Presidential Trivia

[Orser67]

There have been a few presidents who thought about launching a third party while in office:

• Nixon thought about running on a conservative ticket with John Connally (before Connally simply switched to the Republican party
• One of FDR's goals in office was the formation of a liberal party, something he discussed with his 1940 opponent, Wendell Willkie, prior to Willkie's death
• Andrew Johnson thought about establishing a National Union Party as a mix of conservative Republicans and Democrats, but he wasn't able to get it off the ground in the 1866 mid-terms. This party would've been different from the "National Union Party" of 1864, which was basically just a label the Republicans adopted for one election
• Tyler's supporters formed the Democratic-Republican Party (not to be confused with Jefferson's earlier party) and re-nominated Tyler, but he later dropped out of the race and endorsed James K. Polk

Did I miss anyone?

[SingingAnalyst]

There have been a few presidents who thought about launching a third party while in office:

• Nixon thought about running on a conservative ticket with John Connally (before Connally simply switched to the Republican party
• One of FDR's goals in office was the formation of a liberal party, something he discussed with his 1940 opponent, Wendell Willkie, prior to Willkie's death
• Andrew Johnson thought about establishing a National Union Party as a mix of conservative Republicans and Democrats, but he wasn't able to get it off the ground in the 1866 mid-terms. This party would've been different from the "National Union Party" of 1864, which was basically just a label the Republicans adopted for one election
• Tyler's supporters formed the Democratic-Republican Party (not to be confused with Jefferson's earlier party) and re-nominated Tyler, but he later dropped out of the race and endorsed James K. Polk

Did I miss anyone?

Not that I know of. Did any of these men take office on a Sunday? ;-)

[SingingAnalyst]

James Buchanan?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Party_System#Realignment_in_the_1850s

Who was the most recent President whose tenure in office began on a Sunday?

Give up?

OK, it was Chester Arthur, who was sworn in early on the morning of Sunday, September 20, 1881, upon the death of James Garfield.

Since then, Inauguration Day has fallen on a Sunday four times (1917, 1957, 1985, and 2013), but all four times a President was being re-inaugurated, rather than sworn in for the first time.

[President Johnson]

Election trivia: John McCain is the first major party nominee since Hubert Humphrey in 1968 who wasn't alive at the tenth anniversary of his election. Hubert died in January 1978, about nine years after he lost to Nixon. Before that, LBJ had only a little more than eight years after he won in 1964. During his presidency, there was no point in time when he was alive ten years later. Same with Calvin Coolidge, who also took office less than ten years before his death.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

John Tyler, born in 1790, still has two living grandsons.

[President Johnson]

Supreme Court trivia:

- Jimmy Carter and Andrew Johnson never appointed a Supreme Court judge.
- Fred M. Vinson, who served from 1946 to 1953, is as of today still the last Chief Justice appointed by a Democratic president.