nPostednon March 18, 2014
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nTherenhave only been 75 men, so far, to serve as President and/ornVice-President of the United States. (Notice: zero women. So far. Wengotta change that!)
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nTherenare 365 days of the year. (Once in a while, 366 days.)
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nMy un-informed gut feeling is that the chance that there were two birthdaysnof the presidents/VPs on the same day would be really slim, sincenthere are almost FIVE TIMES as many days of the year as there arenformer presidents and vice-presidents. n
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| This is not quite what I had in mind when I mentioned “the birthday paradox.” |
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nButnmy educated brain tells me that it is not at all surprising to findnthat President Grover Cleveland and Vice-President John C. Calhounnshare a birthday. I know about the birthday paradox, and itnturns out that, in any group of 75 people, there is a 99.9% chancenthat two people will share a birthday!
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nDidnyou know that there are two presidents who share a birthday? BothnWarren Harding and James K. Polk werenborn on November 2.
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nAnd there are three vice-presidents born on thensame day: Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin;nCalvin Coolidge’s vice president, Charles G. Dawes; and JohnnKennedy’s vice president, Lyndon Baines Johnson (later presidentnhimself) were all born on August 27!
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nMr.nCleveland
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nBornnon this date in 1837, Grover Cleveland was the 22ndnand 24thnPresident of the United States. He is the only person who served twonnon-consecutive terms.
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nClevelandnwas elected (in 1884) as a bachelor (one of only two bachelorsnelected president) and became the first president to be married innthe White House. (John Tyler, who was a widower when he was electednpresident, got remarried while serving as president—but not in anWhite House ceremony.)
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nDuringnCleveland’s 1888 reelection race against Benjamin Harrison, he gotnmore votes than Harrison but still lost because he had fewernelectoral votes. There were a lot of accusations of fraud, and manynhistorians believe that Cleveland should have won the electoral vote,ntoo. Some have said that there are some similarities between thisnelection and the 2000 contest between Al Gore, who won the popularnvote but lost the election, and George W. Bush. There were somenbig-time problems with ballots and charges of fraud during thatnelection, too!
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nClevelandnran against Benjamin Harrison again in 1892. This is strange: neithernpresidential candidate went out campaigning! Harrison’s wife wasndying at the time, and so Harrison of course wanted to be with her.nOut of respect for Mrs. Harrison and his opponent’s desire to be withnhis sick wife, Cleveland also refrained from actively campaigning. n
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nAmazing,nhuh?
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nThatntime, Cleveland won against Harrison by a landslide.
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nMr.nCalhoun
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JohnnC. Calhoun served as the United States’ 7thnVice-President. He was in the interesting position of serving as V.P.nunder John Quincy Adams, but then running AGAINST Adams in the 1828nelection—running instead with presidential hopeful Andrew Jackson,nand winning. So he had two terms as Vice-President, but underndifferent presidents with different political party affiliations.
JohnnC. Calhoun served as the United States’ 7thnVice-President. He was in the interesting position of serving as V.P.nunder John Quincy Adams, but then running AGAINST Adams in the 1828nelection—running instead with presidential hopeful Andrew Jackson,nand winning. So he had two terms as Vice-President, but underndifferent presidents with different political party affiliations.n
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n(Atnthe time, political parties were in major flux; there wasn’t a stablentwo-party system.)
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nCalhounndid a lot to promote slavery. When many other Southern white peoplenregretted the obvious ethical problems with slavery but explainednthat it was a “necessary evil,” Calhoun insisted that it was an“positive good.” He was a “war hawk” who worked in Congressnto declare war against Britain (the War of 1812), and he firmlynthought that states had the right to secede from the union if theirnrights were somehow diminished. Even though he died before the CivilnWar started, his war-hawk nature and states’ rights ideas obviouslynhelped lead the nation to the Civil War.
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nInnthe last paragraph, I said that John C. Calhoun “firmly thought”nblah blah blah. I’m thinking that “firmly thought” is too mild anphrase—because Calhoun was admired by some and criticized by othersnas a “cast-iron man” because he held onto his ideas so rigidly.
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nThenweirdest and worst thing I read about Calhoun was that he was chosennas one of the five greatest U.S. Senators of all time in 1957! I’mnsure he had his good qualities, but I would hardly choose a war-hawknpro-slavery anti-union senator as one of the top 5!!!
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nAlsonon this date:
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Mathematician Christian Goldbach’s birthday
Mathematician Christian Goldbach’s birthday
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nNationalnFlag and Anthem Day in Aruba
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nAnniversarynof invention of the electric shaver
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nMen’snDay in Mongolia
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nn Historicaln anniversaries in March
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nApriln holidays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in April
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