46 Fascinating Facts About Our 46 Presidents-- Part 9: Bush to Biden

41.  GEORGE H.W. BUSH  (1989-1993)

While a student at Yale University, Bush was captain of the baseball team and a member of the Skull and Bones, an elite secret student society.

42.  BILL CLINTON  (1993-2001)

Clinton played the saxophone and famously on the Arsenio Hall show when he was a candidate for president.

43.  GEORGE W. BUSH (2001-2009)

Post-presidency,  he took up oil painting, exhibiting his work  at the Museum of Southwest Texas.

44.  BARACK OBAMA (2009-2017)

Prior to becoming the first black president, he won two Grammy Awards for "Best Spoken Word Album."  His wife, Michelle, has also won a Grammy.

45.  DONALD J. TRUMP  (2017-2021)

Before becoming president, he  was a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice."

46.  JOE BIDEN (2021-present)

He overcame a debilitating  childhood stutter after enduring bullying in grade school.

--CootPres

A Timeline of 9/11-- Part 4: Flight 77 Crashes Into the Pentagon and South Tower Collapses

Times are Eastern.

**  9:21 am:  The New York Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.

**  9:24 The FAA notifies NEADS of the suspected  hijacking of Flight  77 after some passengers and crew aboard the aircraft are able to contact family members on the ground.

**  9:31:  Speaking from Florida, President Bush calls the events in New York City an "apparent terrorist attack on our country."

9:37:  Terrorists aboard Flight 77 crash the plane into the western facade of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 59 aboard the plane and 125 civilian and military personnel inside the building.

9:42:  For the first time in history, the FAA grounds  all flights over the continental United States.  Over the next two and a half hours, some 3,300 commercial flights and 1,200 private planes are guided to land in airports in Canada and the United States.

9:45:  Among escalating rumors of other attacks, the White House and U.S. Capitol building are evacuated along with numerous other high-profile buildings, landmarks and public spaces.

9:59:  The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

I conducted my regular class schedule for first period.  It ended at 8:45 am (9:45 Eastern) and that is when I learned about what was going on from another teacher.  I went back inside the room (we had to watch the halls during passing time) and tried to get reception on my 12-inch black and white TV, but couldn't, so turned on the radio.

Second period started at 8:50.  We listened to that radio and talked about what had happened the rest of the day in my next four classes.

A Timeline of 9/11-- Part 3: The Second Crash

**  8:47 am:  Within seconds after the first crash, NYPD and NYFD dispatch units to the World Trade Center, while Port Authority officers on the site begin immediate evacuation of the North Tower.

**  8:50:   White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card alerts  President George W. Bush that a plane has hit the World Trade Center; the president is visiting a m elementary school in Sarasota, Florida, at the time.

**  9:02:  After initially telling occupants of the WTC's South Tower to remain in the building, Port Authority officials broadcast orders to evacuate both towers via the public address system; an estimated  10,000 to 14,000 are already in the process of evacuating.

**  9:03 am:  Hijackers crash United Airlines175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC's South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds in the tower.

**  9:08 am:  The FAA Bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through airspace around the city.

At 7:50 am I was outside my room supervising the arrival of students.  By 7:55 they were in the room and working on the Daily Challenge questions on the board while I took attendance.  Completely oblivious about what was going on.

U.S. Presidents Descended From Pilgrims

The General Society of Mayflower descendants, an association for people with proven Pilgrim descent, figures that some 10 million people in he United States and 35 million around the world can claim legitimate Pilgrim ancestry.

The Mayflower Society lists 51 Mayflower Pilgrims as possible ancestors.  If you can trace your lineage to any of them, you can become a card carrying member of them.

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PRESIDENTS

If you are a Mayflower descendant, you're among illustrious company.

According to the Mayflower Society, nine U.S. presidents are descended from Mayflower Pilgrims:

John Adams

John Quincy Adams (of course)

Zachary Taylor

Ulysses S. Grant

James A. Garfield

Calvin Coolidge

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (What, no Theodore Roosevelt?)

George H.W. Bush

George W. Bush (of course)

--CootPres

America's Long Line of Military Heroes-- Part 5: The Vietnam War Era

The hugely unpopular Vietnam War can be seen as causing a break between the presidency and the military service, which stopped being an automatic boon it once was.

War hero George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, who sat out the Vietnam War in Oxford.  John Kerry fought with honor in Vietnam yet his experience was turned against him by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," and he lost in 2004 to George W. Bush, whose tenure in the Texas Air National Guard was is minimal that some question can be raised whether he is entitled to call himself a veteran.

Then, the next president was Barack Obama with no military connection at all.

--CootPres

National Vietnam War Veterans Day: Its Formation

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing the secretary of defense to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War (or American War a the Vietnamese call it).

President Barack Obama specified the March 29 date in the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017.  This would be the official date of recognition.

They have a website at www.vietnamwar50th.com.

Ten Things About Harvard-- Part 3: Eight Presidents Attended

4. The Chairman of the National Defense Research Commission was Harvard President James Conant. This group oversaw scientific research that led to the Manhattan Project and the development of the atom bomb.

3. In a speech at Harvard in 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marsahll presented his MARSHALL PLAN.

2. The Crimson of Harvard fought in the Civil War with 1,662 donning the Union blue and 304 the Confederate gray. On the Union side, 100 were killed or died of wounds, 63 died of disease and 3 from accidents. On the Confederate side, 57 were killed or died of wounds, 12 died of disease a 1 died in an accident.

EIGHT PRESIDENTS went to Harvard: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR and JFK received their bachelor degrees. George W. Bush received his MBA and Rutherford B. Hayes and Barack Obama received their law degrees.

Quite a History. --DaCoot