Presidential Trivia

[Dover]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0823_040823_presidentialtrivia.html

Excerpt:

George W. Bush, the 43rd and current President, lost the popular vote to Al Gore in 2000. Bush is the fourth President to attain the highest office in the U.S. without the backing of the majority of the people. He shares the distinction with John Quincy Adams, Rutherford G. Hayes (1877-81), and Benjamin Harrison.

James Monroe (1817-25), the fifth President, received every Electoral College vote except one. The holdout: a New Hampshire delegate who wanted to preserve the legacy of George Washington, the first and only President elected unanimously by the Electoral College.

Gerald Ford (1974-77) was the only President to serve who was not elected by U.S. voters either as President or Vice President. In 1973 then-President Richard Nixon (1969-74) appointed Ford Vice President after former Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. When Nixon resigned from the White House on August 9, 1974 (the only President to do so), Ford became President.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001), the 42nd President, was the second President to be impeached. In 1998 Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate. Andrew Jackson was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1868, but he was also later acquitted by the Senate.

George W. Bush is the second President to follow in the footsteps of his father. George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President. John Quincy Adams (1825-29), the sixth President, was the son of John Adams (1797-1801), the second President.

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And George W. Bush will be the first pResident, along with his Vice President and several others from his administration, to serve life sentences for an unprecedented number of crimes; War Crimes, Murder, Treason, Various Cases of Fraud, Theft, Blackmail and Money Laundering...to name a few.

[unblock]

1. the first statement exerpted is incorrect

there have been more than four people to attain the presidency without a majority of voters. for example, ford should obviously be included in the list, and clinton should as well. a number of people won presidencies without majorities when there were real third parties involved.

the statment they probably meant to say is "bush is the fourth president to attain the highest office in the u.s. by election despite failing to win a plurality of voters."

[Bronco69]

2. It can be argued that the

third statement is incorrect as well.

"Gerald Ford (1974-77) was the only President to serve who was not elected by U.S. voters either as President or Vice President."

[Yupster]

3. A few more

Only two presidents have ever won reelection, but won fewer states the second time they won than the first. They were Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton.

The only man to ever lose the presidency despite having more electoral votes and popular votes was Andrew Jackson.

South Carolina did not even have elections for president until after the Civil War. The state legislature just elected electors who voted for president which is perfectly constitutional. The first time South Carolina voters did vote for president it looks like something fishy was going on. They voted for Ulysses Grant.

[Placebo]

4. The only thing I like about W is his doggy.

I have wanted a scottie for so long.

*le siiiiiiiiiigh* someday, someday...