Fun Facts for Presidents Day

Presidents Day may not be the biggest holiday of the year, but it is a time to remember some of our country's greatest leaders. Below are some cool facts about our past presidents that you probably didn't know.

• At his inauguration, George Washington only had one tooth. Contrary to popular belief, he never wore false wooden teeth. However, at various times he did wear dentures made of human teeth, animal teeth, ivory and lead.
• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the only two presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence. They also both died on the same day—July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the document.
• James Madison was the first president to wear trousers, as opposed to knee-length "breeches." At 5 feet, four inches, he was also the shortest president. 
• Weather permitting, John Quincy Adams swam nude in the Potomac River every day. 
• Before he was president, Andrew Jackson was wounded in a duel at age 39. The bullet remained lodged in his heart until the day he died. 
• Zachary Taylor let his old Army horse Whitey graze on the White House lawn. Visitors took horse hairs as souvenirs. 
• James Buchanan was nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other. As a result, he always cocked his head to the left. 
• While he was president, Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for driving his horse too fast and fined $20. He smoked 20 cigars a day and died of throat cancer.
• Theodore Roosevelt had a photographic memory. He could read a page in the time it took anyone else to read a sentence. 
• James K. Polk's wife did not allow card playing, dancing or drinking in the White House.
• James A. Garfield was ambidextrous. To entertain people, he would write in Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.
• Benjamin Harrison was terrified of electric lights. He would ask White House staff to turn them on and off for him.
• Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to use a phone at the White House. Alexander Graham Bell personally showed him how to use it and his phone number was 1.
• Calvin Coolidge liked having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfast in bed. He also rode his own mechanical bull and played "ding-dong ditch'em." He would ring the White House doorbell and then run and hide.
• Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, was present at the assassinations of three Presidents: his father's, President Garfield's and President McKinley's. 
• All Presidents receive code names from the Secret Service. Ronald Reagan was Rawhide, George H. W. Bush was Timberwolf, Bill Clinton was Eagle, George W. Bush was Trailblazer and Barack Obama is Renegade.
• Abraham Lincoln was a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Ill.
• Herbert Hoover ordered his White House servants to hide from him whenever he passed by. If they didn't, they ran the risk of being fired.