I’m a big trivia buff and a bit of a history geek, so in honor of Presidents’ Day I went looking for a little trivia about the lives and birthdays of presidents 1-45. When you amaze your friends with this totally random knowledge remember it is courtesy of This Awful Awesome Life.
Many of us remember celebrating George Washington’s birthday and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on separate days in February. On February 22, 1971 the holiday commemorating Washington’s birthday was officially moved to the 3rd Monday in February; the name was changed to President’s Day and celebrating Abe Lincoln’s birthday along with remembering all other presidents’ birthdays sort of got thrown in to maximize the federal holiday – though Washington and Lincoln get all the attention.
Since Presidents’ Day is in February, I thought it would be fun to know how many presidents were actually born in February. Four US Presidents have February birthdays – George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan.
To celebrate the maximum number of presidential births, Presidents’ Day would have to move to October. Six US Presidents were born in October – John Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Jimmy Carter. Of course, this could change in the future depending on who gets elected, so to protect the sanity of calendar makers everywhere, let’s just stick to February.
Until the election of Donald Trump, George W. Bush was the only US President born in June.
Two US Presidents were born in the same birth year as their Vice President. Abraham Lincoln and Richard Nixon – Lincoln and his VP Hannibal Hamlin were born in 1809 and Richard Nixon and his VP Gerald Ford were born in 1913. Though born in different years, Donald Trump and Mike Pence both have June birthdays.
Since George Washington’s birth in 1732 until Barack Obama’s birth in 1961, there have only been three decades that do not have a US presidential birth. No US Presidents were born in the 1810’s, 1930’s, or 1950’s. Currently, the 1960’s is the most recent decade of a presidential birth.
Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800 making his birthday the earliest US President’s birthday in the calendar year. The latest presidential birthday in the calendar year belongs to Andrew Johnson who was born on December 29, 1808.
Though not the same years, eleven US Presidents share their birth years with another president. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were born in 1767. Ulysses Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes were born in 1822. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were born in 1913. George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter were born in 1924. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump were born in 1946.
James K. Polk (November 2, 1795) and Warren G. Harding (November 2, 1865) were born on the same day of the year.
Speaking of birth years, did you know six US presidents were actually younger than their wives? George Washington was 265 days younger than his wife Martha. Millard Fillmore was 301 days younger than his wife Abigail. Benjamin Harrison was 323 days younger than his wife Caroline. Warren G. Harding was 79 days younger than his wife Florence. Herbert Hoover was 134 days younger than his wife Lou Henry, and Richard Nixon was 299 days younger than his wife Pat.
Happy Birthday Mr. Presidents!
Sources used:
Wikipedia contributors. “List of Presidents of the United States by date of birth.”
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 December 2015. 14 January 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_by_date_of_birth&oldid=697221922