Presidential facts

Friday, July 18, 2008 9:59 PM CDT

The other day we ran across some interesting facts about U.S. presidents. The facts were originally compiled by Richard Lederer, author of a book titled "Presidential Trivia: The Feats, Fates, Families, Foibles and First of Our American Presidents."

The interesting fact that Richard dug up were later reprinted in the most recent addition of the "AARP Bulletin."

They were kind of interesting so we'll use them here:

Record setters - Tallest, Abraham Lincoln at six foot four inches; shortest, James Madison, five feet, four inches; heaviest, William Howard Taft, over 300 pounds; biggest feet, Warren G. Harding, size 14; youngest elected, John F. Kennedy at 43; oldest elected, Ronald Reagan at 69; longest lived, Gerald Ford, 93 years, 166 days; longest time in office, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 12 years; shortest time in office, William Henry Harrison, 32 days.

First president who was - Born a U.S. citizen, Martin Van Buren; born west of the Mississippi, Herbert Hoover (Iowa); born in a log cabin, Andrew Jackson; born in a hospital, Jimmy Carter; bearded, Abraham Lincoln; assassinated, Abraham Lincoln; impeached, Andrew Johnson; baby boomer, Bill Clinton.

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First president who - Died in office, William Henry Harrison; attended a major league baseball game, Benjamin Harrison; spoke on the radio, Warren G. Harding; appeared on television, Franklin D. Roosevelt; established a national park, Ulysses S. Grant (Yellowstone); presided over 50 states, Dwight Eisenhower; appointed a woman to his cabinet, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Frances Perkins); appointed an African American to his cabinet, Lyndon Johnson, Robert C. Weaver.

The only president who - Didn't live in Washington, George Washington; was defeated by his vice president, John Adams (Thomas Jefferson); founded a university, Thomas Jefferson, University of Virginia; could write with both hands at the same time in two different languages, James Garfield; hanged people, Grover Cleveland (as a county sheriff); served two non-consecutive terms, Grover Cleveland; later served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, William Howard Taft; was sworn into office by his father, Calvin Coolidge (John Calvin Coolidge); resigned, Richard Nixon; served as both vice president and president without being elected to either office, Gerald Ford; survived a bullet wound while in office, Ronald Reagan; earned a Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson; earned an MBA, George W. Bush; served in the 20th century and didn't graduate from college, Harry S. Truman.

Family matters - Only children, none; raised with half-siblings only, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton; bachelor, James Buchanan; got married while president, Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson; divorced, Ronald Reagan; fathered the most children, John Tayler, 15; fathered another president, John Adams and George H. W. Bush (John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush); grandfather of another president, William Henry Harrison (Benjamin Harrison); father-in-law to confederate president, Zachary Taylor (Jefferson Davis).

Now, that was quite a history lesson, but we did find those fact interesting. Our thanks to Richards Lederer and the AARP folks.

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triplets in the news

We're not talking about three of them here, just two Tripletts. One is Christopher Triplett and the other is Drew Triplett and both have been in the news lately.

Both are Watertown natives and they are the sons of Tom Triplett and Jan Brunk, both of Watertown.

First of all, Drew was part of a feature article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently which detailed the success of Ben's Cycle and Fitness and Milwaukee Cycle Company, both of which are owned by Ben Hanoski.

Ben's is a cycling business which caters to high-end products and service.

Well, Drew is manager for Internet sales at the Cycle and Fitness location. And, that segment of the business is doing quite well. Internet sales now account for two-thirds of the business at this family-owned business.

That says a lot about Drew's contribution's to the success of the 75-year-old family business. The article was accompanied by a color photo of Drew in his shop.

Now, on to Christopher who is a captain with the 95th Airlift Squadron which is located at Pope Air Force based in North Carolina, has used his ingenuity and skills developed through his civilian job to create a new software program that allows airmen to log their training from any government computer designated for this purpose at the base.

This new system allows pilots and other people in key positions to go on the Internet and log on to their training period hours. Before Christopher converted the system to a Web based program, all of this information resided on a single computer at the Air Force base.

Typically that wouldn't be an impossible situation, but many of these people are reservists and they live all over the country. Now, even if they live in Milwaukee, where many of them have been based in the past, they have access to this important training information by logging in to any government computer.

It won't be long before the program developed by Christopher is used throughout the entire United States Air Force. The time savings, the accuracy of records and the elimination of some redundancy issues will save huge amounts of money. And, best of all, it's paperless which is another great advantage costwise.

It's just business as usual for these two Watertown natives and they join a long list of people from our community who are making positive contributions.

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