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Presidential Spectacular

Hey guys, I know I typically do not write blog posts during the semester, but I had a great idea for a Presidents’ Day post on the top five most unlikely presidents we have had in our past. What I mean by this, we have had presidents who did not serve in politics their whole life. I will be honest towards my opinions towards each president. This post also comes with a twist that you may enjoy, mainly a shout out to my mom who gave me the idea.

 My first shout out goes to Hiram Ulysses Grant, also known as Ulysses S. Grant or the nickname “Sam” Grant. Coming from my upbringings with an Air Force step-father as well as a grandmother who served in the Army Reserves and a grandfather who was in the Navy during the Vietnam conflict, I have come to love almost everything military. Grant is more widely known for being one of the greatest generals in American history who served for the Union during the Civil War. He later was elected as the 18th President of the United States. Much of Grant’s presidency was marred by scandal and several people who were against him from the beginning claimed that he was behind every scandal. However, this was not true and I truly believe he was an underdog as far as presidents go. Other than being a general, Grant constantly failed in life but, had the dream of opening a shoe store or running a small goods store. He then ran for president. Grant had a very successful presidency where he finished up what was left of Reconstruction after the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression for you Johnny Rebs) as well as set up a very prominent foreign policy with a guy named Hamilton Fish (he had crazy mutton chops). Some quick fun facts about Grant is that he was a horse whisperer, meaning he calmed down any bucking bronco with ease. Grant was also an unfortunate smoker and hence smoked roughly twenty cigars a day, this eventually lead to his throat and lip cancer where he passed away in 1885.

Number two on this list is another personal favorite of mine, Ronald Reagan. Honestly, I downright don’t call him this and I have given him the nickname “Papa Reagan”. I grew up listening to stories of Reagan from my mom, grandfathers, and grandma about how much of a classy dude he was. Reagan grew up in Illinois but, when he was old enough to look for work during The Great Depression, he would seek out jobs in Iowa which he felt was a second home to him. Reagan got a degree in economics from Eureka University in Illinois and claimed that it did not really help him, and he learned more about the subject than he did in school when he became governor of California. Reagan never dreamed of a job in politics, he mainly wanted to work for the radio as a sports announcer. Reagan decided that he wanted to take a shot in acting where he landed several roles in various B-films. He was a staunch supporter of FDR and Harry Truman as a liberal, but later in life became a radical conservative after he was finished with an acting career in the 1950s. When it came to politics, he believed that the people should choose who to support and never wanted to run himself, but after a lot of pressure, people asked him to run for governor of California as well as President of the United States three times.

The third choice is honestly, in my humble opinion, one of the worst presidents America has ever had. I do have bias because I come from a conservative background. This is Jimmy Carter. The reason why I think he was not the best president was that he was an outsider to Washington D.C. and seemed to get nothing done with a Democratic majority. What makes him a candidate for this unlikely president was that he was a peanut farmer from Georgia as well as a Sunday school teacher. Some fun facts about Carter are that he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his works at the Carter Center, mainly for humanitarian work. Another fact is that one of his successes as president was dealing with the Iran Hostage affair. The affair officially ended the day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in, but Reagan gives credit to Jimmy Carter.

Number four on the list is Herbert Hoover. Hoover was an extremely successful businessman which, lead to his election as Secretary of Commerce. He then was elected as the 31st president of the United States with no previous political experience. His previous experience had been in mining and humanitarian work. With mining, he started out in Nevada City, California before getting hired by another company to mine gold in Perth, Australia. He was also assigned to mining operations around China, where his wife Lou Henry learned Mandarin to help with her husband’s endeavors. After retiring from mining, Hoover became a businessman where he helped set up humanitarian work around Europe. Personally, I know there is a library in Belgium named after Herbert Hoover because of a friend who had visited it while on a trip. While Hoover did not have a successful presidency, which was mirrored by the complications of The Great Depression and after a landslide loss to FDR, he began writing. One of his legacies involved writing many geology manuals such as the De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals) as well as books about nature.

The last unlikely president I would like to write about is again one of my personal favorites, Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt had a harsh life growing up mainly because he was condemned to be sick for most his life. At a young age, he developed asthma which was extremely severe causing his parents to limit what he did. This seriously damaged the young Teddy’s confidence, but he eventually overcame this by becoming more of an outdoorsman and constantly exercising. He was an avid runner, loved going swimming, as well as boxed whenever he got the chance. Eventually, his asthma diminished and his parents allowed him to go to school at Harvard earning a degree in history. While at Harvard, his father passed away and he gained a very morose attitude towards life stating that he will die around the same age as his father. Later in life, he married his college sweetheart Alice Roosevelt. Alice eventually passed away during childbirth to his daughter of the same name. Within hours of his wife passing away, his mother also went to the Lord. Roosevelt eventually grew tired of society and became very depressed. This caused him to go out west on a grand adventure that involved hunting, ranching, as well as becoming involved with wanting to preserve national parks. He eventually became a president and is known as the manliest of presidents due to his wicked mustache and strict demeanor. A few facts about Teddy Roosevelt is that the Teddy Bear was named after him. This instance is when he was out on a hunt and found a bear cub that he spared. Teddy Roosevelt was also the mitigator for the Russo-Japanese War (Russia fought Japan) and ended up winning a Nobel Prize for his efforts.

To My Readers: That is all for the short list on President’s Day. Just a quick saying, no matter where you end up at, you can do great things. If life seems to have thrown you a curve ball, you can overcome it. These men, heck, all the presidents have had their rough patches but, they excelled. Just keep your head up, keep on moving, you can do it!

#Presidents'day NotMyBlog justkiddingitis History Herstory itsstories