Lyndon Johnson had his troubles. Opposition to the war in Vietnam eventually forced him from seeking another term in 1968. But perhaps we shouldn't feel sad for him because, among other special luxuries, Johnson had shoes specially designed for him because his feet were different sizes. His right foot was size 11C, while his left was 11.5C. We know this quirky fact courtesy of Johnson & Murphy, which was commissioned to make several pairs of shoes for Johnson, including a black plain-toe slip on, as well as a chestnut-colored, five-eyelet lace-up. Johnson & Murphy's Shoes of the Presidents is an entertaining look at presidential footwear.
What would you say if you were one of the country's worst presidents? No need to ponder that question, because a real-life example exists for us to marvel at. James Buchanan often gets the nod as one of the worst presidents, and perhaps it's well deserved. Under Buchanan's leadership, the country slipped into a terrible economic recession. In addition, he was ineffective at preventing states from eventually seceding from the Union. He sat idly while slavery spread into the western territories. He gets a lot of blame for the Civil War. He also sported a very bad haircut. All told, a dismal performance while in the White House. Buchanan knew that he was judged harshly. His excuse is a shocker: "Whatever the results may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country."
Over the years, many presidents have gone to extreme lengths to mislead the country about their health. Never a good idea. In 1893, Grover Cleveland became aware of a strange spot on the roof of his mouth. His doctor, Major Robert O’Reilly, took a biopsy of a growth that appeared to be "nearly the size of a quarter with cauliflower granulation." Results of the test revealed it to be a nonmalignant though troublesome cancer, making surgery necessary. But Cleveland didn't want his condition to be known so as not to panic the financial markets. An elaborate scheme was put in place to hide his condition, which wasn't revealed until nine years after his death. On July 1, 1893, the first of two delicate oral surgeries was performed on Cleveland on the Oneida, a yacht owned by Commodore Elias Benedict. In addition to several teeth, a large chunk of Cleveland's upper left jaw and palate was removed. Eventually, the deep recess was filled with a rubber implant which the president wore for the rest of his life.
It's ironic that one of our most athletic presidents became known as the clumsiest. Gerald Ford played center and linebacker for two national championship seasons at the University of Michigan. He was also an accomplished golfer, having once hit a hole in one at the Colonial Country Club golf course in Memphis, Tennessee. But despite Ford's athleticism, he suffered a series of high profile public slips and falls. Saturday Night Live's Chevy Chase lampooned Ford's falls, which contributed to Ford's reputation as a hapless and awkward (and non-elected) caretaker of the White House.
One of the biggest gaffes by a presidential candidate (and still the funniest) occurred on January 19, 2004, when former Vermont governor Howard Dean suffered a disappointing third place finish in the Iowa Caucus. Dean had been leading the polls heading into Iowa, but his high expectations were dashed when the Johns (Kerry and Edwards) finished ahead of him. Dean gave his concession speech at the Val-Air Ballroom in West Des Moines where, in rolled up shirt sleeves, he gave what is now known as his impassioned I Have a Scream speech. "You know, I was about to say, I'm sure there are some disappointed people here. You know what? You know something? You know something? If you had told us one year ago that we were gonna come in third in Iowa we would have given anything for that. And you know something? You know something? Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico. And we're going to California and and Texas and New York. And we''re going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! YAAAAAAAA!" Dean, whose candidacy was never the same, went on to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He is now a CNBC contributor.
March 22, 1990, was a dark day for legions of broccoli lovers. That's when George H.W. Bush, a well known broccoli hater, defended his dislike of the green floret-topped vegetable. "I do not like broccoli and I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it," said Bush. "And I'm the President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli! Now look, this is the last statement I’m going to have on broccoli. There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that’s coming in." The caravan Bush referred to was 10 tons of broccoli shipped to the White House in protest by broccoli growers.
It's an understatement to say that the Vietnam war was a boondoggle. And Lyndon Johnson owns it. President Kennedy had intended to reduce the number of U.S. military advisers in Vietnam, but LBJ reversed Kennedy's order to pull a thousand troops out. Next, incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964 gave Johnson the authority he wanted to ratchet up activity in Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of Communism. But the Gulf of Tonkin incidents, in which it was purported that North Vietnam ships attacked U.S. vessels, was mostly a ruse...and Johnson knew it. In taped conversations between LBJ and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, LBJ admitted that the Gulf of Tonkin incidents weren't definitive. Here's a transcript snippet of their September 18, 1965 conversation, as featured in Michael Beschloss's excellent Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965.
LBJ: Take the best military man you have, though, and just tell him that I've been watching and listening to these stories for thirty years before the Armed Services Committee, and we are always sure we've been attacked. Then in a day or two, we are not so damned sure. And then in a day or two more, we're sure it didn't happen at all! McNamara: Yeah, yeah. LBJ: Just say that you want to be sure...that we were fired upon. Because you just came in...a few weeks ago and said that, "Damn, they are launching an attack on us. They are firing on us." When we got through with all the firing, we concluded maybe they hadn't fired at all.
Pictured are Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Johnson and McNamara at a Cabinet meeting, courtesy of Yoichi R. Okamoto, White House Press Office.
With David Souter retiring, President Obama has his first opportunity to make a mark on the U.S. Supreme Court. But the nomination process can be a minefield of potential stumbles and mistakes. If history is an indicator, Obama shouldn't have too much of a problem, especially because of the large Democratic majority in the Senate. Most nominees are confirmed. But some presidents have had more difficulty than others. The all-time loser is John Tyler, with a whopping eight failures: four of his nominations were withdrawn, one rejected, and three others died in the U.S. Senate due to lack of formal action. (Several of Tyler's nominations were of the same candidates.) Behind Tyler are Grant and Fillmore with three failures, then Washington, Madison, Polk, Cleveland, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan with two each. The most recent Senate rejection was Reagan's choice of Robert Bork (pictured) in 1987. The latest nominee withdrawal was George W. Bush's selection of Harriet Miers.
I stumbled upon a fascinating online article by Elana Schor from Guardian.co.uk that appeared on August 23, 2008, which focused on the best and worst vice president picks of all time. It's difficult to argue with her picks. Here's her worst five: 1. Aaron Burr: Pictured right, Burr was chosen by Thomas Jefferson but dropped from the ticket in 1804. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. 2. Spiro Agnew: Nixon's first vice president, tax evasion forced from office. 3. Dan Quayle: Chosen by George H.W. Bush to appease conservatives...but he couldn't spell well. 4. John Tyler: He ascended to the presidency when William Henry Harrison died. Often referred to as "His Accidency." 5. Hannibal Hamlin: Lincoln chose him as his first-term running mate, but saw him as a mistake and dropped him for another loser: Andrew Johnson. Read Schor's excellent analysis, and her top five picks, here.
A good chunk of presidential history has been lost, and you have Chester Arthur to thank. Before moving into the White House after James Garfield died, Arthur had the White House redecorated. Louis C. Tiffany was tabbed to overhaul this effort. To pay for the renovation, which included "the finest contemporary furniture, fabrics, rugs, and wallpapers promoting the American Victorian Aesthetic Movement," according to the President Chester A. Arthur State Historic Site, a whopping 24 wagon loads of historic White House furniture and items were sold at a public auction. Among the items sold are said to have included a pair of pants once worn by Abraham Lincoln and a John Quincy Adams hat, according to CormacO'Brien'sSecret Lives of the U.S. Presidents. Former president Rutherford B. Hayes bought a large portion of the White House memorabilia, which can be viewed at Hayes' home in Fremont, Ohio.
President Obama has signaled his intent to reform the nation's health care system. Bill Clinton tried to do the same thing, with famously disastrous results. But they weren't the first to have become embroiled in the debate. One of the earliest presidents to have waded significantly into the health reform waters was Franklin Pierce, who issued a lengthy and stinging veto of a bill that would have funded the building and management of state insane asylums. Franklin was well known for opposing any involvement by the federal government in state and local issues. Rather than just a simple veto of the bill, Franklin issued an astonishing 4,621-word written letter to the U.S. Senate on May 3, 1854, in which he stated his position in a way that has reverberated to this day. Franklin wrote:
"I readily and, I trust, feelingly acknowledge the duty incumbent on us all as men and citizens, and as among the highest and holiest of our duties, to provide for those who, in the mysterious order of Providence, are subject to want and to disease of body or mind; but I can not find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States."
An almoner, as defined by Merriam-Webster's is "one who distributes alms." To what extent the government should be involved in private health matters will frame the current health discussion...just as it did 155 years ago.
Yep, I'm getting to be an expert on presidential blunders. Hell, I wrote a book about one of the biggest. If you want to nominate one, or if you want to yell at me, send email to prezblog@gmail.com.
Lyndon Johnson had his troubles. Opposition to the war in Vietnam eventually forced him from seeking another term in 1968. But perhaps we shouldn't feel sad for him because, among other special luxuries, Johnson had shoes specially designed for him because his feet were different sizes. His right foot was size 11C, while his left was 11.5C. We know this quirky fact courtesy of Johnson & Murphy, which was commissioned to make several pairs of shoes for Johnson, including a black plain-toe slip on, as well as a chestnut-colored, five-eyelet lace-up. Johnson & Murphy's Shoes of the Presidents is an entertaining look at presidential footwear.
