, in 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:40.520 modern times when you're under such intense scrutiny. So yes, 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.680 on the one hand, Um, a lot of these guys 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:49.880 have been strange or unusual, quirky, bizarre, But on the 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.439 other hand, should we be surprised because they're drawn to 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.040 the office in the first place, I guess to that end, 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.400 I mean, is there anyone that you feel gets a 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:03.040 particularly bad rap end, is there's a little more sympathy. Um, 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.160 that's a good question. I think A great example of 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:09.840 what we're talking about is Harry Truman. Because Truman when 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:15.040 he left office had the lowest approval rating in modern times. UM. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.400 Up until that time, no one had ever had such 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.280 low approval ratings. And now he's a hero. And it 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:28.240 took decades for his reputation historically to bounce back, which 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.960 is interesting. And and historians and journalists started looking, you know, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:38.439 once they had that, you know, enough years away from 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.760 his actual administration, they were able to look with a 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.480 clearer eye at what he had achieved. And now he's 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.200 he's regarded as, uh, you know, pretty much a total success. 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:54.000 And I've often looked at that as really instructive. We're 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.079 you know, when you're living in the times, it's very 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:02.040 different from when you're looking back at it, um. And uh. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.840 And so you know, I mean I've often thought that 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.680 the worst president we ever had was Andrew Johnson, uh, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.520 mainly because he was an unabashed bigot at a time 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:18.520 when we were trying to reconstruct the South. Uh, African 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.080 Americans needed someone on their side in the White House, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:28.319 and that was not Andrew John Um And he was impeached, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.920 he was not convicted. But there's a man whose reputation 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:37.000 has never bounced back. Uh, perhaps justifiably. Yeah, well what 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.800 about do you have a favorite president to read or 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:41.720 write about? It doesn't matter whether they were a good 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.640 president or an effective president in any favorites. Yeah, Theodore Roosevelt, 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:53.960 uh is talk about quirky. Uh, this was this was this. 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.760 This is an extraordinary man by any measure, probably the 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.800 first Polly Maath to be in the White House since Jefferson. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.880 I mean, he did everything. He was. He was a scientist, 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:09.640 a naturalist, a hunter, He was a scholar. His you know, 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:14.599 his work on the naval aspect of the War of 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.439 eighteen twelve is still standard reading for that war. I 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.400 mean he just he just dove into that as a 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:25.160 as a young scholar. And uh, he was a cowboy. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.320 He was. He would go on what he called his 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.480 point to point sojourns, where he would pick a point 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.480 in the wilderness and take his guests on a hike 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:38.920 to that point, and they would have to overcome whatever 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:44.200 obstacles they came across, no matter how arduous that would be. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.720 What do you say, you know he was? He was 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.520 kind of like a larger than like personality. Yeah. Yeah. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.600 And your your your entry or your chapter on Teddy 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.880 Roosevelt and your book was was terrific. Well, thank you 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.760 all right, So, speaking of leaders, we're gonna play a 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.040 play a quiz with you today, Cormack. What are we 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.040 playing today? Mango? We're playing a game called Not My President. 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.560 Because Cormack knows way too much about US presidents, we 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.760 thought it'd be fun to test him on other world leaders. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.720 That's right. So this this game is pretty easy. All 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.720 you have to do is determine who or where this 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.720 leader is from based on the nickname and question. And 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.640 I have a feeling you're going to do pretty well 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.640 at it. So you're ready to play? I'm ready? Is 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:26.280 ready alight? Here we go question number one. Although nicknames 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.520 for this world leader include Botox and the Pale Moth 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.920 for his smooth skin, George W. Bush just called him 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:37.320 Pootie poot You got it? He paused for a second, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.440 he's like, wait a minute, it actually this easy, so 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.480 it is alright. Question number two. This Prime Minister has 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.960 the nickname of a lesser Margaret Thatcher, the steel Lady. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.600 That's right. Question number three. This Chancellor was originally called 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.600 mother as an insult, but she and her followers have 0:15:55.680 --> 0:16:02.040 embraced the term. Oh, that's right, good job, alright. Question 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.720 number four. In China, this Canadian dream boat is called 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.240 little Potato, which sounds like his last name in Mandarin. 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:17.800 Uh Trudeau. That's right, alright, to last Yeah, I thought 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.640 that was fun, alright. Question number five, This one's a toughie. 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.240 President Muhammad Bahari of this large African nation has the 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.120 nickname Baba go Slow for his reluctance to appoint a cabinet, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.520 though was The Atlantic points out, he was quick to 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:38.680 name himself oil minister. Can you name the country that 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:44.240 is one? Um, Nigeria. That's right, absolutely right, alright. Last 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.800 question here, he's he's five for five so far right, Okay, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.440 let's see if we can get Officially, he's the Supreme 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.720 Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but in 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.960 neighboring countries he's simply known as King Fatty the third 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.720 a six or six. Well, alright, so what is Cormack 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:08.760 one today, Mango? Well, Cormack's astounding job at at our 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.040 quiz and titles them to our grand prize, which is 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.320 our hard earned admiration. Cormack, thanks so much for joining 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.359 us on Part Time Genius. Thanks for having me. It 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:27.720 was fun. Welcome back to Part Time Genius. As you know, 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.080 we're talking about this mountain side where we're going to 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.080 develop a competitor to Mount Rushmore, but it's going to 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.359 have a much weirder and more specific thing. We're probably 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.560 gonna need to find some investors for this, but it 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.879 seems like such a no brainer that I'm sure that 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.800 won't be a problem anyway, give me another idea for 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.200 our weird president's mountain side. Well, what if we had 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.280 one for weird presidential records? People do love records, So 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:51.960 what do you have in mind? All right, So John 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.000 Tyler had fifteen kids, which is a record among presidents, 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.320 so that that one seems obvious. But it's not even 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.919 the most impressive thing about Tyler's offspring. No, it's not. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.960 I assume you're talking about the fact that two of 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:06.520 John Tyler's grandsons are still a lot. One of Tyler's 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.960 sons had two sons of his own very late in life, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.600 and so Tyler was around when George Washington was in office, 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.800 and yet he still has two living grandsons. How crazy 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.040 is that? It feels unbelievable. So what other records should 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.560 we consider? How about the fewest votes for someone who 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.480 has served as vice president and president, and that would 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:28.560 be zero votes. That's Gerald Ford because he became president 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.840 in ninety four after Nixon resigned, and before that he'd 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.239 only been Vice president for eight months, a role that 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.359 he stepped into when Spiro Agnew resigned. It is pretty 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.040 crazy to imagine serving in both of those roles without 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.200 ever having received a single vote for the position. Now. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.200 Ford will also add some athleticism to our mountains, since 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.879 he was a linebacker at Michigan and College. Actually, did 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.640 you know that he started on the team that won 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.280 two national titles and he was a model. Yeah. It's 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.240 so bizarre that for all his grace and athleticism, he's 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.320 mostly known as a Klotz. After his fall on the 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.280 stairs of air was one of course, uh Chevy Chase 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.600 helped to cement that reputation. I'd so, but yeah, I 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:07.919 think gerald Ford's record earns him a spot on the mountain. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.120 And I've got another one. How about the least married president, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:15.080 James Buchan. Yep, he's still the only president never to 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.480 have married. But he was a partier. Some have described 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.480 his time in office as one long party. Even on Sundays, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.120 when he was taking his carriage ride to church, Buchanan 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.480 would have them stop at the local distillery to pick 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.680 up a ten gallon cask. Nice. All right. So that's 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.920 Tyler for having the most children, Forward for fewest votes 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:36.040 for someone who served as VP and president with zero, 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.280 and Buchanan for least married. I think we need one more, 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.280 really dumb one. What do you got? Oh, I've got one? Uh? 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.760 How about most brothers named Ike? Dwight Eisenhower, also known 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.520 as Ike, didn't exactly have a unique nickname, at least 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.320 within his own family. It turns out all six of 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.679 the Eisenhower brothers were nicknamed Ike at some point. I 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.359 guess they like Dike. But I like this group for 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.560 the possible mountain wall. So let's keep it in the mix. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.800 All right, what's next? I've been thinking about one that 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.119 could be weird but fun. And that's a collection of 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.600 presidents tied to amusing writing. All right, so where are 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.480 you going with this one? Well, it's such a fun 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:14.640 way to get a better sense of the real personalities 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.879 the past presidents like. Take Nixon for example, he had 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.720 a reputation for being aloof even with his wife Pat 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:22.760 and their daughters. In fact, do you know how he 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.399 communicated with them much of the time through memos, And 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.879 not only that, he often signed them the president. Wow? Wow, 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.280 how warm and fuzzy. I still think one of my 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.760 favorite stories about Nixon was about how he asked his 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:36.920 future wife Pat to marry him on one of their 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.399 first dates, and when she said no, you know what 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.960 he did? What's up? He agreed to drive her around 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:46.840 out on dates with other guys for two years. That's 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.520 so bizarre. I guess that's as close as Nixon got 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:53.040 too romantic. Well, sticking with the romance theme and another 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.200 president's writings, it's nice to see how sweet Woodrow Wilson 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.680 was on his wife Woodrow Wilson. Really, Yeah, they're literally 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.560 thousands of letters Wilson wrote to his wife. We think 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.200 of Wilson as this somewhat stoic and often reserved guy. 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.840 But these love letters drip with passion and desire. I 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:11.639 do know that Wilson is connected with one of the 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.439 more embarrassing typos related to the president's activities. Oh the 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.320 Washington Post one. Yep. So, not long after Wilson's first wife, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.359 Ellen passed away, he met Edith Bowling Galt, and the 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.840 two of them began spending more time together and went 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.520 out on a date to the theater. The Washington Post 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:30.320