46 Fascinating Facts About Our 46 Presidents-- Part 7: Hoover to Kennedy

In honor of Presidents Day.

31.  HERBERT HOOVER  (1929-1933)

An Iowa native who spent part of his boyhood in Oregon, Hoover was the first president from west of the  Mississippi River.

32.  FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT  (193-1945)

  The longest serving president claimed to be distantly related to eleven other presidents, including his fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt.

33.  HARRY S. TRUMAN (1945-1953)

The "S" in his name was just an initial; it didn't stand for any name.  (The "S" in Ulysses S. Grant's name didn't stand for anything either.)

34.  DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER  (1953-1961)

World War II hero, "Ike" was the first president to ride in a helicopter.

35.  JOHN F. KENNEDY  (1961-1963)

After being injured and honorably discharged in World War II, he was briefly employed as a journalist during the closing weeks of the war.

--DaCootPres

Ten World Engineering Feats-- Part 2: Interstates, Cable and a Dam

3.  THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM

President Eisenhower  spearheaded the  passage of the Federal-Aid Highway  Act of 1956 which authorized the largest public works project in history.  The construction of 41,000 miles of expressways with controlled ramp access and no at grade intersections, just overpasses.

4.  TRANSATLANTIC CABLE

In 1854, American Cyrus West Field secured a charter to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean floor.  After four failed attempts, British and American ships succeeded in laying the nearly 2,000 mile cable linking Ireland and Newfoundland in 1858.

5.  HOOVER DAM

Built by over 21,000 workers, the 60 story dam is the world's largest concrete structure at the time it was dedicated in 1935.  It caused the great growth of cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

--CootDam

America's Long Line of Presidential Military Heroes-- Part 3: Eisenhower to Kennedy

As the presidency is by definition a political position, the issue of exactly what kind of a military service a president had becomes important.  Seeing combat is the general measure of worth, but not always.  Dwight Eisenhower, the first World War II veteran elected president, graduated from West Point in 1915 and was never under fire during his nearly 40-year military career, yet that was not held against the Supreme Allied Commander.

Ike was in the Army; six of the seven other World War II-era presidents were in the Navy, starting with John Kennedy, who turned his heroism aboard PT-109 into a best-selling book that helped rocket him to the presidency.

Lyndon Johnson was already a congressman when he entered the Naval Reserve -- there is some question whether his sole moment of combat experience and resulting Silver Star was real or prevarication.

I wrote several posts about Johnson getting his Silver Star in my Tattooed On Your Soul:  WW II blog in 2015.  Go to it and click the Lyndon Johnson tag in the labels section.

--Cooter

Oldest Presidents on Inauguration Day

From the same source as them previous post.

10.  Gerald R. Ford  61 years

9.  John Adams  61 years, 4 months

8.  Andrew Jackson  61 years, 11 months

7.  Dwight Eisenhower  62 years

6.  Zachary Taylor  64 years, 3 months

5.  George H.W. Bush 64 years, 6 months

4.  James Buchanan  65 years

3.  William Harrison  68 years

2.  Ronald Reagan  68 years

1.  Donald Trump  70 years

--DaCootPress

Jefferson Barracks in World War I

From Wikipedia.

In the June 13th post I mentioned about 48 men from DeKalb County, Illinois, leaving from Sycamore to go for army training at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri (near St. Louis).

In March 1912, Jefferson Barracks became the first base for training in military parachuting.  Albert Perry, a civilian, became the first person to parachute from a plane.

1911--  Lt. Dwight D, Eisenhower began his military career at Jefferson Barracks.

During World War I, Jefferson Barracks served as a training and recruitment center for men heading overseas for Europe.  It was the largest U.S. induction and demobilization center for troops in World War I.

--Cooter

First Hundred Days of Presidency-- Part 4

Today marks the 100th day of Obama's presidency. Continuing with the Chicago Tribune's First Hundred Days graphic by Adam Zoll and David Ingold.


DWIGHT EISENHOWER-- 1952 election-- 83rd Congress House 213 Dem. 221 Rep, Senate 47 Dem. 48 Rep.-- Electoral College 442-89, Margin victory 11%. Carried all but South.

KOREAN WAR-- One month into administration, makes good on campaign promise to go to Korea to help end war. It will be several more months before armistice signed July 27.


JOHN KENNEDY-- 1960 election Electoral votes 303-219. Margin of victory 0%. 87th Congress-- House 263 Dem. 174 Rep., Senate 64 Dem. 36 Rep..

PEACE CORPS-- March 1-- issues Executive Order creating agency to send Americans to poor countries to help improve living standards and promote friendlier relations.

BAY OF PIGS-- April 17-19-- Group of 1400 US backed Cuban exiles land in Cuba in attempt to overthrow its Communist government. Total disaster.


LYNDON JOHNSON-- 88th Congress-- House 259 Dem. 176 Rep., Senate 66 Dem. 34 Rep.

THE GREAT SOCIETY-- First State of the Union Address (Jan. 8, 1964), urges Congress to help him build liberal social policies on issues such as civil rights and poverty.

Let's See How Well Obama Did? --Cooter