February 17, 2007 :: Curt Van Emon

Happy President’s Day - Banking and Finance institutions will be closed on Monday

Here are some interesting facts for you for President’s Day.

The legal name for this federal holiday is Washington’s Birthday, but is commonly known as Presidents’ Day.

The forty-three American presidents (Grover Cleveland being counted only once) were an average of 55.6 years old when they took office. With the exception of James Buchanan, all were married during the course of their term, but Ronald Reagan was the only president to have been divorced. Reagan was also the oldest president; he was 69 at his inauguration. The youngest of the elected presidents, John F. Kennedy, was 43 at his inauguration. Overall, however, the youngest president was Theodore Roosevelt who was 42 at his inauguration following the assassination of President William McKinley.

Three presidents did not have religious affiliations. Amongst the others there were: 11 Episcopalians, 7 Presbyterians, 4 Baptists, 4 Unitarians, 5 Methodists, 3 Disciples of Christ, 2 Society of Friends (Quakers), 2 Dutch reformed, 1 Congregationalist, 1 Roman Catholic.

The majority of American presidents were born in the eastern portion of the country. Eight were born in Virginia; 7 in Ohio; 4 in Massachusetts; 4 in New York; 2 in North Carolina; 2 in Texas; and 2 in Vermont. Precisely one president was born in each of the following thirteen states and colonies: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

Ninety-three percent of American presidents were fathers and had an average of 3.69 children. Presidents James Madison, James Buchanan and James Knox Polk had no children, while President John Tyler was the father of fifteen children. George Washington and Andrew Jackson were the only presidents to adopt their children.

A large majority (81%) of American presidents had received a formal college education. Among those with no formal higher education were George Washington, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, and two-time President Grover Cleveland. Professionally, the majority of presidents were either lawyers (58%) or soldiers (12%).