RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR PRESIDENT'S DAY

"The Republican Club" by Andy Thomas.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when Juneteenth become a Federal holiday, wasn't President's Day one suggested to be eliminated in its place? Really?

 

Not me. I'll admit that when I grew up, both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays were observed; I was surprised and even as a Junior-Higher disappointed when they combined the two for "Presidents' Day". 

"The Democrat Club" by Andy Thomas

I've read biographies on Taft, McKinley, Garfield, Hayes, Arthur, Filmore, LBJ, and Madison, as well as reading the auto-biographies of George W. Bush, watching a four hour PBS program on Theodore Roosevelt, and watching PBS' 10 hour The American President in '00 and reading the print version. On my list include Tyler, Cleveland, Carter, Benjamin Harrison, Polk, and Coolidge. (I've also read bios on three time candidate William Jennings Bryan, former Vic President John Calhoun, and former speaker of the house "Uncle Joe" Canon, with Patrick Henry on the to read list.)

I have mentioned in a previous blog that I also read Presidential ranking books. I especially enjoyed Ivan Eland's Recarving Rushmore, which took a different approach to ranking Presidents.

Allow me to mention some random thoughts about Presidential history. 

• You can divide Presidents into three eras: 1) No facial hair (Washington to Buchanan), 2) Facial hair (Lincoln to Taft, with Andrew Johnson and McKinley being exceptions) and 3) No facial hair II (Wilson on).
• Five of the first seven Presidents served two full consecutive terms; the next one was Grant (#18), and the following one was  Wilson (#28).
• The first four Vice Presidents who ascended into the Presidency (Tyler, Filmore, Andrew Johnson, and Arthur) were not elected to a term of their own; the following four were (Teddy Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, LBJ), and the ninth was not (Ford).
• We have had multiple two-term Presidents only twice: Jefferson/Madison/Monroe and Clinton/George W. Bush/Obama. (You might make an argument of Franklin Roosevelt/Truman as being a technicality.)
• The longest streak of one-or-less term presidents was eight, from Van Buren to Buchanan in a 24 year period. 
• Whigs won two elections, but neither winner survived his term.
• I read in a book about a Presidential candidate riding a train to a conference, stopping to pick up his running mate and introducing him to a governor of a neighboring state and a young Congressman from his home state. That quartet were then-future Presidents James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley. (The book, which I highly recommend, was Dark Horse: The Surprise Nomination and Political Murder of James Garfield by Kenneth Ackerman.)
• Three Presidents have had direct descendants become president (John and John Quincy Adams, William and Benjamin Harrison, George H. W. and George W. Bush). Only one of the set was re-elected.
• Since I started being aware of Major League Baseball in the '70's, the Yankees have been to the World Series eleven times. Their seven victories ('77, '78, '96, '98, '99, '00, '09) all occurred when a Democrat was in the oval house; their four losses ('76, '81, '01 and '03) were during Republican presidencies. 

Let me close with some thoughts of Andy Johnson's excellent paintings above. It makes me smile seeing certain comparisons of who sat in each spot between the two pictures: Lincoln and FDR, Nixon and Clinton, Ford and Carter, Teddy and Wilson. But I'm looking forward to seeing his "Libertarian Club" painting. He can do it of the LP nominees for President - it will probably be a while before he has enough LP Presidents to be called a club.