Let us Celebrate.... Presidents Day

Last year when I was still writing full-time for the Chautauqua Star, I did a commentary on President's Day. Here it is again, in case you missed it the first time.

Pres. Zachery Taylor - Bad Ass

The middle of February has arrived, and that can only mean one thing – President’s Day! I know most people associate the middle of the second month with cupids and hearts and candy and all kinds of other mushy things. But for my money, no day in February is more important than the day we get to honor all of our nation's past leaders.

We celebrate President’s Day in February because two of our most noteworthy presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, were born during this month (Washington's birthday is Feb. 22 while Lincoln's comes Feb. 12). For a time, both days were honored as legal holidays in many states, although Lincoln's Birthday never achieved "National Holiday" status like Washington's did. 

In 1972, President Richard Nixon combined Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays into the federal holiday known as "President’s Day." It would be celebrated on the third Monday in February, regardless of which day it fell on. Personally, I'd prefer to have both birthdays celebrated separately, in addition to having a "President’s Day" for all other Commanders-in-Chief. But I guess if it was OK by President Nixon, it's also okay by me.

The reason I'm such a big fan of Presidents' Day isn't because it affords me the opportunity to get a great trade-in on my 2001 Chevy. It's actually because it gives us all an opportunity to learn more about our past leaders. With that, here are 10 little-known facts about some of our past commander-in-chiefs.

• President Thomas Jefferson spoke six different languages
  
• James Madison was the shortest president, at 5 feet 4 inches tall. And he weighed the least, just 100 pounds.
  
•  While serving as a young courier during the Revolutionary War, Andrew Jackson was captured and taken prisoner by the British, making him the only U.S. President in history to ever have been a Prisoner of War.
  
•  Jackson was also wounded in a duel at the age of 39, and carried the bullet, lodged near his heart, to his grave. He died at the age of 78.
  
• William Henry Harrison, ninth president, died in 1841, 32 days after he was sworn into office. He had pneumonia.
  
•  Before becoming our 12th president, Zachery Taylor had an illustrious military career. During the War of 1812, he had only 15 men under his command, but was still able to repel a raid of nearly 600 gun-toting, British-led American Indians at Fort Harrison.
  
• Franklin Pierce memorized his entire inaugural speech - 3,319 words.
  
• President Grover Cleveland answered the White House phone, personally.
  
• William McKinley was the first president to wear campaign buttons.
  
•  While he's known as the youngest president to ever take office (at age 42), Theodore Roosevelt was also the youngest person to ever become a New York state representative when he was elected at age 23 (for reference, I spent the majority of my 23rd year still in college, making sandwiches at the Spruce St. Sub Shop in Morgantown, W.V., and trying to solve Final Fantasy VII on my PlayStation).
  
• President William Howard Taft is the only president to have also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But even more interesting, he's also the only president to ever get stuck in the White House bathtub.