Speaker 1: Guess what will? What's that mango? So I love invented games,
Speaker 1: like the idea of things like Worlie ball, which is
Speaker 1: just like lacrosse played from bumper cars, or elephant polo.
Speaker 1: But my new obsession is Hoover Ball, like President Hoover. Yeah,
Speaker 1: apparently Hoover's physician told him he needed to lose weight
Speaker 1: and be more fit, so they designed this game that's
Speaker 1: like tennis meets volleyball, but is played with a medicine ball.
Speaker 1: It actually sounds really fun. You can only do certain
Speaker 1: types of throws from certain places on the court, and
Speaker 1: players actually get sent out of the game for making
Speaker 1: errors and how they catch the ball. But as I
Speaker 1: was reading up on Hoover and how addicted he was
Speaker 1: to the sport, like he played every single morning with
Speaker 1: his medicine ball cabinet and he only canceled the game once,
Speaker 1: well it made me wonder about American presidents and what
Speaker 1: their weird hobbies are. I mean, none of my American
Speaker 1: history textbooks had any mention of Hoover Ball. But what
Speaker 1: else don't we know about presidents and what juicy, ridiculous
Speaker 1: secrets are they hiding? And that's what today's show is
Speaker 1: all about, right, say their podcast listeners. Welcome to Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined
Speaker 1: by my good friend man guest, have ticket here, and
Speaker 1: today we're talking about President because the President isn't someone
Speaker 1: we talk about enough these days, right. You know, I
Speaker 1: feel like i've seen him in the news recently, like
Speaker 1: he said a few things and done a few things
Speaker 1: recently a couple and a few of those things have
Speaker 1: been a little strange, don't you think, I mean, maybe
Speaker 1: just a little. But here's the thing. I think the
Speaker 1: number of odd things we're hearing and seeing these days
Speaker 1: are making us forget just how weird many of our
Speaker 1: past presidents were, and we should appreciate them for it.
Speaker 1: So that's what I want to talk about. I think
Speaker 1: we should give people a little break from hearing about
Speaker 1: our current leader of the free world and talk about
Speaker 1: the weird personalities who have occupied this office in the past.
Speaker 1: You know, you and I have been revisiting one of
Speaker 1: our favorite books about the president's Cormack O'Brien's Secret Lives
Speaker 1: of the US Presidents, and I know there's a ton
Speaker 1: of fascinating stuff in there too. So let's talk history.
Speaker 1: That's a great idea, and I think we should tell
Speaker 1: our listeners about our big plan. Uh are you sure?
Speaker 1: I mean, why not? Okay, So listeners, A few months back,
Speaker 1: Will and I discovered a piece of property located on
Speaker 1: the mountain side. And on that mountain side we noticed
Speaker 1: a rock that looked so much like our eighth President,
Speaker 1: Martin Van Buren. And side note, he was the only U.
Speaker 1: S President who learned English as a second language. That's right,
Speaker 1: his first language was Dutch. And that's crazy how much
Speaker 1: this rock looked like him though, you know, with the
Speaker 1: eyes and the nose and the hair. It was just striking,
Speaker 1: almost scary. So we thought, it's been ninety years since
Speaker 1: construction on Mount Rushmore started, and Mount Rushmore is so
Speaker 1: far from where we are in Atlanta, we really need
Speaker 1: another mountain with the faces of former presidents carved into it.
Speaker 1: So let's figure this out. And wouldn't you know it
Speaker 1: that properties for sale. Now. We can't tell you guys
Speaker 1: where it is because we don't want anyone else to
Speaker 1: beat us to this idea. How no one else has
Speaker 1: noticed the face of old Marty v b and that mountain?
Speaker 1: I have no idea, Yeah, we really need to act quickly,
Speaker 1: but first we've got to decide whose faces are going
Speaker 1: to be in this mountain. I feel like it shouldn't
Speaker 1: be as generic as great presidents. Speaking of which, while
Speaker 1: I was doing a little research on our competition, I
Speaker 1: learned that Mount Rushmore was originally supposed to be just
Speaker 1: Washington and Lincoln. It was only once they started working
Speaker 1: on it that they decided to add Thomas Jefferson and
Speaker 1: Teddy Roosevelt because they wanted to create a manifest destiny theme.
Speaker 1: You know. It's that idea that the US and it's
Speaker 1: settlers were destined to expand across the continent, which I
Speaker 1: guess plays well into the fact that Rushmore was basically
Speaker 1: built to lure a new breed of car bound tourists totally.
Speaker 1: By the way, did you know in seven Congress briefly
Speaker 1: toyed with adding Susan B. Anthony into the mix? Didn't anyway,
Speaker 1: I think our monument needs to be something much more
Speaker 1: specific and weird, especially if we're gonna work Old M.
Speaker 1: Van B's face on there. Now. While I agree, I
Speaker 1: don't want to commit to having the Martin ter in
Speaker 1: this mountain just yet, but I definitely think we should
Speaker 1: have a strange and memorable theme to it. Okay, I
Speaker 1: think we can agree. We're on the same page. Let's
Speaker 1: talk themes. What are you thinking? Well, I have a
Speaker 1: few ideas, and I know you do too. But if
Speaker 1: we're considering including Vanny be, is it okay to call
Speaker 1: Martin Van Buren Vanny b Definitely? But if we're considering
Speaker 1: Vanny b I think we should have a wall of
Speaker 1: presidents who believed in the weirdest health remedies. I'd say
Speaker 1: that's pretty specific, but I can already see the sponsorship
Speaker 1: angles from kombucha companies and big Ginka. Okay, hit me
Speaker 1: with it. What's Van buren'sinfa Well, it turns out Old
Speaker 1: Marty was dealing with some pretty chronic stomach issues, and
Speaker 1: many scholars think his health declined because of the Panic
Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty seven, which was the economic recession that
Speaker 1: lasted the better part of a decade or so. So
Speaker 1: in order to give his stomach some relief, he decided,
Speaker 1: for some reason, to mix up a soothing elixir of soot, charcoal,
Speaker 1: and water. Your mom never gave you chimney water to
Speaker 1: settle your tongue tongue. I mean, if you had an
Speaker 1: irritable stomach to begin with, I can't imagine what this
Speaker 1: mixture would do. It's hard to imagine it helped at all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does not sound tasty, But I like this unusual
Speaker 1: health remedies idea. I've got one to add to it,
Speaker 1: old vasoline head himself, Calvin Coolidge vasolene head. I always
Speaker 1: thought Calvin Coolidge was so boring, and that the most
Speaker 1: interesting part about him was his pranks, which were also boring.
Speaker 1: Like in the White House he used to ring the
Speaker 1: buzzer for the maids and ushers to come and then
Speaker 1: runaway or gleefully hide for them, which just kind of
Speaker 1: makes him sound like an idiot. But Coolidge was so
Speaker 1: much weirder than that. Apparently he enjoyed having petroleum jelly
Speaker 1: rubbed all over his head every morning while he enjoyed
Speaker 1: his breakfast in bed. I don't know exactly why he
Speaker 1: thought this was a good idea for his health, but
Speaker 1: he did. Lord, that's weird. It's it's it's an excellent addition,
Speaker 1: all right. So let's stick with that one. And then
Speaker 1: I think we should include John Quincy Adams for his
Speaker 1: love of ice baths and skinny dipping. So he would
Speaker 1: apparently take these five am naked swims as a way
Speaker 1: to relieve stress. And this wasn't exactly secret journalist and
Speaker 1: Royal reportedly ended a big interview with John Quincy Adams
Speaker 1: by hiding his clothes after he got in the water.
Speaker 1: She then refused to give them back until he answered
Speaker 1: her questions, which, of course he did. That's brilliant. I
Speaker 1: know you can't imagine a reporter getting that sort of
Speaker 1: access to a president these days. Of course, he wasn't
Speaker 1: our only president who liked ice baths. Thomas Jefferson did too,
Speaker 1: at least for his feet, and he claimed these daily
Speaker 1: cold footpaths, which he did for six decades, were the
Speaker 1: main reason he lived into his eighties. And I know
Speaker 1: he's already on Rushmore, but that's pretty good, right, Definitely
Speaker 1: let's keep him in the mix. I think that's a
Speaker 1: solid foresome Van Buren, Coolidge, John Quincy Adams and Jefferson.
Speaker 1: I'd put my kids in a station wagon and drive
Speaker 1: them to see those weirdos, all right, So that's one option. Now,
Speaker 1: what were you thinking we should do with this mountain? Well?
Speaker 1: Sticking with this idea of shaky or non existent science.
Speaker 1: Let's jump to twentieth century presidents and a slightly different category,
Speaker 1: presidents with superstitious or supernatural beliefs. All right, okay, so
Speaker 1: who do you have in mind for me? The most
Speaker 1: surprising superstitious president was f d R. I'm not sure why,
Speaker 1: but I think of him as a dealmaker and a
Speaker 1: pretty reasonable president. But he had some big quirks. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't sit at a table set for thirteen, he refused
Speaker 1: to begin to trip on a Friday, and he wouldn't
Speaker 1: light three cigarettes off the same match. But as Cormac
Speaker 1: O'Brien points out, after FDR died, the funeral train that
Speaker 1: carried his body from Georgia it started its journey on Friday. Well,
Speaker 1: he was pretty superstitious. So as a side note, I
Speaker 1: was thinking about how much things have changed in terms
Speaker 1: of interaction between the president and the press since FDR's
Speaker 1: time in office. It's just so strange to think that
Speaker 1: he had this gentleman's agreement with the press that they
Speaker 1: wouldn't photograph him in his wheelchair and they were okay
Speaker 1: with it. It's funny I had read that a lot
Speaker 1: as well. This kind of romanticized view of the press.
Speaker 1: But Matthew Pressman, a professor and journalist, studied this and
Speaker 1: found the FDR's disabilities were actually written about quite a lot.
Speaker 1: There were New York Times mentions of the ramps he'd
Speaker 1: put up for access at the White House, or how
Speaker 1: Roosevelt would tool around Hyde Park in his chair. But
Speaker 1: most of the narrative, and this is something that FDR
Speaker 1: and the press seemed to sell to the public, was
Speaker 1: that he was on his way to defeating his disability
Speaker 1: through vigorous swims and forcing himself to walk with braces.
Speaker 1: Also that whole gentleman's agreement thing. He'd often send his
Speaker 1: secret servicemen after anyone taking a photo of him to
Speaker 1: basically break their cameras. He was a little more thuggish
Speaker 1: about protecting his image than people think. I'd say, Well,
Speaker 1: there's no denying he was superstitious, though, So back to
Speaker 1: our monument. Do you think we should add Reagan to
Speaker 1: the list of presidents who had unusual beliefs? You mean
Speaker 1: because of his astrologer? Well, exactly. So It's fair to
Speaker 1: say that Ronald and Nancy were pretty superstitious to begin with.
Speaker 1: But after the attempted assassination on Reagan when he was
Speaker 1: shot back in nine that superstition got cranked up a
Speaker 1: few notches for Nancy. The astrologer Joan quickly entered the
Speaker 1: picture and began advising Nancy on how they could avoid tragedy,
Speaker 1: and after quickly looked at the president's star charts, they
Speaker 1: developed his entire schedule around them. Everything he did was
Speaker 1: affected by his chart. It's including the takeoff and landing
Speaker 1: times of Air Force fun. Let me repeat that in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties an astrologer was helping to determine the
Speaker 1: takeoff and landing times of Air Force one. That's so,
Speaker 1: I wonder if this even affected the timing of their
Speaker 1: movie watching. I'd forgotten until reading O'Brien's book that Nancy
Speaker 1: had also been an actor, and that the two of
Speaker 1: them found time almost every day to watch movies. And actually,
Speaker 1: there's this great story where Reagan's chief of staff, Jim Baker,
Speaker 1: questioned the president on why he hadn't opened a briefing
Speaker 1: that he dropped off the night before, and Reagan just
Speaker 1: calmly explained, well, Jim, the sound of music was on
Speaker 1: last night. I really like your Reagan impression. That's impressive,
Speaker 1: and the sound of music is a great movie, so
Speaker 1: I kind of get it, all right. So here's another one.
Speaker 1: You were just telling me the other day about Jimmy
Speaker 1: Carter and the old UFO signing, so we should probably
Speaker 1: add that to the list. Definitely. So this happened before
Speaker 1: his time as president. This was back in nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: nine at a Lions Club meeting in Georgia. He and
Speaker 1: some friends reported an object as bright as the moon
Speaker 1: to the International UFOB euro and to this day, Carter
Speaker 1: is the only president to have reported seeing a UFO,
Speaker 1: and he stood by his account, saying it was the
Speaker 1: darnest thing I've ever seen. All right. So if we
Speaker 1: go with this theme, we have Fdr for his superstition,
Speaker 1: Reagan for his astrologer, Carter for his UFOs citing, and
Speaker 1: maybe one more. So while we think on that, what
Speaker 1: do you say we play a game? Sounds great? So
Speaker 1: our guest today is the author of one of our
Speaker 1: favorite books about the history of the presidency. It's called
Speaker 1: Secret Lives of the U S Presidents, and it's recently
Speaker 1: been updated and rereleased with new information on our most
Speaker 1: recent presidents. Cormac O'Brien. Welcome to Part time Genius. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me so so, Cormac, have you always been
Speaker 1: a huge history of buff Yes, good answer. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: knew that I was going to be into history from
Speaker 1: a pretty early age, Cormac. Today's episode is about some
Speaker 1: of them are bizarre behaviors of our past presidents, and Uh,
Speaker 1: when you're doing your sarch for this book, I was wondering,
Speaker 1: if you're surprised just how weird some presidents could be. Well,
Speaker 1: yes and no, You're right, so many of them are
Speaker 1: have been really strange. But on the other hand, I've
Speaker 1: often wondered why someone would want to be president in
Speaker 1: the first place, given how you know, the rigors of
Speaker 1: the office, demands of the office, and it seems like
Speaker 1: a losing proposition. Uh. You know, no, no matter what
Speaker 1: you achieve, people are going to remember you for your faults,
Speaker 1: for your flaws, for your failures, as well as whatever
Speaker 1: you achieve, And it almost seems impossible, especially uh, in
Speaker 1: modern times when you're under such intense scrutiny. So yes,
Speaker 1: on the one hand, Um, a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: have been strange or unusual, quirky, bizarre, But on the
Speaker 1: other hand, should we be surprised because they're drawn to
Speaker 1: the office in the first place, I guess to that end,
Speaker 1: I mean, is there anyone that you feel gets a
Speaker 1: particularly bad rap end, is there's a little more sympathy. Um,
Speaker 1: that's a good question. I think A great example of
Speaker 1: what we're talking about is Harry Truman. Because Truman when
Speaker 1: he left office had the lowest approval rating in modern times. UM.
Speaker 1: Up until that time, no one had ever had such
Speaker 1: low approval ratings. And now he's a hero. And it
Speaker 1: took decades for his reputation historically to bounce back, which
Speaker 1: is interesting. And and historians and journalists started looking, you know,
Speaker 1: once they had that, you know, enough years away from
Speaker 1: his actual administration, they were able to look with a
Speaker 1: clearer eye at what he had achieved. And now he's
Speaker 1: he's regarded as, uh, you know, pretty much a total success.
Speaker 1: And I've often looked at that as really instructive. We're
Speaker 1: you know, when you're living in the times, it's very
Speaker 1: different from when you're looking back at it, um. And uh.
Speaker 1: And so you know, I mean I've often thought that
Speaker 1: the worst president we ever had was Andrew Johnson, uh,
Speaker 1: mainly because he was an unabashed bigot at a time
Speaker 1: when we were trying to reconstruct the South. Uh, African
Speaker 1: Americans needed someone on their side in the White House,
Speaker 1: and that was not Andrew John Um And he was impeached,
Speaker 1: he was not convicted. But there's a man whose reputation
Speaker 1: has never bounced back. Uh, perhaps justifiably. Yeah, well what
Speaker 1: about do you have a favorite president to read or
Speaker 1: write about? It doesn't matter whether they were a good
Speaker 1: president or an effective president in any favorites. Yeah, Theodore Roosevelt,
Speaker 1: uh is talk about quirky. Uh, this was this was this.
Speaker 1: This is an extraordinary man by any measure, probably the
Speaker 1: first Polly Maath to be in the White House since Jefferson.
Speaker 1: I mean, he did everything. He was. He was a scientist,
Speaker 1: a naturalist, a hunter, He was a scholar. His you know,
Speaker 1: his work on the naval aspect of the War of
Speaker 1: eighteen twelve is still standard reading for that war. I
Speaker 1: mean he just he just dove into that as a
Speaker 1: as a young scholar. And uh, he was a cowboy.
Speaker 1: He was. He would go on what he called his
Speaker 1: point to point sojourns, where he would pick a point
Speaker 1: in the wilderness and take his guests on a hike
Speaker 1: to that point, and they would have to overcome whatever
Speaker 1: obstacles they came across, no matter how arduous that would be.
Speaker 1: What do you say, you know he was? He was
Speaker 1: kind of like a larger than like personality. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And your your your entry or your chapter on Teddy
Speaker 1: Roosevelt and your book was was terrific. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: all right, So, speaking of leaders, we're gonna play a
Speaker 1: play a quiz with you today, Cormack. What are we
Speaker 1: playing today? Mango? We're playing a game called Not My President.
Speaker 1: Because Cormack knows way too much about US presidents, we
Speaker 1: thought it'd be fun to test him on other world leaders.
Speaker 1: That's right. So this this game is pretty easy. All
Speaker 1: you have to do is determine who or where this
Speaker 1: leader is from based on the nickname and question. And
Speaker 1: I have a feeling you're going to do pretty well
Speaker 1: at it. So you're ready to play? I'm ready? Is
Speaker 1: ready alight? Here we go question number one. Although nicknames
Speaker 1: for this world leader include Botox and the Pale Moth
Speaker 1: for his smooth skin, George W. Bush just called him
Speaker 1: Pootie poot You got it? He paused for a second,
Speaker 1: he's like, wait a minute, it actually this easy, so
Speaker 1: it is alright. Question number two. This Prime Minister has
Speaker 1: the nickname of a lesser Margaret Thatcher, the steel Lady.
Speaker 1: That's right. Question number three. This Chancellor was originally called
Speaker 1: mother as an insult, but she and her followers have
Speaker 1: embraced the term. Oh, that's right, good job, alright. Question
Speaker 1: number four. In China, this Canadian dream boat is called
Speaker 1: little Potato, which sounds like his last name in Mandarin.
Speaker 1: Uh Trudeau. That's right, alright, to last Yeah, I thought
Speaker 1: that was fun, alright. Question number five, This one's a toughie.
Speaker 1: President Muhammad Bahari of this large African nation has the
Speaker 1: nickname Baba go Slow for his reluctance to appoint a cabinet,
Speaker 1: though was The Atlantic points out, he was quick to
Speaker 1: name himself oil minister. Can you name the country that
Speaker 1: is one? Um, Nigeria. That's right, absolutely right, alright. Last
Speaker 1: question here, he's he's five for five so far right, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see if we can get Officially, he's the Supreme
Speaker 1: Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but in
Speaker 1: neighboring countries he's simply known as King Fatty the third
Speaker 1: a six or six. Well, alright, so what is Cormack
Speaker 1: one today, Mango? Well, Cormack's astounding job at at our
Speaker 1: quiz and titles them to our grand prize, which is
Speaker 1: our hard earned admiration. Cormack, thanks so much for joining
Speaker 1: us on Part Time Genius. Thanks for having me. It
Speaker 1: was fun. Welcome back to Part Time Genius. As you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about this mountain side where we're going to
Speaker 1: develop a competitor to Mount Rushmore, but it's going to
Speaker 1: have a much weirder and more specific thing. We're probably
Speaker 1: gonna need to find some investors for this, but it
Speaker 1: seems like such a no brainer that I'm sure that
Speaker 1: won't be a problem anyway, give me another idea for
Speaker 1: our weird president's mountain side. Well, what if we had
Speaker 1: one for weird presidential records? People do love records, So
Speaker 1: what do you have in mind? All right, So John
Speaker 1: Tyler had fifteen kids, which is a record among presidents,
Speaker 1: so that that one seems obvious. But it's not even
Speaker 1: the most impressive thing about Tyler's offspring. No, it's not.
Speaker 1: I assume you're talking about the fact that two of
Speaker 1: John Tyler's grandsons are still a lot. One of Tyler's
Speaker 1: sons had two sons of his own very late in life,
Speaker 1: and so Tyler was around when George Washington was in office,
Speaker 1: and yet he still has two living grandsons. How crazy
Speaker 1: is that? It feels unbelievable. So what other records should
Speaker 1: we consider? How about the fewest votes for someone who
Speaker 1: has served as vice president and president, and that would
Speaker 1: be zero votes. That's Gerald Ford because he became president
Speaker 1: in ninety four after Nixon resigned, and before that he'd
Speaker 1: only been Vice president for eight months, a role that
Speaker 1: he stepped into when Spiro Agnew resigned. It is pretty
Speaker 1: crazy to imagine serving in both of those roles without
Speaker 1: ever having received a single vote for the position. Now.
Speaker 1: Ford will also add some athleticism to our mountains, since
Speaker 1: he was a linebacker at Michigan and College. Actually, did
Speaker 1: you know that he started on the team that won
Speaker 1: two national titles and he was a model. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: so bizarre that for all his grace and athleticism, he's
Speaker 1: mostly known as a Klotz. After his fall on the
Speaker 1: stairs of air was one of course, uh Chevy Chase
Speaker 1: helped to cement that reputation. I'd so, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: think gerald Ford's record earns him a spot on the mountain.
Speaker 1: And I've got another one. How about the least married president,
Speaker 1: James Buchan. Yep, he's still the only president never to
Speaker 1: have married. But he was a partier. Some have described
Speaker 1: his time in office as one long party. Even on Sundays,
Speaker 1: when he was taking his carriage ride to church, Buchanan
Speaker 1: would have them stop at the local distillery to pick
Speaker 1: up a ten gallon cask. Nice. All right. So that's
Speaker 1: Tyler for having the most children, Forward for fewest votes
Speaker 1: for someone who served as VP and president with zero,
Speaker 1: and Buchanan for least married. I think we need one more,
Speaker 1: really dumb one. What do you got? Oh, I've got one? Uh?
Speaker 1: How about most brothers named Ike? Dwight Eisenhower, also known
Speaker 1: as Ike, didn't exactly have a unique nickname, at least
Speaker 1: within his own family. It turns out all six of
Speaker 1: the Eisenhower brothers were nicknamed Ike at some point. I
Speaker 1: guess they like Dike. But I like this group for
Speaker 1: the possible mountain wall. So let's keep it in the mix.
Speaker 1: All right, what's next? I've been thinking about one that
Speaker 1: could be weird but fun. And that's a collection of
Speaker 1: presidents tied to amusing writing. All right, so where are
Speaker 1: you going with this one? Well, it's such a fun
Speaker 1: way to get a better sense of the real personalities
Speaker 1: the past presidents like. Take Nixon for example, he had
Speaker 1: a reputation for being aloof even with his wife Pat
Speaker 1: and their daughters. In fact, do you know how he
Speaker 1: communicated with them much of the time through memos, And
Speaker 1: not only that, he often signed them the president. Wow? Wow,
Speaker 1: how warm and fuzzy. I still think one of my
Speaker 1: favorite stories about Nixon was about how he asked his
Speaker 1: future wife Pat to marry him on one of their
Speaker 1: first dates, and when she said no, you know what
Speaker 1: he did? What's up? He agreed to drive her around
Speaker 1: out on dates with other guys for two years. That's
Speaker 1: so bizarre. I guess that's as close as Nixon got
Speaker 1: too romantic. Well, sticking with the romance theme and another
Speaker 1: president's writings, it's nice to see how sweet Woodrow Wilson
Speaker 1: was on his wife Woodrow Wilson. Really, Yeah, they're literally
Speaker 1: thousands of letters Wilson wrote to his wife. We think
Speaker 1: of Wilson as this somewhat stoic and often reserved guy.
Speaker 1: But these love letters drip with passion and desire. I
Speaker 1: do know that Wilson is connected with one of the
Speaker 1: more embarrassing typos related to the president's activities. Oh the
Speaker 1: Washington Post one. Yep. So, not long after Wilson's first wife,
Speaker 1: Ellen passed away, he met Edith Bowling Galt, and the
Speaker 1: two of them began spending more time together and went
Speaker 1: out on a date to the theater. The Washington Post
Speaker 1: reported on this date and intended to say that Wilson
Speaker 1: was entertaining Miss Galt, but instead just said the president
Speaker 1: spent most of his time entering miss calls. Wow, that
Speaker 1: would be a pretty bold thing to do right there
Speaker 1: in the middle of the What a silly typhoon. But
Speaker 1: I think he earns a spot arm Mountain if we
Speaker 1: decided to go with this theme. You know who was
Speaker 1: not a romantic and his writing James K. Polk. He
Speaker 1: was maybe the work a holly as president of all time.
Speaker 1: So he worked these crazy hours and thought that public
Speaker 1: servants really shouldn't be wasting time with any leisure act
Speaker 1: at these he and his wife Sarah, they did in vacation.
Speaker 1: They even stayed at the executive mansion throughout the summer.
Speaker 1: Over his first four years in office, Polk was only
Speaker 1: away from home for a total of six weeks. That's insane.
Speaker 1: But back to the writing part. As O'Brien points out
Speaker 1: in the Secrets of the US Presidents, Polk viewed handshaking
Speaker 1: as a labor to be endured, and he once wrote
Speaker 1: a lengthy essay in his diary that relegated the act
Speaker 1: to an academic subject. He made a diary entry about this,
Speaker 1: and here's part of it. All right, let me look
Speaker 1: at this. It says if a man surrendered his arm
Speaker 1: to be shaken by some horizontally, by others perpendicularly, and
Speaker 1: by others again with a strong grip, he could not
Speaker 1: fail to suffer severely from it, But that if he
Speaker 1: would shake and not be shaken, grip and not be gripped,
Speaker 1: taking care always to squeeze the hand of his adversary
Speaker 1: as hard as he squeezed his, that he suffered no
Speaker 1: inconvenience from it. What I was just about to say, what,
Speaker 1: I know, what, it's crazy, So I'd say we're pretty
Speaker 1: close to having a good collection. But I have one
Speaker 1: more to add to this. And that's William Henry Harryson.
Speaker 1: This is the same guy who had the shortest term
Speaker 1: in office, and he also happened to have the longest
Speaker 1: inaugural speech. Did he really? Yeah? And it didn't help
Speaker 1: that it was crazy cold and windy that day. Harrison
Speaker 1: refused to wear a coat or gloves for the speech,
Speaker 1: and he started feeling ill the next day, and a
Speaker 1: month later he was dead. So in other words, he
Speaker 1: delivered about three minutes of speech for every day he's
Speaker 1: been in office exactly. I mean that seems a little excessible. Well,
Speaker 1: it did earn him consideration for our mountain side. So
Speaker 1: if we go with this day, we've got Nixon for
Speaker 1: his ridiculously impersonal communication with his family. We've got Wilson
Speaker 1: for love letters but also the unfortunate type of describing
Speaker 1: his date, James K. Polk for his weird diary entry,
Speaker 1: and William Henry Harrison for his ridiculously long inaugural address.
Speaker 1: I like it. I bet the tours would just come
Speaker 1: from all over for this too. And while we're daydreaming
Speaker 1: about all that cash money we're gonna make, let's take
Speaker 1: a quick break for this quiz that main know this
Speaker 1: is typically the part of the show where I would
Speaker 1: ask you who we have on the line, But today
Speaker 1: is a little bit different. With our theme being presidents,
Speaker 1: we thought it would be fun to have a couple
Speaker 1: of people from the office here at how stuff works,
Speaker 1: because we've got some great leaders here. So who do
Speaker 1: we have playing with us today? So we've got Tracy V.
Speaker 1: Wilson from Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Incredible Podcast,
Speaker 1: and she was president of her French club. Wow, president
Speaker 1: of the French Club. Now, Tracy, are you still fluent
Speaker 1: in French? I wasn't even fluent in French at that time,
Speaker 1: and yet you were the president. So as it was
Speaker 1: it a bitter battle to become president of the French Club. No,
Speaker 1: I I was just better at French than some other people,
Speaker 1: but as a general rule, none of us were actually
Speaker 1: any good at it at all. Ringing endorsement. All right,
Speaker 1: we'll welcome to part time genius. And we've also got
Speaker 1: Cherry Larson online from marketing and she was president of
Speaker 1: her sixth grade class, and most impressively, it turns out
Speaker 1: she wasn't even running for the office. I was s
Speaker 1: rise as anybody when they told me that I was
Speaker 1: the president. So how were you elected? Then? Um? It
Speaker 1: was right end vote. But there were people who wanted
Speaker 1: to be president. Um, I think that they they chose
Speaker 1: me because I was always the narrator of the school
Speaker 1: plays and my head been all through elementary school, and
Speaker 1: I think they just saw me as a figure of authority.
Speaker 1: I didn't want this job, however. Yeah, well I have
Speaker 1: to say it is uh, it's it's pretty incredible to
Speaker 1: have this much power in one room. So so let's
Speaker 1: get started, Mango, what are we playing today? This is
Speaker 1: a game called shorter or taller than Abraham Lincoln in
Speaker 1: a top hat? All right, I know you guys have
Speaker 1: played this hundreds of times, I'm sure, but I'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and explain very familiar. It's a pretty simple quiz.
Speaker 1: We all know, Abe Lincoln was a tall president, six
Speaker 1: ft four to be exact, and he was a foot
Speaker 1: taller in his top hat, making him seven foot four.
Speaker 1: So all you have to do is to tell us
Speaker 1: whether each of these clues that we give you, or
Speaker 1: each of these items that we give you, is short
Speaker 1: or taller than Abraham Lincoln. You got it, yep? Alright,
Speaker 1: so we'll go back and forth. I promise it will
Speaker 1: be easy. Ohen mango. What are they playing for today?
Speaker 1: As always, our contestants play for a chance to win
Speaker 1: a handredden note from us to their mom or their boss,
Speaker 1: singing their praises. Okay, so a big prize on the line.
Speaker 1: Hope you guys are ready, So let's get started. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start with you, Tracy. Question number one would be
Speaker 1: Andre the Giant in a top hat. Was he shorter
Speaker 1: or taller than Abraham Lincoln while wearing a top hat?
Speaker 1: I think taller? Yeah, that's right. Andrea was built at
Speaker 1: seven four without a top hat, and we'd be a
Speaker 1: whopping eight ft four wearing one. Now, is there is
Speaker 1: there any evidence of him having worn a top hat? Okay? Okay, alright,
Speaker 1: so you're one for one. Let's go to you, Sherry.
Speaker 1: Here we go. Question number two. A baby elephant shorter
Speaker 1: or taller than Abraham Lincoln on a top hat? Newborn
Speaker 1: baby elephant. I'm gonna say shorter if it's a newborn
Speaker 1: baby elephant, that's correct. Yeah, a baby elephant starts out
Speaker 1: and embarrassing three ft tall. We're tied at one. Okay,
Speaker 1: next one, coming back to you, Tracy, Big birds shorter
Speaker 1: or taller than Abraham Lincoln and the top hat. Oh
Speaker 1: that's tough. I feel like big bird is right around
Speaker 1: that seven foot line, so I'm gonna go taller. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. Big bird is taller. He is. He towers
Speaker 1: over the president at eight foot two. Wow, taller than
Speaker 1: I realized. Okay, alright, so you're underestimated the height of
Speaker 1: big birds. Did yes? You did? Alright? Question number four
Speaker 1: coming back to you, Sherry, George Washington's nose on Mount
Speaker 1: rushmore shorter or taller than Abraham Lincoln and the top hat.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say taller. That's right. This is so close.
Speaker 1: Washington's nose is approximately twenty ft tall, and it's about
Speaker 1: a foot longer than all the other president's noses. Was
Speaker 1: it that much longer? In realize? I don't know, not
Speaker 1: a foot, but I mean maybe have to look into that, alright.
Speaker 1: Question number five coming back to you, Tracy Alvin and
Speaker 1: the Chipmunks stacked on top of one another according to
Speaker 1: their original nineteen eighties cartoon heights. Oh my goodness, did
Speaker 1: they have a trench coat on that would affect shorter?
Speaker 1: They're actually taller. Simon is three five Alvin is three
Speaker 1: ft and Theodore is two ft nine alright, so together
Speaker 1: that would be nine ft two right. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: There's actually a recording of how tall each one of
Speaker 1: them are to the inch, So okay, that opens the
Speaker 1: door up for you here, Sherry. Okay, this is your
Speaker 1: last question. You'll just need to get this one right
Speaker 1: to win. And your clue is the first official White
Speaker 1: House Christmas tree shorter or taller than Abraham Lincoln in
Speaker 1: the top hat? Oh goodness, I'm gonna say shorter. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna think that they weren't as ostentatious back then. That's
Speaker 1: what I would have thought. But this was Calvin Coolidge's tree,
Speaker 1: and they were very ostentatious, somewhere between thirty five and tall. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's okay. You guys both did great two out of three,
Speaker 1: which means they've both won. So what have they won? Mango? Well,
Speaker 1: in addition to pony expressing their moms or bosses, a
Speaker 1: handwritten note, will also be sending them the cheapest Richard
Speaker 1: Nixon Spiro agnew political campaign button we could find on eBay,
Speaker 1: and you'll be able to wear those around town with pride. Congratulations, guys,
Speaker 1: and thanks so much for playing with us on Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. Thank you, thank thank you. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius. I think we've had some brilliant ideas
Speaker 1: as to how to transformed the mountainside. We're considering buying
Speaker 1: into a competitive amount rushmore, I mean, a really weird competitor.
Speaker 1: We talked about presidents who had really strange health remedy beliefs,
Speaker 1: presidents who believed in really weird things, record breaking presidents,
Speaker 1: and presidents who wrote some really bizarre things. Clearly all
Speaker 1: brilliant ideas, but let's rapid fire a few more. What
Speaker 1: do you think, all right? How about presidents with the
Speaker 1: weirdest pets. You've got Calvin Coolidge, you know, old vasiline
Speaker 1: head who owned a raccoon when you'd sometimes see him
Speaker 1: walking around on the White House with a leash. You've
Speaker 1: got Thomas Jefferson's mocking bird who reportedly learned to take
Speaker 1: food from his mouth. You've got Herbert Hoover, whose son
Speaker 1: had not one, but two pet alligators that were allowed
Speaker 1: to roam the White House. And maybe the strangest and
Speaker 1: these weren't exactly pets, but I still think we should
Speaker 1: count them. You have Andrew Johnson, who was such an
Speaker 1: animal lover. He even tried to leave water and flower
Speaker 1: out for the rats that invested the White House. It's
Speaker 1: that weird. Oh if that's a good list. By the way, well,
Speaker 1: rats certainly had a good run while Johnson was in
Speaker 1: office that didn't last long. By the time Benjamin Harrison
Speaker 1: was in office, he not only sent exterminators after them,
Speaker 1: but he also had ferrets brought in to run the
Speaker 1: White House and try to catch any rats they could find.
Speaker 1: That good, Well, what if it was just the Mountain
Speaker 1: side known as the Presidential rat Battle, just the Andrew
Speaker 1: Johnson on the pro rat side and then Benjamin Harrison
Speaker 1: on the anti rats. I like it. That's brilliant. Also,
Speaker 1: I find it hard to talk about presidential pets without
Speaker 1: mentioning Teddy Roosevelt's guinea pigs fighting Bob Evans and Father O'Grady,
Speaker 1: and also his family snake Emily Spinach. Okay, I was
Speaker 1: going to suggest a group of presidents who loved to sleep.
Speaker 1: I mean, he gives us a chance to once again
Speaker 1: mention old Vassilien head Calvin Coolidge. Not only did he
Speaker 1: make sure to be in bed by ten every night,
Speaker 1: and often he didn't get up until eight. But he
Speaker 1: also took naps pretty much every single day. We're talking
Speaker 1: two to four hour naps. I love to sleep. We'd
Speaker 1: also then add Taft to dozed frequently, and Chester a
Speaker 1: Arthur and his lethargy, which it turned out was the
Speaker 1: result of an illness. But I decided this list wasn't
Speaker 1: quite good enough, and maybe we should just dedicate the
Speaker 1: mountainside to Millard Fillmore. So just Millard Fillmore, Just Millard Fillmore?
Speaker 1: Have you lost your mind? Stay with me here? There's
Speaker 1: actually this great story about Fillmore, who's really pretty much
Speaker 1: not remembered for anything. In most rankings of presidents, he's
Speaker 1: almost always near the bottom. But there happens to be
Speaker 1: one really cool story about him that would resonate with
Speaker 1: our listeners. He had Filmore loved books. The legend is
Speaker 1: his father only owned three, a Bible and almanac and
Speaker 1: a hymnal, and Filmore always wanted to have more. In fact,
Speaker 1: he and his wife actually established the first permanent library
Speaker 1: at the White House. But here's the story. On Christmas
Speaker 1: Eve morning back in eighteen fifty one, the Library of
Speaker 1: Congress caught fire. The fire teams rushed to this scene.
Speaker 1: But do you know who jumped on one of those
Speaker 1: horse drawn fire engines so that he could help fight
Speaker 1: the fire? Millard Fillmore. And while tens of thousands of
Speaker 1: books were destroyed, you know who rebuilt the library? Millard Fillmore. Wow,
Speaker 1: I gotta hand it to you, Mango. That's a great story.
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure if we should dedicate a whole
Speaker 1: mountain to them, especially since if this is going to
Speaker 1: go to only one person, it's probably gonna be Martin
Speaker 1: Van Bieber's. But what do you say we give Millard
Speaker 1: Fillmore the Part Time Genius Award today? I think that's
Speaker 1: an ext one idea. And as for deciding what to
Speaker 1: do with this mountain, I feel like we need to
Speaker 1: help from our listeners. Listeners, if you have ideas on
Speaker 1: what strange and very specific themes should be celebrated on
Speaker 1: this mountaintop, please let us know. You can email us
Speaker 1: at Part Time Genius at how stuff works dot com
Speaker 1: or find us on Twitter or Facebook. We can't wait
Speaker 1: to hear what you guys come up with. But while
Speaker 1: we're waiting for those comments to pour in, what do
Speaker 1: you say we kill some time with a part time
Speaker 1: Genius fact Off. That's the part of the show where
Speaker 1: we get to share some the most interesting facts we
Speaker 1: learned in our research that we didn't use today. So
Speaker 1: this one's particularly fascinating me because I don't love public speaking.
Speaker 1: I think of Thomas Jefferson as the super eloquent president,
Speaker 1: mostly because we all know his writing. But the truth
Speaker 1: is he's only known to have delivered two speeches during
Speaker 1: his presidency, his two inaugural addresses, and that's because he
Speaker 1: suffered from severe stage fright. Isn't that nuts? It is crazy?
Speaker 1: All right? Did you know Rutherford B. Hayes was the
Speaker 1: only president to suffer an injury in the Civil War?
Speaker 1: He had four horses. That's right, four horses shot down
Speaker 1: under him. That's horrible. Maybe we should just dedicate our
Speaker 1: monument to those four horses. I speaking of rough rides,
Speaker 1: Teddy Roosevelt had one of the strangest breakfast routines of
Speaker 1: any president. He liked to mix coffee and a dozen
Speaker 1: eggs in a mug and then drink it down a
Speaker 1: dozen eggs. That's so gross. Also, what's with you in
Speaker 1: these Teddy Roosevelt? I'm obsessed. I mean, any president who
Speaker 1: turns the Oval office into a dojo, but also talks
Speaker 1: in his super high pitched voice. Is my kind of president?
Speaker 1: Well here's one about Chester A. Arthur. While he sometimes
Speaker 1: went by Chech, the public referred to him often as
Speaker 1: Elegant Arthur, or Prince Arthur or the do would President,
Speaker 1: all because of his fashion sense. The man owned over
Speaker 1: eighty pairs of pants. Eighty pants? What do you do
Speaker 1: with eighty pants? I don't know where I'm around. So
Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson's parent had to be removed from his funeral
Speaker 1: for swearing too much. Why was Andrew Jackson's parrot at
Speaker 1: the funeral? Hall of pay respects? I guess I don't know,
Speaker 1: but the minister who officiated was offended. He wrote, people
Speaker 1: who were horrified and odd at the bird's lack of reverence.
Speaker 1: You know who? George H. W. Bush briefly considered naming
Speaker 1: his running mate Clint Eastwood. You know who was in
Speaker 1: the wrestling Hall of Fame? Abe Lincoln Richard Nixon was
Speaker 1: an incredible poker player and used his winnings to finance
Speaker 1: his first political run. Warren Harding was actually the opposite
Speaker 1: of that. He once lost Priceless White House China betting
Speaker 1: it in a game. Bill Clinton's cat Socks almost had
Speaker 1: his own Nintendo game. It was called Socks the Cat
Speaker 1: Rocks the Hill. Why didn't that come out? It's so
Speaker 1: good idea, I feel like so much. Just started Kickstarter. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: you're gonna love this one. Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair.
Speaker 1: Wait seriously, yeah, I mean if this stupid microphone would
Speaker 1: detach from this big rip, I would totally drop a
Speaker 1: mic right now. Yeah, and you would deserve it. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm going to feel a little more patriotic every time
Speaker 1: I sit in a swivel chair from now on. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you this episode's fact office. So
Speaker 1: for all you genius is out there, don't forget to
Speaker 1: email us your ideas for what to do with our
Speaker 1: presidential mountaintop. Just drop us a line at part Time
Speaker 1: Genius at how stuff Works dot com. And that's it
Speaker 1: for today's episode of Part Time Genius. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening. Hey, well, did you know that James Poke
Speaker 1: never got baptized as a baby because his dad on
Speaker 1: the fight with the Minister mid ceremony. Thanks again for
Speaker 1: listening to Part Time Genius. Be sure to subscribe wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your podcast, and because we're a brand
Speaker 1: new show, if you're feeling extra generous, we'd love it
Speaker 1: if you give us a rating on Apple Podcast. Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius is produced by some of our favorite geniuses.
Speaker 1: It's edited by Tristan McNeil, theme song and audio mixing
Speaker 1: by Noel Brown. Our executive producer is Jerry Rowland. Our
Speaker 1: research team is Gabe Loesier, Lucas Adams on a white
Speaker 1: Field Metronto, Austin Thompson, and Meg Robbins. Jason Hook is
Speaker 1: our chief cheerleader.