Fun facts about U.S. presidents

Here's a five-minute time-waster for you this Presidents Day, once you get home from all the sales: Fun facts about U.S. presidents. You can read this and much more "Homework Help" here.

1. How many U.S. presidents have there been? It depends on how you count. Since George Washington, the first president under the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1789, 42 different men have held the office of president. However, Grover Cleveland had two non-consecutive terms of office and is usually listed as both 22nd and 24th presidents. So George W. Bush is the 42nd man to be president, but the 43rd president by consecutive term of office.

2. Who lived longest after he left office? Herbert Hoover lived more than 31 1/2 years after leaving office.

3. Which Presidents have lived past the age of 90? John Adams, Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

4. Who is the president that lived the longest? Gerald Ford was the longest-lived president by living 34,133 days, only 45 more days than Ronald Reagan.

5. What President lived the shortest time? John F. Kennedy

6. How many Vice Presidents have become President due to the President's inability to serve the remainder of his term? Eight vice presidents have become president due to the death of the president and one, Gerald Ford, due to resignation.

7. One president served two full terms and yet served 57 days short of eight years. Why? George Washington, because he was inaugurated on April 30, instead of March 4, which was customary after that.

8. I have been attempting to assist my 9 year old daughter find the middle name of George Washington, a seemingly easy task. However, after an exhaustive search, I have had no luck. Why is it so difficult to locate? Because he did not have one.

9. What is Abraham Lincoln's middle initial? Lincoln did not have a middle name.

10. Which president switched his initials from HUG to UHG? Hiram Ulysses Grant did not like his birth initials, so on his way to West Point he decided to change it to Ulysses Hiram Grant. However, upon arriving, he discovered the Army had him enrolled as Ulysses S. Grant. He eventually decided to accept the name change given him by the Army.

And here's some more presidential trivia, a list of presidents who were Freemasons:

• George Washington, 1st President, 1789 - 1797, Commanding General during American Revolution, made a Mason August 4, 1753, in Fredericksburg Lodge (now No. 4), A. F. & A. M., Fredericksburg, Virginia.
  
  
• James Monroe, 5th President, 1817 - 1825, made a Mason November 9, 1775, in Williamsburg Lodge (now No. 6), A.F. & A.M., Williamsburg, Virginia.
  
  
• Andrew Jackson, 7th President, 1829 - 1837 Harmony Lodge No. 1, Nashville, Tennessee, an Honorary Member of Federal Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Washington, D.C., and Jackson Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Tallahassee, Florida. In 1822 and 1823 he served as the Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee.
  
  
• James Knox Polk, 11th President, 1845 - 1849, made a Mason September 4, 1820, in Columbia Lodge No. 31, F. & A.M., Columbia, Tennessee.
  
  
• James Buchanan, 15th President, 1857 - 1861, made a Mason January 24, 1817, in Lodge No. 43 (it has no name), F. & A.M., Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  
  
• Andrew Johnson, 17th President, 1865 - 1869, made a Mason during May, 1851, in Greeneville Lodge No. 119 (now No. 3), F. & A.M., Greeneville, Tennessee.
  
  
• James Abram Garfield, 20th President. 1881, made a Mason November 22, 1864, in Columbus Lodge No. 30 F. & A.M., Columbus, Ohio.
  
  
• William McKinley, 25th President, 1897 - 1901, made a Mason May 3, 1865, in Hiram Lodge No. 21, A.F. & A.M., Winchester, Virginia.
  
  
• Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President, 1901 - 1909, made a Mason April 24, 1901, in Matinecock Lodge No. 806, F. & A.M., Oyster Bay, New York.
  
  
• William Howard Taft, 27th President, 1909 - 1913 - Chief Justice Supreme Court 1921 - 1930, made a "Mason at Sight" in an "Occassional Lodge" called for that purpose on February 18, 1909, in the Scottish Rite Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio, by Charles S. Hoskinson, Grand Master of Masons in Ohio.
  
  
• Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President, 1921 - 1923, made a Mason August 27, 1920, in Marion Lodge No. 70, F. & A.M., Marion, Ohio.
  
  
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President, 1933 - 1945, made a Mason November 28, 1911, in Holland Lodge No. 8, F. & A.M., New York, New York, the same Lodge in which George Washington, the Nation's first President, held Honorary membership.
  
  
• Harry S. Truman, 33rd President, 1945 - 1951, made a Mason March 18, 1909, in Belton Lodge No. 450, A.F. & A.M., Belton, Missouri. He served as the Grand Master of Masons of Missouri in 1940. Initiated: February 9, 1909, Belton Lodge No. 450, Belton, Missouri. In 1911, several Members of Belton Lodge separated to establish Grandview Lodge No. 618, Grandview, Missouri, and Brother Truman served as its first Worshipful Master. At the Annual Session of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, September 24-25, 1940, Brother Truman was elected (by a landslide) the ninety-seventh Grand Master of Masons of Missouri, and served until October 1, 1941. Brother and President Truman was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33º, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council on October 19,1945 at the Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D.C., upon which occasion he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class. He was also elected an Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay. On May 18, 1959, Brother and Former President Truman was presented with a fifty-year award, the only U.S. President to reach that golden anniversary in Freemasonry.
  
  
• Gerald R. Ford, Jr. 38th President, 1974 - 1977. He was raised to the Sublime degree of Master Mason on May 18, 1951 in Columbia Lodge No. 3, F. &.A.M., of Washington, D.C., as a courtesy for Malta Lodge No. 465, F. & A.M. of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  
  
• Lyndon Baines Johnson 1908-1973. 36th President, 1963 - 1969. Entered Apprentice degree Johnson City Lodge No. 561, Johnson City, Texas October 30, 1937. Did not advance.

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'Voice of America' on Masonic U.S. Presidents

Happy George Washington's Birthday, more commonly known as Presidents Day. I hope you've gone out and bought new linens or mattresses or whatever it is we're supposed to do to celebrate this federal holiday.

Voice of America, the "multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors [which] broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people," celebrates Prez Day by telling us that 14 U.S. presidents were Freemasons.

Though short and to the point, it's actually one of the better "What is Freemasonry?" articles I've seen in the press in recent memory. And it's a pleasure to read an article that doesn't quote the ubiquitous Scottish Rite spokesman and Complete Idiot author Bro. Brent Morris repeating the same tired cliches about Freemasonry. Instead, we are treated to a couple of paragraphs discussing the nature of 18th century founding father Freemasons, who

began to question the Divine origins of the monarchy, and to assert that freedom of conscience and religious freedom were universal rights as well as traditional Masonic values.

Past Masonic Grandmaster and current Masonic leader Richard Fletcher of Vermont says because many of these intellectuals were also American revolutionaries, they were able to influence the way their new republic would work. "Freemasons were deeply involved in the creation of this country because a great underpinning of Freemasonry is the right of people to choose their own leaders, the right of people to think for themselves [and] the right of people to vote," says Fletcher. "We also strongly and firmly believe in public education, the right of the people to learn... That's what the United States became. And in its early history, Freemasons played a very prominent role in this."

That is why, according to Mr. Fletcher, many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were Masons. The masons are so liberally represented among the early presidents.

"You do not have to become a Freemason to become a good president," Fletcher says, "but I believe some of our great presidents have been Freemasons. And I think there is more than coincidence to this. They were men that believed in freedom. They were men that believed in human rights. They were men that believed in education. They were men that believed you could think for yourself. Their highest goal was to serve the nation."

Image: Washington Monument, Mar. 21, 2006

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