One thing I enjoy is history. History about my country and history about the world. Some historical facts are so common that you could ask anyone about them and they would know the answer. An example of this is, who was the first president of the United States. I am sure you would get the answer George Washington. But guess what, this would be wrong. The first president of the United States was John Hanson. He was elected president of the United States under the Articles of Confederation for a one year term which was all that was allowed. There were six other presidents after him, Elias Boudinot, Thomas Miffin, Richard Henry Lee, Nathan Gorman, Arthur St. Clair and Cyrus Griffin. George Washington became president after them.

You could ask any child who discovered America and they would say Christopher Columbus, but he never set foot in this country. Further more the Vikings were here before he ever set sail and there is evidence that the Chinese may have sailed to the west coast thousands of years ago and even the ancient Egyptians might have come here.

Columbus*
Picture Source: Library of Congress

Here is a modern fact for you, we have been told that our airplanes are the best in the world, isn't that true? Bet you didn't know that the US recently conducted war games with India. We used our F15 while they used their newest Russian fighters. We lost! The Indian fighters scored 9 out of 10 kills. It was very embarrassing to the US Air Force.

The US and Great Britain were allies all during the 20th century. This is not true and as a matter of fact, the British saw us a a potential threat after World War I. Britain was actually in competition with us and the rest of the world in building battleships before World War II.

American Companies are very patriotic. Well if you consider the fact that American companies have invested the incredible sum of approximately 885 Billion dollars in foreign investments it makes one wonder, especially when a lot of the larger companies have moved their main offices to otter countries to avoid paying US taxes.

Abraham Lincoln was not always against the secession. He actually supported the right to succeed before he was president. Here is what he said, "Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better...any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit." This text is from a letter referring to the Mexican War of 1848.

Early Lincoln Photo
Photo Source: Library of Congress

During the Cuban missile crisis President Kennedy laid the law down to the Soviets and told them they had to get their missiles out or else. Wrong! What actually happened is that Kennedy secretly contacted Kruschev and told him that we would remove our missiles from Turkey if he took his out of Cuba. He did however blockade Cuba which brought us to the verge of war.

General Sherman is generally remembered for his famous march to the sea in which he destroyed all the land he crossed. He gained the reputation of a tough and brutal man. What many people don't know is, that when Sherman granted surrender terms to Johnson's army, an army that obviously hadn't surrendered even though Lee had, he was criticized by some for being too lenient. He had offered citizenship to Johnson's men. Senator William Sprague wrote the president asking for the immediate removal of Sherman from his command.

Grover Cleveland turned out to be a draft dodger. He had hired someone else to take his place in the army. His political opponent was James Blaine. Blaine ridiculed him over and over for this act. Unfortunately for Blaine, it was discovered that he was also a draft dodger and he had also hired someone to take his place in the army. This sort of reminds you of politicians today, doesn't it?

We had a president for one day named David Rice Atchison. There used to be a law that stated that if there was no president or vice president in office, the President Pro Tem of the Senate became president. This happened on March 4, 1849 because President Polk's term had expired and since it was Sunday the President-Elect couldn't be sworn it. By the way it seems that Atchison didn't even know he was president for one day.

President John Tyler 1841-1845 joined the Confederacy and was named a sworn enemy of the United States. He was the only former president so named.

There is so much we I could comment on in this area but I think this is enough for today.

*No known paintings were ever made of Columbus while he was alive, this accounts for the different faces shown.