US elections 2024 Interesting facts about US presidents

LAHORE: As approximately 346 million Americans gear up to witness their country’s 60th quadrennial Presidential election Tuesday, the intriguing Donald Trump versus Kamala Devi Harris ballot contest will formally commence just hours from now.

The 60-year-old Harris is a criminal prosecutor-turned-politician, while the 78-year-old Trump is one of America’s most flamboyant billionaire real estate barons who defied all odds by capturing the White House in 2016.

Trump has faced numerous legal challenges, including questions about his election eligibility, two House impeachments, and nearly 100 criminal charges related to election interference, attempting to overturn the 2020 polling results, and falsifying records. On May 30, 2024, he was convicted on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records linked to a 2016 sex scandal.

During the last 235 years, America has had 46 presidents. The campaigns and inaugurations of most of them carried interesting details. The first US President, General George Washington, is famously known to have spent his entire campaign budget on alcohol, offering 160 gallons of free liquor to lure voters in 1789.

However, his wife, Martha Washington, could not reach New York in time for the ceremony. Washington took oath while wearing a special set of teeth made from ivory, brass and gold. President William Henry Harrison, became the first to die in office in 1841, having served the shortest (32-day long) tenure in US history.

He is known to have delivered the longest-opening address (8,060 word) in 105 minutes amid a howling snowstorm. The president, who opted not to wear a hat or coat, caught cold on inauguration day that later developed into pneumonia, leading to his death.

While historians said the cold temperature on inauguration day didn’t directly cause Harrison’s death, it didn’t help either. Harrison’s actions didn’t deter other presidents from taking similar decisions.

For example, on January 20, 1961, John Kennedy removed his coat before delivering his inaugural address, ignoring the freezing cold. A few vice presidents assumed presidency without being elected to the slot.

Vice President John Tyler became president in 1841 after death of President William Henry Harrison. Millard Fillmore took oath in 1850 after President Zachary Taylor’s demise. Andrew Johnson became President in 1865 upon the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

Chester Arthur became President in 1881 upon death of President James Garfield. In 1923, when President Warren Harding’s died after being allegedly poisoned by his wife and full-time Secretary, Florence Kling Harding, his Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, was visiting his family home.

Upon hearing the news, Coolidge was sworn in as President by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Senior, an incumbent Notary Public. In 1963, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was administered oath aboard the Air Force One after John Kennedy’s assassination. And, Gerald Ford became President in 1974 upon resignation of President Nixon.

(References: The Library of Congress, the CNN, the United States Senate records, US Department of Commerce, Forbes, the US National Archives and Records Administration, the record of Joint US Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the Washington Post, the Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, the National Public Radio and the New York Times etc)

The 1857 inauguration of President James Buchanan was the first inauguration known to have been photographed in American history. The 1897 inauguration of William McKinley was the first inauguration to be recorded on film.

During the second inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, telephones were installed on the Capitol Hill grounds for the first time. Calvin Coolidge 1925 inauguration was the first-ever function of its kind to be broadcast nationally by radio.

In 1949, the second inauguration of Harry Truman was the first-ever to be televised. The 1961 inauguration of John Kennedy was the first-ever to be televised in colour. During the first inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981, the first-ever broadcast of its kind had gone live for the deaf.

In 1997, the second inauguration of Bill Clinton was first such ceremony to be broadcast live on the Internet. The shortest inaugural address is known to have been delivered by George Washington at the start of his second term (1793-97). His 135-word long speech lasted less than two minutes only. John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford did not address the public at their respective inaugurations.