The Next President of the United States

[tikay]

^^^^

Ha, even his first name is pretty interesting & unusual.

[MintTrav]

^^^^

Ha, even his first name is pretty interesting & unusual.

There were actually two Presidents who had an initial that didn't stand for anything as their middle name - and it was the same letter, though for different reasons. The questions above all relate to Presidents from the middle of the twentieth century. If you think his first name is unusual, I suspect you have found the earlier one.

[tikay]

^^^^

Ha, even his first name is pretty interesting & unusual.

There were actually two Presidents who had an initial that didn't stand for anything as their middle name - and it was the same letter, though for different reasons. The questions above all relate to Presidents from the middle of the twentieth century. If you think his first name is unusual, I suspect you have found the earlier one.

Damn you, Mint, now I have to go googling again.

Are there any other public figures who have an initial as their middle "name"? (Exclude pop starts pretend names).

[tikay]

Ha, found the other one. I've even heard of him.

[muckthenuts]

Wow! Incredible stuff. That will keep me Googling for hours.

Thanks for all your efforts in this thread Mr T. It has enriched my life and broadened my knowledge base considerably.

+1, i can't wait to get on this!

[nirvana]

Been a great thread..Could only be sustained by a deep interest as the last few posts manifest. Great stuff

[MintTrav]

I was going to put the answers up tonight, but I hadn't anticipated that people would start Googling. I'll hold off for a bit.

In other hot news, Trump has just won Michigan by 0.3%, three weeks after the election. Good job it wasn't crucial to the result. Although there is a sizeable gap in College Votes, it is misleading - this has been one of the tightest races ever. In 2012, there were four States with a winning margin of less than 5%. This time there were four with a margin of less than 1% (none of them being the 2012 four, two of which were again below 5%).

Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway is no longer in the inner circle and won't have a job in the new Administration. Following Christie's dismissal, she is the second one who has served her purpose. The top tier is now established as Pence, Priebus, Bannon & Kushner. Presumably, the winner of the Giuliani/Romney battle will join that group. Trump is having dinner with Romney tonight, which I expect will conclude the deal.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/kellyanne-conway-donald-trump-231917

It is unusual for the VP to have such status in the Prez team, but Pence will be key over the next few years as he is the only one who knows how Washington really works, having spent twelve years in Congress before becoming Governor. This could be good and bad - his levelheadedness, along with Kushner and Priebus, should act as a brake on Trump and Bannon's crazier ideas. On the other hand, his ultra-conservatism might hold sway over Trump's natural liberalism in some areas and lead to poor outcomes for minority groups.

[Marky147]

Glad to see Conway gone, as she seemed to be the slimiest of anyone that I've seen over the whole election.

[MintTrav]

Middle names:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight David Eisenhower
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Richard Milhous Nixon
Gerald Rudolph Ford
James Earl Carter
Ronald Wilson Reagan
George Herbert Bush
William Jefferson Clinton
George Walker Bush
Barack Hussein Obama

There is a story that Truman added the S to appear more presidential, but it's not true - he had the initial all his life. His parents both wanted his middle name to be their own father's name and couldn't agree on it. In the end, as both names started with S, that's what they went with. Amazingly, the S in President Ulysses S Grant's name also didn't stand for anything. It wasn't even part of his name. He was mistakenly recorded as U S Grant when enrolling at Westpoint. He tried to have it corrected a few times, but it kept coming back. When it was included on both his diploma and his commission, he gave up and accepted it as his name.

Eisenhower's name was David Dwight, but the names were informally reversed to avoid confusion with his father. Dwight had six brothers, and they all had the nickname 'Ike', which must have been more confusing.

Bush Snr is actually Herbert Walker, but putting both initials would have made it too obvious. I believe he is the only President with two middle names.

Obama's middle name is Hussein, not surprising with him being a Muslim.

[MintTrav]

The only Presidents on that list who no-one tried to top were Eisenhower and Johnson.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots

Surprisingly, Eisenhower's life was never at risk. He spent 35 years in the military, including WW1 and WW2. After holding numerous other positions, he became Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe and was one of only five generals in history to receive a fifth star. Yet he never saw a day's active combat.

[MintTrav]

So, you've been wondering what's viral in China right now.

Trump's grand-daughter speaking Chinese, that's what!

[TightEnd]

thought this was fascinating (as Hillary's pop lead moves towards 2%)

Click to see full-size image.

[StuartHopkin]

So now it's over, with just the formalities of the College Vote and the Inauguration to come, plus the continuing shenanigans over the transition, including the appointments and the conflict of interest issues, to be ironed out. For me, the Primaries are always the most exciting stage, when there is no end of possible twists and permutations of what might happen. 

Now that it's all calming down, I want to caution those of you who paid closer attention for the first time not to expect it to be like this every election. It's never been like this before and it probably won't be again, so you are likely to be perpetually disappointed if you expect the fireworks we had this year. Those who have taken an interest before will know that it is always fascinating, but you will have to adapt your expectations for a different kind of competition in other years. Having said that, it is possible that Trump has changed things permanently, so that entitled insulting loudmouths become the norm, now that one has held sway this time. Let's hope not - it makes for interesting news, but undermines the whole system. God knows what we are in for over the next four years, but never mind, it all starts again in 2018 - though, unofficially, the next campaign has already started.

Pretty sure the next one is going to be even better....

Click to see full-size image.

[MintTrav]

Name the President:
(Have to do this in sections cos the site won't take it all together.)

1. This President vomited over the Japanese Prime Minister during a State dinner, and then fainted. George Bush Snr

Click to see full-size image.

2. This President used his poker winnings to finance most of the cost of his first run for Congress. Richard Nixon - he accumulated $10k from poker, quite an amount in 1946, which he spent on the campaign.

3. This President saved 77 people from drowning during six summers as a life-guard. He later spent time working as a swimming coach, a stand-up comedian and a dish-washer. Ronald Reagan

Click to see full-size image.

4. Several Presidents have had affairs, but this President and his wife both had live-in mistresses at the White house at the same time. He had several affairs before and while he was President, including a secretary who stayed at the White House. His wife moved her long-term lesbian lover in for the last four years of the Presidency. Franklin Roosevelt

Eleanor R was the most extraordinary First Lady ever, decades ahead of her time. They had six children early on but, after she discovered one of his affairs, they lived separate personal lives, but co-operated as political activists, for the last 30 years of his life. She campaigned particularly for civil and workplace rights for Blacks, Asians and women. She wrote a syndicated newspaper column six days a week (which she continued until her death) and broadcast a weekly radio show. She held held over 300 press conferences during her husband's Presidency. After FDR's death, she served as US Representative to the UN and Chairman of the UN Commission for Human Rights for six years. She averaged 150 lectures a year for many years. She had short-term and long-term relationships with men and women, two or three lasting for 20-30 years til her death.

5. This President wrote in a letter to his wife "I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's honest and decent and not a nigger or a Chinaman". He also said that no Jew would ever be a guest in his house. His mother believed in the Confederate cause and refused to sleep in Lincoln's bed on a visit to the White House. On the other hand, he ended segregation in the US armed forces and was the first President to address the NAACP. He is also the only twentieth-century President who did not have a degree. Harry Truman

[MintTrav]

6. This President was the youngest pilot in the Navy and became a decorated war hero, flying 58 combat missions. He was the only one out of nine airmen shot down in an attack to evade capture by the Japanese, spending four hours in a tiny inflated raft. The others were all tortured and beheaded, and four of them were partially eaten by their captors. George Bush Snr

Click to see full-size image.

Rescue of George Bush after four hours in the sea.

7. At the age of 29, this President won the Most Nearly Perfect Male Figure award from the University of California, the prize being to model almost nude for an art class. His daughter later posed nude for Playboy and More magazines. Ronald Reagan

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

8. This President formed a rebellious group called The Muckers in his last year at school, limited to those too rich to be expelled. They succeeded in exploding a toilet seat, but came unstuck when attempting to have cattle manure deposited on the school's dance floor. His father, called to the school from his job as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, privately approved of his son's activities, but told him that the group's name should not start with M. Jack Kennedy

9. This President claimed he had seen a UFO. He also claimed to have been attacked in a boat by a mad rabbit that swam at the boat, which was dismissed for years until footage of the incident emerged. No footage of the UFO, unfortunately. Jimmy Carter


10. This President was so poor after he left office that he complained he could not afford the postage to respond to the thousands of letters he was receiving. He and his wife moved in with his mother-in-law.
Harry Truman was one of the poorest Presidents ever. He refused to cash in on the Presidency, despite some opportunities. His situation was relieved in 1958 by Congress passing the Former Presidents Act to give ex-Presidents a pension equal to a Cabinet Secretary's salary (currently $204k), plus various expenses. By 2014, the total cost had grown to a min of $470k for Carter, up to $1.3m for GWB, with the others in between. Both Houses passed legislation earlier this year limiting the pension to $200k pa plus a cap of another $200k for expenses, but it was vetoed by Obama, a President who has vetoed almost nothing.