POTUS 10: Pres. John Tyler - The First Accidental President

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John Tyler's detractors called him "His Accidency" because he was the first President to take office due to the death of his predecessor. When President Wm. Henry Harrison konked out, after one month in office, Tyler was sworn in. He finished the nearly four year term and did not run for re-election.

"Tyler Too" had troubles with the Whig party. When Tyler vetoed a banking bill, the Whigs retaliated by kicking him out of the party. All the Cabinet resigned except for Secretary of State Webster. A year later when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the House of Representatives.

Years after leaving office, Tyler led a compromise movement when the first southern states seceded from The Union in 1861. The compromise failed. Former President Tyler then worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.
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POTUS 12: Pres. Zachary Taylor - The President Who Mostly Closely Resembled Mel Brooks

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Zachary Taylor was another war hero President, who came to the oval office after serving forty years in the military in various capacities, including fighting numerous battles with Native Americans. He lasted about 16 months in office before he died. He was suceeded by his VPOTUS, Millard Fillmore.
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POTUS 3: Pres. Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson stars on the five cent piece, commonly called the nickel. He is also the star of the notoriously unloved and unused $2 bill.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. As President, he bought Louisiana from France for $15 million. He apparently fathered a child with his slave Sally Hemmings. Despite that, he's one of the good guys.
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Harry S. Truman and Betty Bacall

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David McCullough writes in his biography "Truman" that Bess hit the roof when she saw the photos of Harry entertaining the troops with Lauren Bacall as his hood ornament.
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Althea Trying On Nice Faces (And Failing In One Attempt)

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This morning I showed my niece Althea the pictures of her twin brother August trying on his mean face (click the link to see his pictures). I asked her if she would also do some mean faces for me. She said she wanted to do nice faces. . .and she mostly succeeded. /jack

POTUS 23: Pres. Benjamin Harrison - The Last Bearded President

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President Benjamin Harrison was a one term Republican. I love that phrase! One term Republican Presidents are my favorite species of Presidents...next to two term Democratic Presidents.

Harrison was 5' 6" tall, and the Democrats called him "Little Ben." President Harrison narrowly won the Presidency; he lost the popular vote and won the electoral college (like Pres. George W. Bush).

Following the death of his wife during his term in office, he seemed to flounder. His party was severely beaten in the mid-term congressional elections. After losing touch with his core supporters, he just didn't have the gas to win the election. Although he was renominated by the Republicans, their luke-warm support cost him the election. He was trounced by Grover Cleveland (POTUS 24 and POTUS 26). He is mainly remembered today as an early proponent of free trade around the world.
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POTUS 27: Pres. William Howard Taft - Who Preferred To Be Remembered As Chief Justice

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President William Howard Taft was a judge, a Governor of The Phillipines, and later The Secretary of War. POTUS 26, Teddy Roosevelt, hand-picked him as successor. President Taft had a fairly uneventful Presidency and lost the re-election to Woodrow Wilson (POTUS 28).

After leaving the White House, he taught law school for years and was eventually tapped to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. President Taft said in later years that he much preferred the bench to the Oval Office.
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[1] B/W photograph corrected and altered digitally. Hand tinted portrait, with added digital background,

$25,000 Worth of Ann Coulter

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Click on the title to link to a news article about her talk at KU last night.

Some samples from her talk at a Kansas university last night: In her opening remarks, she promised to answer questions from liberals, if they can "thrash their way to a coherent thought." "I've come to find I like liberals a lot more," Coulter said. "They're kind of cute when they're cold, shivering and afraid."

When hecklers began yelling at her she said: "I think there are some people in the audience who meant to be at the sexual reorientation class down the hall." And then, she sent a few bullnecks out to clean up the hecklers: "Could 10 of the largest College Republicans start walking up and down the aisles and start removing anyone shouting?" Coulter asked, "otherwise, this lecture is over."

Several people responded, leaving their seats to confront the hecklers, and verbal confrontations erupted in parts of the auditorium. Coulter resumed her critical remarks, calling Sen. Ted Kennedy a "human dirigible" and the Democrats' "spiritual leader." She also made fun of the Democrats' dalliance with filmmaker Michael Moore and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who she said got away with telling "big, fat, enormous lies."

She also blasted the nation's judicial system for its handling of the Terri Schiavo case. "We no longer have a single check on the judiciary," she said.

Coulter was paid $25,000 for her appearance.
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Augie Trying On Mean Faces

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POTUS 9: Pres. William Henry Harrison - The Drive By President

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President Harrison was probably the first empty suit elected to the Presidency. In the end, the damage was slight.

He rode to victory on the coattails of leading a much embroidered battle with Indians called Tippecanoe. "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," was his slogan, and it has remained probably the best known campaign slogan in American history. The Whigs selected Harrison as a candidate because they believed in a strong congress and a weak president; Harrison filled the bill perfectly. The Whigs turned out 82% of the eligible voters with such blandishments as live music, baloon rides, and free whiskey.

President Harrison's campaign slogan proved to be prophetic. Harrison died of pneumonia one month and a day after assuming office and was succeeded by President John Tyler. Despite his highly-truncated tenure he is better known than a lot of Presidents. Is he the most prominent amongst the obscure??
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POTUS 34: Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower - A Most Detached President

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Ike was essentially the CEO of World War II. He rose from being a mere Lietunant Colonel in 1941 to a five-star general in 1945. As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he commanded the most powerful army, navy, and air force ever assembled on this great green sphere. He commanded the assault on Nazi-occupied France that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. In peacetime he commanded the NATO forces. He ran for President, and stomped Adlai Stevenson. Twice.

He was unable to duplicate his battlefield victories. Ike had a congressional majority for only two years of his presidency, and truth be told, not a lot was accomplished in those eight years. Ike, in particular, turned his back on the great racial divide that would soon fracture the country once again.

There is a large body of scholarship and innuendo to suggest that President Eisenhower, like many of his presidential brethren, catted around and around and around on his wife, Mamie. Kay Summersby, his British driver, is often mentioned as the booty call.

He was succeeded as President by Jack Kennedy in 1961, who narrowly beat Richard M. Nixon, Ike's barely tolerated Vice-President.
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Gee Whiz!

A worker with India's main opposition party displays an antiseptic aftershave made of cow urine at a stall in party headquarters in New Delhi February 25, 2005. Alongside life-sized posters of Hindu nationalist leaders, Indian political activists can now buy lotions, potions and pills to cure anything from cancer to hysteria to piles -- all made from cow urine or dung. (B Mathur/Reuters)