February birthdays

I looked up “were any presidents born in February?” before starting this post. I’m not joking.

The only month where there’s a specific day dedicated to these guys because two of the most prominent presidents were born then. I know this.* You know this. Everyone knows this. Let’s just say it’s been a week. In any case…

Just like January, February brought us four presidents. Again, a nice tidy number.

The February babies are:

1. George Washington (1732)

2. William Henry Harrison (1773)**

3. Abraham Lincoln (1809)

4. Ronald Reagan (1911)

If you prefer by birth date, here’s the order:

1. February 6: Ronald Reagan

2. February 9: William Henry Harrison

3. February 12: Abraham Lincoln

4. February 22: George Washington

*I diligently follow The Society for the Promotion of Presidents' Day online for crying out loud!

**Full disclosure: I never promised to be unbiased here, but you should know I’ve recently changed my opinion of Harrison from “Oh, I love when this guy pops up!” to “HOLY HELL HE’S A MONSTER.” See for yourself.

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Know which was born in Illinois?

Ronald Reagan.

George Washington and William Henry Harrison were both from Virginia.

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky.

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Political party

Nothing

• George Washington

Federalist

• George Washington

Whig

• William Henry Harrison

Republican

• Abraham Lincoln

• Ronald Reagan

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All of their VPs became POTUS

Ok, not ALL. Only one of Lincoln’s did. Unfortunately. The other one would have been better.

Here’s a thing I didn’t expect! The color-coding below indicates political party (Federalist, Whig, Democrat, Republican, respectively). Though not all four parties were represented by the presidents, it was by their VPs who became president.

JOHN ADAMS

JOHN TYLER

ANDREW JOHNSON

GEORGE H.W. BUSH

Meet Hannibal.

Hannibal Hamlin was President Lincoln’s vice president for his first term. Where would we be right now he was VP when Lincoln was assassinated, and if Andrew Johnson didn’t have the opportunity to muck up Reconstruction?

(Find some fun ways to celebrate Hannibal here.)

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Age elected president

In order of age:

• Lincoln: 52 years old

• Washington: 57 years old

• Harrison: 68 years old

• Reagan: 69 years old

Two of these guys were the oldest ever elected presidents at the time. Well, three I guess if you count Washington. Nobody was younger! Or older for that matter.

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Height

• Harrison: 5’ 8”

• Reagan: 6’ 1”

• Washington: 6’ 2”

• Lincoln: 6’ 4” (our tallest president)

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Death & gore

George Washington died by bloodletting after leaving office.

They removed 40% of his blood in an effort to safe his life. Weirdly, that didn’t work. A few hours after he died, a well-respected doctor shared a three-part plan to bring him back to life.

1. Thaw Washington in cold water

2. Breathe some air into him

3. Pump him full of lamb blood

William Henry Harrison died 30 days after his inauguration.

Harrison wore no coat or hat during his inauguration, despite it being a frigid day and he planned to deliver a two hour speech. Outside. A month later, he was dead. Officially, it was listed as pneumonia. But the cold day and lack of weather-appropriate attire probably had nothing to do with it. In any case, his was to-date the shortest presidency. Just one month.

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

I’m sure you know that.

But did you know that the guy who assassinated him was the grandson of a guy who was part of the freaking Underground Railroad?! Yeah, that’s right. Richard Booth, a British lawyer who made guests bow to his portrait of George Washington, helped enslaved people escape in his free time.

Ronald Reagan nearly died twice.

• In June 1947, he nearly died from acute viral pneumonia. Also during that month, Jane Wyman (his first wife, six months into her pregnancy) gave birth to a premature baby girl. The baby, Christine, tragically died a few hours later.

• Though his assassination attempt was downplayed, he lost more than half his blood. His Secret Service agent, Jerry Parr, saved him. And get this — one of Reagan’s (terrible) movies inspired him to become an agent in the first place.

The second doodle was inspired by Presidential Grave Hunter: One Kid’s Quest to Visit the Tombs of Every President and Vice President by Kurt Deion.

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Children

Harrison: 9 … including John Scott Harrison, who was father to another U.S. president. John Scott has a creepy postmortem story that I can’t stop talking about for years, but it’s been a long time since I’ve brought it up.

Lincoln: 5 … including Robert Lincoln, who was present at not one, not two, but three presidential assassinations. (Or at least present shortly thereafter.)

Guess who saved Robert from being crushed between two train cars a couple of years before his father was assassinated? Edwin Booth… John Wilkes Booth’s older brother. I am not making this up!

Ronald Reagan: 5, including Ronald Reagan, Jr., who was Playboy’s official representative at a one-on-one meeting between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev…. is what I read years ago. But maybe he was just there for the meeting because history and whatnot? And also happened to be an editor at Playboy?

• None of his five children had children.

George Washington: zero biological children, which was a big selling point for him getting the job. He had two stepkids. One of those stepkids (Washy Custis) ended up being Robert E. Lee’s father-in-law.

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Wives

George Washington married a 27-year-old wealthy widow with more power than your run-of-the-mill wealthy widow back then, since her husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law were all dead. During the war, Martha and the other wives would join their husbands in the winter.

William Henry Harrison’s father-in-law did not approve.

Harrison couldn’t “bleed, lead, or preach” so he didn’t have much to offer. His right arm and sword weren’t enough to sway Judge Symmes.

Doodle inspired by Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation by Peter Stark. Harrison wrote the lyrics to the song Rude by MAGIC! It’s true! Listen here. Ok, it’s obviously not true. But still listen here.

Ronald Reagan was the only one in this batch married twice, both times to actors:

• Jane Wyman, who had begun to bore of Ronny even before they went through the heartbreak of June 1947.

• Nancy Reagan, who was born Anne Frances Robbins. (She changed her name to Nancy Davis when her stepdad adopted her. Hey, this kind of reminds me of Gerald Ford.)

Abe Lincoln was married to the “Limb of Satan”

…according to Mary Lincoln’s stepmom. Yikes.

But there’s evidence that perhaps Lincoln may have been, well, a Lover of Men, according to a new documentary I’ve been meaning to see. It features my very first ever POTUS Notice guest — Thomas Balcerski, author of Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King.

Here’s the trailer:

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