Monday, 2/20

Happy President’s Day. Or, as most people consider it, another day where we keep staring out the window, eventually asking each other, “How come the mail hasn’t shown up yet”?

You know--one of those days!

Instead of spending the day celebrating the achievements (or lack thereof) from everyone from Millard Fillmore to Gerald Ford, most people will simply shrug and wonder, if you were to ask them, just who the heck Millard Fillmore and Gerald Ford were. And that’s kind of sad. I mean, I know I’m a history geek, and knew who all the Presidents in this country’s history were at a young age, but I’d like to think that names like James K. Polk, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes should at least spark a tiny flame of memory in most people. I mean, I know they don’t, but I’d like to dream that they would.

And as long as I’m dreaming, can we have beach weather tomorrow, too?

I know you guys are among the smartest people in the world, so here are two tests for you. First of all, who was the only U.S. President to be elected to non-consecutive terms? In other words, he was President, then he wasn’t, then he was elected again? The answer to that comes at the end of this.

Secondly, going backwards from our current President, how many in a row can you name until you stump yourself? Go ahead, give it a try. I’ll wait for you.

(By the way, this is just me, waiting until you stump yourself).

(Stump yourself yet? Good. Keep going).

(Now are you stumped?)

From a statistic I saw, the average person can only go back FIVE Presidents before failing. FIVE. That means that they have no idea who was President before the first George Bush. I mean, they may know the names of Nixon and Kennedy and at least one of the Roosevelts, but they don’t know where they fall in that order. And that’s kind of a shame. I don’t expect everyone to be able to name all 45 Presidents in reverse order--heck, even I can’t do that--but it is kind of nice to know who falls where and what effect that had on the growth and the history of this country.

And for the record--I can go back 19 Presidents. I always forget who came before William McKinley. I know; dorky, right?

So have yourself a great President’s Day. If you wanna impress the people around you, slip into conversation how interesting you believe it to be that Grover Cleveland was the only President to be elected to non-consecutive terms. And if you REALLY wanna impress the people around you, add to the conversation the fact that during his second non-consecutive term Cleveland asked Peter White to head what would now be the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but that White turned him down because he was too busy being, well, Peter White.

President’s Day. More than just another day you don’t get mail!

(jim@wmqt.com)