From the desk of Jan Hommel, Museum Director:

Presidents’ Day is celebrated in the United States every year on the third Monday in February. Established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. It was traditionally celebrated on February 22^nd, Washington’s actual birthday, but became known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which was an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Presidents’ Day never falls on the actual birthday of any American president and is set aside as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present. George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, were born in February, but their birthdays all come either too early or too late to align with Presidents’ Day.

George Washington (April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Planter, soldier
Fun Facts: Only president elected unanimously; had only one tooth; stood six feet and two inches tall, weighed 200 pounds and wore size thirteen shoes; the only president who didn’t live in Washington, D.C. during his presidency.
John Adams (March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801)
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1755)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: The great-great-grandson of John and Priscilla Alden, pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. One of the only two presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence; died on its 50th anniversary, July 4, 1826 was Vice-President under Washington; was older than any other president at his death, he lived 90 years, 247 days.

Thomas Jefferson (March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1809)
Education: Graduated from College of William and Mary (1762)
Occupation: Lawyer, planter
Fun Facts: First president to take his oath in Washington, D.C.; one of only two presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence, and died on its 50th anniversary, July 4, 1826; designed his own tombstone and wrote his own epitaph, omitting the fact that he was President of the United States.

James Madison (March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1817)
Education: Graduated from College of New Jersey (now Princeton University, 1771)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: First president to wear long pants; stood 5 feet 4 inches, the shortest president.

James Monroe (March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1825)
Education: Graduated from College of William and Mary (1776)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: First president to ride on a steamboat; first inauguration to be held outdoors and his daughter was the first to be married in the White House.

John Quincy Adams (March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829)
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1787)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Swam in the Potomac River every day; first elected president not to receive either the most electoral college votes or popular votes; first son of a president to become a president; named one of his sons George Washington; the first to be photographed.

Andrew Jackson (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1837)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer, soldier
Fun Facts: First president born in a log cabin; first president to ride a railroad train; was wounded in a duel at the age of 39 and carried the bullet, lodged near his heart, to his grave.

Martin Van Buren (March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841)
Education: Graduated from Kinderhook Academy (1796)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: First president born in the United States of America and his wife spoke Dutch at home.

William Henry Harrison (March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841)
Education: Attended Hampden-Sydney College
Occupation: Soldier
Fun Facts: Gave the longest inaugural address – one hour 45 minutes and the only president who studied to become a doctor.

John Tyler (April 6, 1841 – March 3, 1845)
Education: Graduated from College of William and Mary (1807)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Fathered the most children (15) and the first vice president to assume office after the death of a president.

James Knox Polk (March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1849)
Education: Graduated from the University of North Carolina (1818)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Before anesthetics and antiseptic practices, he survived a gallstone operation at age seventeen.

Zachary Taylor (March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Soldier
Fun Facts: Kept his old Army horse, Whitey, on the White House lawn and visitors would take horse hairs as souvenirs.

Millard Fillmore (July 9, 1850 – March 3, 1853)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: He and his wife, Abigail, installed the first library, and the first bathtub and kitchen stove in the White House.

Franklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857)
Education: Graduated from Bowdoin College (1824)
Occupation: Lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: Gave his inaugural address from memory, without notes, and installed the first central heating system in the White House

James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1861)
Education: Graduated from Dickinson College (1809)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Was the only bachelor; one of his eyes was nearsighted and the other farsighted.

Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: The tallest president; only president to receive a patent, for a device for lifting boats over shoals and the first president to wear a beard.
Andrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 – March 3, 1869)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Tailor, public official
Fun Facts: Married at a younger age than any other president (18) and was buried beneath a willow tree he planted himself with a shoot taken from a tree at Napoleon’s tomb.

Ulysses Simpson Grant (March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1877)
Education: Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (1843)
Occupation: Soldier
Fun Facts: While president, was arrested for driving his horse too fast and was fined $20; smoked twenty cigars a day, which probably caused the throat cancer that resulted in his death.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1881)
Education: Graduated from Kenyon College (1842); and Harvard Law School (1845)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: The first to have a telephone installed in the Whitehouse (by Alexander Graham Bell himself) had the first Easter egg roll on the White House lawn.

James Abram Garfield (March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881)
Education: Attended Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College); Graduated from Williams College (1856)
Occupation: Teacher, public official
Fun Facts: Was the first left-handed president; after his shooting, repeated probing for the bullet with non-sterile instruments resulted in blood poisoning which eventually killed him.
Chester Alan Arthur (September 19, 1881 – March 4, 1885)
Education: Graduated from Union College (1848)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Wore side burns down to his lapels; enjoyed walking at night and seldom went to bed before 2 A.M.; destroyed all of his personal papers before his death. 

Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1889)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Dedicated the Statue of Liberty; the only president’s child to be born in the White House, was Cleveland’s daughter, Esther; only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Benjamin Harrison (March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893)
Education: Graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (1852)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: An excellent extemporaneous speaker, he once made 140 completely different speeches in 30 days; his last daughter, Elizabeth, was younger than his four grandchildren.

Grover Cleveland (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897)
Education: No formal education
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Dedicated the Statue of Liberty; the only president’s child to be born in the White House, was Cleveland’s daughter, Esther; only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

William McKinley (March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901)
Education: Attended Allegheny College
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Was shot twice in the chest at point blank range and died whispering his favorite hymn “Nearer my God to Thee”; was the first president to use the telephone while campaigning.

Theodore Roosevelt (September 14, 1901 – March 3, 1909)
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1880)
Occupation: Author, lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: At 42, was the youngest president; the teddy bear is named for him; he lost the sight in one eye while boxing in the White House and had a photographic memory.

William Howard Taft (March 4, 1909 – March 3, 1913)
Education: Graduated from Yale College (1878); and Cincinnati Law School (1880)
Occupation: Lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: Inaugurated the custom of the president throwing out the first ball to start the baseball season; weighed 332 pounds, got stuck in the White House bathtub the first time he used it and a larger one was ordered; the Taft’s owned the last presidential cow and the first White House automobile.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1921)
Education: Graduated from College of New Jersey (now Princeton University, 1879)
Occupation: Teacher, public official
Fun Facts: Only president to earn a Ph.D. degree; held the first regular presidential press conference; an avid golfer and used black golf balls when playing in the snow; the only president buried in Washington, D.C.

Warren Gamaliel Harding (March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923)
Education: Graduated from Ohio Central College (1882)
Occupation: Editor-Publisher
Fun Facts: The first newspaper publisher to be elected president; first president to own a radio.

John Calvin Coolidge (August 2, 1923 – March 3, 1929)
Education: Graduated from Amherst College (1895)
Occupation: Lawyer
Fun Facts: Sworn into office by his father, a justice of the peace and notary public; averaged nine hours of sleep a night and took afternoon naps from two to four hours; kept the most pets, including a pygmy hippo.

Herbert Clark Hoover (March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933)
Education: Graduated from Stanford University (1895)
Occupation: Engineer
Fun Facts: Was the youngest member of Stanford University’s first graduating class; during their first three years in the White House, the Hoovers dined alone only three times; was the first president to donate his salary to charity.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945)
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1903); Attended Columbia Law School
Occupation: Public official, lawyer
Fun Facts: Was the first defeated vice presidential candidate to be elected president; was related by blood or marriage to 11 former presidents; the first president to appear on television.

Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953)
Education: Attended the University of Kansas City Law School
Occupation: Farmer, public official
Fun Facts: The middle initial “S” in Truman’s name is not an abbreviation and has no significance; at 60 years old, he was the oldest vice president to succeed to the presidency; President Johnson presented the first two Medicare cards to Mr. and Mrs. Truman.

Dwight David Eisenhower (January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961)
Education: Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. (1915)
Occupation: Soldier
Fun Facts: The last president born in the 19th century; the only president to serve in both World Wars; a skilled chef; the first president licensed to fly an airplane.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963)
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1940)
Occupation: Author, public official
Fun Facts: At 43 years old, was the youngest man elected president; and at 46 years old, was the youngest to die; the only president to win a Pulitzer Prize, for his biography “Profiles in Courage”; the first president to have served in the U.S. Navy; the only president to appoint his brother to a cabinet post.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969)
Education: Graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers college (now Texas State University –   San Marcos, 1930)
Occupation: Teacher, public official
Fun Facts: The only president to take the oath of office from a female official, Judge Sarah T. Hughes; rejected his official portrait painting, saying it was the ugliest thing he ever saw; was the first incumbent president to meet with a pope.

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974)
Education: Graduated from Whittier College (1934); Duke University Law School (1937)
Occupation: Lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: Played the most musical instruments; resigned as president, becoming the first president to ever voluntarily leave office.
Gerald Rudolph Ford (August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977)
Education: Graduated from University of Michigan (1935); Yale University Law School (1941)
Occupation: Lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: The first president to release to the public a full report of his medical checkup; the only president whose two assassination attempts against him were made by women; the first president not elected by the people to become president.
James Earl Carter, Jr. (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
Education: Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (1946)
Occupation: Farmer, public official
Fun Facts: The first president born in a hospital; the first president that graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy; the first president sworn in using his nickname, “Jimmy”.

Ronald Wilson Reagan (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989)
Education: Graduated from Eureka College (1932)
Occupation: Actor, public official
Fun Facts: The first president to have been divorced; was a Hollywood actor before becoming involved in politics; was 77 years old when he left office, making him the oldest president.

George Herbert Walker Bush (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
Education: Graduated from Yale University (1948)
Occupation: Businessman, public official
Fun Facts: Received his military commission in 1943 and became, at age 19, the youngest pilot in the Navy; related to Benedict Arnold, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Presidents Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Gerald Ford; first vice president ever to serve as acting president when Ronald Reagan underwent surgery for three hours in 1985; second man in US Presidential history whose son became President.

William Jefferson Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
Education: Graduated from Georgetown University (1968), Attended Oxford University (1968 – 70); Graduated from Yale University Law School (1973)
Occupation: Lawyer, public official
Fun Facts: Was elected governor of Arkansas at age 32 and was the youngest governor in the U.S.; in high school, Clinton played saxophone in a jazz trio; the second president of the United States to be impeached by the House of Representatives; his nickname as a child was Bubba.

George Walker Bush (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
Education: Graduated from Yale University (1968); and Harvard Business School (1975)
Occupation: Businessman
Fun Facts: The first president since 1888 ( President Benjamin Harrison) to become President without winning the popular votes; the second father and son to be elected as presidents in the U.S. Presidential history; worked in the energy business, and was once part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise.

Barack Hussein Obama (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017)
Education: Graduated from Columbia University (1983); and Harvard Law School (1991)
Occupation: Community organizer, professor, lawyer
Fun Facts: The first African American President of the United States; taught law at the University of Chicago; does not like ice cream as a result of working at an ice cream shop as a teenager; collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comic books.

Donald John Trump (January 20, 2017 – Incumbent)
Education: Graduated from University of Pennsylvania (1968)
Occupation: Businessman, Real Estate Developer
Fun Facts: Became President of the United States after one of the most contentious presidential campaigns in U.S. history; at age seventy, he is the oldest and wealthiest person to assume the presidency; the first without prior military or governmental service, and the fifth with less than a plurality of the national popular vote.