So You Want to Be President?
By Judith St. George
1.There are good things about being President and there are bad things about being President. 2. One of the good 1. _______ things is that the President lives win a big white house called the White House.
3. Another good thing about being President is that the
2. _______
President has a swimming pool, bowling alley, and movie theater. 3. _______
4. The President never has to take out the garbage. 4. _______
5. The President doesn’t have to eat yucky vegetables. 5. _______
6. As a boy, George Bush had to eat broccoli. 7. When George 6. _______
Bush grew up, he became President. 7. _______
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8. That was the end of the broccoli!
9. One of the bad things about being President is that the
8. _______
President always has to be dressed up.
10. William McKinley wore a frock coat, vest, pin-striped
9. _______ trousers, stiff white shirt, black satin tie, gloves, a top hat, and a red carnation in his buttonhole every day! 10. ______
11. The President has to be polite to everyone. 11. ______
12. The President can’t go anywhere alone. 13. The President
12. ______ has lots of homework. 13. ______
14. People get mad at the President. 15. Someone once 14. ______ threw a cabbage at William Howard Taft. 16. That didn’t 15. ______ bother Taft. 17. He quipped, “I see that one of my adversaries
16. ______ has lost his head.” 17. ______
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18. Lots of people want to be President. 19. If you want 18. ______ to be President, it might help if your name is James. 20. Six 19. ______
Presidents were named James. 21. (President Carter liked to 20. ______ be called Jimmy). 22. Four Johns, four Williams (President 21. ______
Clinton liked to bed called Bill), two Georges, two Andrews, and two Franklins—all became President. 22. ______
23. ______ 23. You probably weren’t born in a log cabin.
24. That’s too bad. 25. People are crazy about log-cabin
24. ______
Presidents. 26. They elected eight. 27. William Harrison was born in a big Virginia mansion, though he won the election
25. ______
26. ______ with a “log cabin and hard cider” slogan. 27. ______
28. If you want to be President, your size doesn’t matter.
28. ______
29. Presidents have come in all shapes and sizes. 30. Abraham 29. ______
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Lincoln was the tallest—six feet four inches. (His stovepipe hat made him look even taller.) 30. ______
31. James Madison was the smallest—five feet four inches and only one hundred pounds. 32. William Howard 31. ______
Taft was the biggest—more than three hundred pounds.
33. He was so big that he had a special tub built for his White
32. ______
House bathroom. 34. (Four men could fit in the tub!)
35. Maybe Taft’s problem was that Presidents can order
33. ______
34. ______ any food they want. 36. Andrew Johnson once served his 35. ______ guests turtle soup, oysters, fish, beef, turkey, mutton chops, chicken, mushrooms, string beans, partridges, duck, pudding, jellies, and lots of wine.
37. All at one dinner!
36. ______
37. ______
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38. Though the Constitution says you’ll have until you’re thirty-five, young, old, and in between have become
President. 39. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt at forty-two was 38. ______ the youngest. 40. He had pillow fights with his children and 39. ______ played football on the White House lawn. 41. “You must 40. ______ always remember that the President is about six,” a friend said. 41. ______
42. Ronald Regan was the oldest. 43. When he first ran for 42. ______
President, he was sixty-nine. 44. He joked that it was the 43. ______ thirtieth anniversary of his thirty-ninth birthday.
45. Some Presidents joked and some didn’t—President’s
44. ______
personalities have all been different. 45. ______
46. William McKinley was so nice that he tried to stop a mob from attacking the man who had just shot him. 47. Benjamin 46. ______
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Harrison was so cold that one senator said talking to Harrison was like talking to a hitching post. 48. Calvin Coolidge was so 47. ______ shy and quiet that a dinner guest once made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. 49. “You lose,” he told 48. ______ her. 50. Andrew Jackson certainly wasn’t shy. 51. When he ran for President, his opponents printed a list of his duels,
49. ______
50. ______ fights, shootings, and brawls. 52. Fourteen in all! 51. ______
52. ______
53. Don’t worry about your looks. 54. Abraham Lincoln
53. ______ was a homely man, but he was one of our best Presidents. 54. ______
55. (He reunited the country by winning the Civil War.) 55. ______
56. Someone once called Lincoln two-faced. 57. “If I am 56. ______ two-faced, would I wear the face that I have now?” Lincoln asked. 57. ______
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58. Warren Harding was a handsome man, but he was one of our worst Presidents. 59. (He gave government jobs to 58. ______ his crooked friends.) 60. “I am not fit for this office and never
59. ______ should have been here,” he admitted. 60. ______
61. Do you have pesky brothers and sisters? 61. ______
62. Every one of our Presidents did. 63. Benjamin Harrison 62. ______ takes the prize—he had eleven! 64. (It’s lucky he grew up on a 63. ______ six-hundred-acre farm.) 65. James Polk and James Buchanan 64. ______ both had mine. 66. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, 65. ______
James Madison, and John Kennedy each had eight. 67. (Two 66. ______
Presidents were orphans, Andrew Jackson and Herbert
Hoover.)
68. A President in your family tree is a plus.
67. ______
68. ______
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69. John Quincy Adams was John Adams’ son.
70. Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt were fifth cousins. 71. Benjamin Harrison was William Harrison’s
70. ______ grandson. 72. James Madison and Zachary Taylor were
69. ______
71. ______ second cousins.
73. Some Presidents threw money around and some were
72. ______ penny pinchers. 74. James Monroe ordered French silverware, 73. ______ china, candlesticks, clocks, mirrors, vases, rugs, draperies, and furniture for the White House, Ninety-three crates in all! 74. ______
75. William Harrison was thrifty. 76. He walked to 75. ______ market every morning with a basket over his arm. 76. ______
77. Do you have a pet? 78. All kind of pets have lived in 77. ______ the White House, mostly dogs. 79. Herbert Hoover had three 78. ______
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dogs: Piney, Snowflake, and Tut. 79. ______
80. (Tut must have been a Democrat. 81. He and his 80. ______
Republican master never got along.) 82. Franklin Roosevelt’s
81. ______ dog, Fala, was almost as famous as his owner.
83. George Bush’s dog wrote MILLIE’S BOOK:
ADVENTURES OF A WHITE HOUSE DOG (as reported to
82. ______
Mrs. Bush!). 84. Ulysses Grant had horses, Benjamin
Harrison’s goat pulled his grand-children around in a cart, the
83. ______
Coolidges had a pet raccoon, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton preferred cats.
85. Theodore Roosevelt’s children didn’t just have pets,
84. ______ they ran a zoo. 86. They had dogs, cats, guinea pigs, snakes, 85. ______ mice, rats, badgers, raccoons, parrots, and a Shetland pony
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called Algonquin. 87. To cheer up his sick brother, young 86. ______
Quentin once took Algonquin upstairs in the White House elevator!
88. You don’t have to be musical to be President.
87. ______
88. ______
89. Ulysses Grant certainly wasn’t. 90. He knew only two
89. ______ tunes. 91. “One is ‘Yankee Doodle’,” he said, “and the other 90. ______ one isn’t.” 91. ______
92. But many Presidents were musical.
93. Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler, and Woodrow Wilson played the violin; John Quincy Adams, the flute; Chester
Arthur, the banjo; Harry Truman and Richard Nixon, the piano;
92. ______
Bill Clinton, the saxophone, and Warren Harding almost any brass instrument, including the sousaphone. 93. ______
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94. Some Presidents knew how to dance and some didn’t. 95. Our first President did a mean minuet. 96. At his inaugural ball George Washington danced with every lady but
94. ______
95. ______ his wife. 97. (Mrs. W. had stayed home!)
98. James Madison’s opinion of his inaugural ball?
96. ______
97. ______
98. ______
99. “I would much rather be in bed.
100. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t much of a dancer.
99. ______
101. “Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you the worst
100. _____ way,” he told his future wife. 102. Miss Todd later said to a 101. _____ friend, “He certainly did.” 103. Woodrow Wilson liked to do
102. _____ the jig step while singing silly ditties. 103. _____
104. Not all Presidents danced, but most had a sport. 104. _____
105. John Quincy Adams was a first-rate swimmer. 105. _____
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106. Once when he was skinny-dipping in the Potomac River, a woman reporter snatched his clothes and sat on then until he gave her an interview.
107. Ulysses Grant raced his rig through the streets of
106. _____
Washington (and was arrested for speeding!). 108. Rutherford 107. _____
Hayes played croquet on the White House lawn. 109. Ronald 108. _____
Reagan split wood.
110. William McKinley’s idea of exercise was to sit under a
109. _____ tree with a good book. 110. _____
111. Golf has been big with Presidents.
112. Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy were especially
111. _____ good. 113. But when Gerald Ford, George Bush, and Bill 112. _____
Clinton teamed up for a golf game, three of their shots
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clobbered spectators!
114.Though most Presidents went to college, nine didn’t:
113. _____
George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren,
Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew
Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Harry Truman. (115. Andrew 114. _____
Johnson couldn’t read until he was fourteen! 116. He didn’t 115. _____ learn to write until after he was married!) 116. _____
117. Thomas Jefferson was top-notch in the brains department—he was an expert on agriculture, law, politics, music, geography, surveying, philosophy, and botany. 118. In 117. _____ his spare time he designed his own house (a mansion), founded the University of Virginia, and whipped up the Declaration of
Independence. 118. _____
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119. If you want to be President, you might consider joining the army. 120. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, 119. _____
William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford
Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and Dwight Eisenhower were all generals. 120. _____
121. If you can’t be a general, be a hero like Theodore
Roosevelt or John Kennedy. (122. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders 121. _____ charged up Kettle Hill to help win the Spanish-American War. 122. _____
123. Kennedy led his crew to safety in World War II when the
Japanese sank his PT boat.) 123. _____
124. Don’t be a Franklin Pierce. 125. In his very first battle, Franklin Pierce’s horse bucked, he was thrown against
124. _____ his saddle and fainted, his horse fell, broke its leg, and Pierce
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hurt his knee. (126. He got elected anyway!)
127. Another route to the White House is to be
125. _____
126. _____
Vice President, though most don’t think much of the job.
127. _____
128. Truman’s Vice President, Alben Barkley, told about a man who had two sons. 129. One son went to sea, the other 128. _____ was elected Vice President. 130. Neither was ever heard from 129. _____ again. (131. Who’s ever heard of Alben Barkley?)
132. Other Vice Presidents have been heard from. John
130. _____
131. _____
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Richard Nixon, and George Bush were all elected President. (133. Gerald 132. _____
Ford became President when Richard Nixon resigned.) 133. _____
134. John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Calvin Coolidge, and Harry
Truman moved up when a President got sick and died. 134. _____
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135. Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson became top man when guns were drawn, flew, and a President was assassinated!
136. Almost any job can lead to the White House.
135. _____
136. _____
137. Presidents have been lawyers, teachers, farmers, sailors, engineers, surveyors, mayors, governors, congressmen, senators, and ambassadors. (138. Harry Truman owned a 137. _____ men’s shop. 139. Andrew Johnson was a tailor. 140. Ronald
138. _____
Reagan was a movie actor!) 139. _____
141. One thing is certain, if you want to be President— and stay President—be honest. Harry Truman paid for his own postage stamps. 142. Grover Cleveland was famous for his 141. _____ motto: “Tell the truth.” 142. _____
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143. Other Presidents weren’t so honest.
143. _____
144. Democrat Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath. 145. Republican Richard Nixon’s staff broke into
144. _____
Democratic headquarters to steal campaign secrets. 146. He 145. _____ covered up the crime and then lied about it. 146. _____
(147. That was the end of the Richard Nixon as President!) 147. _____
148. There they are, a mixed bag of forty-one Presidents! 148. _____
149. What did they think of being head man? 150. George 149. _____
Washington, who became our very first President in 1789, worried about his new line of work. 151. “I greatly fear that
150. _____ my countrymen will expect too much from me,” he wrote to a friend. (152. He was a howling success.) 153. Some loved the 151. _____ job. 154. “No President has ever enjoyed himself as much as
152. _____
153. _____
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I,” Theodore Roosevelt said. 155. Others hated it. 156. “The four most miserable years of my life,” John Quincy Adams
154. _____
155. _____ complained.
157. Every President was different from every other and
156. _____ yet no woman has been President. 158. No person of color has 157. _____ been President. 159. No person who wasn’t a Protestant or a 158. _____
Roman Catholic has been President. 160. But if you care 159. _____ enough, anything is possible. 161. Thirty-four Presidents came 160. _____ and went before a Roman Catholic—John Kennedy—was elected. 162. Almost two hundred years passed before a 161. _____ woman—Geraldine Ferraro—ran for Vice President. 162. _____
163. It’s said that people who run for President have swelled heads. 164. It’s said that people who run for President 163. _____
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are greedy. 165. They want power. 166. They want fame.
167. But being President can be wanting to serve your
164. _____
165. _____
166. _____ country—like George Washington, who left the Virginia plantation he loved three times to lead the country he loved even more.
168. It can be looking toward the future like Thomas
Jefferson, who bought the Louisiana Territory and then sent
167. _____
Lewis and Clark west to find a route to the Pacific. (169. They 168. _____ did!) 169. _____
170. It can be wanting to turn lives around like
Franklin Roosevelt, who provided soup and bread for the hungry, jobs for the jobless, and funds for the elderly to live on. 170. _____
171. It can be wanting to make the world a better place
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like John Kennedy, who sent Peace Corps volunteers around the globe to teach and help others.
172. Every single President has taken this oath: “I do
171. _____ solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the
United States.” 172. _____
173. Only thirty-five words! 174. But it’s a big order when you’re President of this country.
173. _____
174. _____
175. Abraham Lincoln was tops at filling that order.
176. “I know very well that many others might in this matter as
175. _____ in others, to better than I can,” he said. 177. “But…I am here.
176. _____
I must do the best I can, and bear the responsibility of taking
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the course which I feel I ought to take.”
177. _____
178. That’s the bottom line. 179. Tall, short, fat, thin, 178. _____ talkative, quiet, vain, humble, lawyer, teacher, or soldier—this is what most of our Presidents have tried to do, each in his own way. 180. Some succeeded.
181. Some failed. 182. If you want to be President—a good
179. _____
180. _____
181. _____
President—pattern yourself after the best. 183. Our best have 182. _____ asked more of themselves than they thought they could give. 183. _____
184. They have had the courage, spirit, and will to do what they knew was right. 185. Most of all, their first priority has 184. _____ always been the people and the country they served. 185. _____
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