Why Not?!

[taxguykarl]

I didn't get the tiler joke I never got US history since I'm on the Canuck side of the border.

Here you go.

[Cecily]

Thanks! The things you learn on this site...

[Argabarga]

FWIW: William Henry Harrison has the dubious honor of being the shortest-tenured US President, lasting a mere 32 days before dying of pneumonia.

He's most famous for basically dying and setting the standard for the VP stepping up when a sitting President kicks the bucket, since the Constitution was very vague on the matter and prior to him, it had never happened before. The Founding Fathers apparently believed that having the office of President up for grabs every 4 years meant they'd never have to plan for a succession contingency.

As it turns out, no fewer than eight Presidents expired before their terms, and 4 of them were shot.

So much for that wishful thinking.......

[Monterey Jack]

FWIW: William Henry Harrison has the dubious honor of being the shortest-tenured US President, lasting a mere 32 days before dying of pneumonia.

There's Tyler / There's Taylor / There's Fillmore / And there's Hayes / There's William Henry Harrison / "I died in thirty days!"

[KatherineB]

As it turns out, no fewer than eight Presidents expired before their terms, and 4 of them were shot.

So much for that wishful thinking.......

And people say Australians are careless when all we did was lose one!

[Argabarga]

And people say Australians are careless when all we did was lose one!

It gets better, an additional four SURVIVED legitimate and serious assassination attempts, with one surviving being actually shot (Reagan) and three having people get uncomfortably close to them with guns before being stopped (Jackson, Truman, Ford)

Jackson's notable for the fact that there was no secret service in his day, and when his assassin attacked him with a pistol, Jackson pulled out his cane and nearly beat the guy to death before his aides restrained him. They didn't call him "Old Hickory" for nothing.

[Cia]

It gets better, an additional four SURVIVED legitimate and serious assassination attempts, with one surviving being actually shot (Reagan) and three having people get uncomfortably close to them with guns before being stopped (Jackson, Truman, Ford)

Jackson's notable for the fact that there was no secret service in his day, and when his assassin attacked him with a pistol, Jackson pulled out his cane and nearly beat the guy to death before his aides restrained him. They didn't call him "Old Hickory" for nothing.

With a nickname like that are you sure it was a 'cane' he pulled out?

[Jester]

I believe Teddy Roosevelt also got shot. He not only survived, he finished the speech he was giving!

[Argabarga]

I believe Teddy Roosevelt also got shot. He not only survived, he finished the speech he was giving!

Indeed. But, at the time of his shooting, he was not President, having finished his term.

He was running for Pres. again, as a 3rd party candidate (because he was thoroughly disappointed with how his successor, Taft, was running things) when he was shot en route to a campaign rally. He gave his speech, showed off the wound to the crowd, and only then sought medical treatment, wherin the doctors advised him to just leave it alone since the bullet didn't hit anything vital. He went on to finish second in the election, he didn't win the office, but he did successfully knock Taft out of the race.

[otakuneko]

"I'm as fit as a Bull Moose!"

[Jay 2K Winger]

It gets better, an additional four SURVIVED legitimate and serious assassination attempts, with one surviving being actually shot (Reagan) and three having people get uncomfortably close to them with guns before being stopped (Jackson, Truman, Ford)

Jackson's notable for the fact that there was no secret service in his day, and when his assassin attacked him with a pistol, Jackson pulled out his cane and nearly beat the guy to death before his aides restrained him. They didn't call him "Old Hickory" for nothing.

Andrew Jackson was badass. This was a man who dueled people on the White House lawn, and at one point volunteered the first shot to the man he was dueling with. He was shot by Charles Dickinson, spat and declared "Not enough gun," and then it was boom, headshot.*

* Events embellished slightly. Dickinson bled out from a chest shot.

[Jester]

Indeed. But, at the time of his shooting, he was not President, having finished his term.

He was running for Pres. again, as a 3rd party candidate (because he was thoroughly disappointed with how his successor, Taft, was running things) when he was shot en route to a campaign rally. He gave his speech, showed off the wound to the crowd, and only then sought medical treatment, wherin the doctors advised him to just leave it alone since the bullet didn't hit anything vital. He went on to finish second in the election, he didn't win the office, but he did successfully knock Taft out of the race.

More stuff I didn't know. Very cool. And more proof that TR was a righteous badass. I dare say he may have been the biggest badass to ever be President, the story of Andrew Jackson notwithstanding.

[Jay 2K Winger]

More stuff I didn't know. Very cool. And more proof that TR was a righteous badass. I dare say he may have been the biggest badass to ever be President, the story of Andrew Jackson notwithstanding.

Cracked certainly agrees. In their list of the 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time that I linked earlier, Andrew Jackson is only number five. Behind JFK, John Quincy Adams, and in the second-place slot? George Washington.

Teddy got #1, of course. One of the displays of badassery they listed was, in response to letters from cavalrymen complaining about riding 25 miles per day for training, our Bull Moose rode 100 miles in a day, sunrise to sunset, at 51 years old. (That's like an eighty-year-old man doing the same thing today.)

In fact, when giving that speech when he'd been shot? His first words, before going into the speech were "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

Bad. Ass.

[Jester]

George Washington doesn't surprise me. He was a badass. JQA, however, is a bit surprising. I'd be interested to see why they gave him one of the top five slots.

I'd also be very interested to see who the least badass presidents were, i.e., the five biggest pansies that were elected to the top office. At least as far as Cracked's staff believes were the biggest pansies. Pretty sure Benjamin Harrison would make the list. After that, not overly sure.

[wolfie]

I'd also be very interested to see who the least badass presidents were, i.e., the five biggest pansies that were elected to the top office. At least as far as Cracked's staff believes were the biggest pansies. Pretty sure Benjamin Harrison would make the list. After that, not overly sure.

Cracked also had a list of presidents who were badasses in their youth. One name on that list might surprise a lot of people - he led a team that isolated and cleaned up a radiation leak, with a 90 second allowable time at the front (for each trip in). I'll let you guys read the list for yourselves, but the nature of his badassery pretty much trims the list down to post-WW2 presidents.