December 1, 2023 • 6 mins
Being President doesn't mean you don't have some pretty weird personal quirks...everything from what they did in their free time, to some of the odd ways they took care of themselves. Wait until you hear the one about LBJ and "Jumbo"!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right. Imagine a powerful guy who likes to regularly
get his hair pulled or get vasileene rubbed into his
head every day, or who relieves himself in public. How
about one who carries loaded guns onto the Senate floor.
I'm Patty Steele. Weird stuff about our presidents. Next on
the backstory. We're back with the backstory now. For the
(00:24):
most part, we think of people that run our government,
like them or not, as having just a little bit
of decorum. Right, But we all have our quirks, and
our presidents have been no exception. President Lyndon Baines Johnson
aka LBJ, was a guy who never worried what anybody
thought of him. One of his most unusual traits. If
(00:45):
he had to relieve himself, he would do so no
matter who was around. He was known to have conversations
with men and women and just suddenly unzip what he
called jumbo and do his thing. LBJ did it in
front of staff, he did it while doing interviews with journalists,
and he even did it while chatting with diplomats. Insiders
(01:05):
say he often did it to gauge how people felt
about him, actually invading their personal space in order to
size them up. On one occasion, he actually took aim
at his secret service agent's leg, drenching him, and the
agent just stood there as if he didn't notice. Now,
speaking of power plays, our eighth President, Martin Van Buren
(01:26):
was kind of a little insecure about his personal safety,
despite having been in politics in New York State since
he was in his mid twenties. When he was vice
president under Andrew Jackson, he always brought a pair of
loaded pistols into the Senate assemblies, claiming it was a
precaution against the frequent outbursts of violence there. Apparently the
Senate was even more exciting back then than it is now.
(01:50):
Van Buren was kind of a weird guy anyway. He
wrote an autobiography after he was out of office and
never once mentioned in it his long dead wife, despite
having children with her. Some presidents used competitive sports as
a way to prove themselves, including Abe Lincoln, who's actually
in the wrestling Hall of Fame. In twelve years of
(02:11):
wrestling even while practicing law and early in his political life,
he racked up three hundred wins and only one defeat.
Maybe his strength had something to do with how carefully
he ate, I say he rarely had more than apples
and grapes, along with nuts and occasionally a biscuit. He
never touched anything to drink but water, and in the winter,
(02:32):
only a glass of milk. Another healthy president was Teddy Roosevelt,
who loved physical activity. He was big into boxing and
even working out with weights, which, if you know anything
about the early nineteen hundreds, was pretty unusual at that time.
But he especially loved walking on stilts. When he and
his six kids moved into the White House, every member
(02:54):
of the family had a pair of stilts, including his
wife and Teddy and crew would walk through the hallways
and even up and downstairs on their stilts in a
little less standard activity. There was our twelfth President, Zachary Taylor,
who treated chewing tobacco as a sport. He was only
in office for sixteen months before he died, but he
(03:16):
was noted for his ability to spit tobacco juice ew
and hit a target across huge distances without so much
as a drop of that nasty juice missing either the
spittoon or his intended target. Then there was President number seven,
(03:37):
Andrew Jackson. He was a party animal and allowed the
public to regularly drop into the White House for some
raucous and pretty destructive parties. One report said he once
had a fourteen hundred pound wheel of cheese brought in
for one party and was gone within two hours. Jackson
also was a big fan of cock fighting. He held
(03:59):
those cockfights all the time at his estate in Tennessee,
and once he was in the White House, he would
clear out big rooms to set up an occasional cockfight. Yikes, no,
thanks to that. Here's a weird skill. President number twenty
James Garfield not only was ambidextrous, meaning he could write
with both hands, but he loved to show off the
(04:20):
fact that he could write in Greek with one hand
and in Latin with the other at the same time.
Wonder if that even came in handy as a president. Now,
one really odd president was number thirty Calvin Coolidge. He
had been an avid horseback rider before becoming president, but
(04:42):
of course, once elected, the Secret Service said, Nah, no
more horses, way too dangerous. We don't want to lose
a president who falls off the horse. He was broken hearted,
so a doctor friend rigged up what may well have
been the first electric mechanical horse, and Coolidge wrote it
while in the White House three times a day. He
(05:03):
claimed it was good for his liver. In addition to that,
he had a decent head of hair, and every pick
that you see of him shows it perfectly slicked back. Well,
now we know why it was slicked back. It seems
that every morning while he ate his breakfast, he had
someone rubbed vasilene all over his head and threw out
his hair. And finally, another president obsessed with his due
(05:26):
was John F. Kennedy. He was noted for having one
gorgeous head of hair. Well, it turns out he had
a White House barber who kept it looking perfect. But
word is jfk loved to have his hair pulled really
hard while he was getting it cut. Why for relaxation,
stress and pain relief, Because he believed it would make
(05:47):
his hair follicle stronger. Seems like it apparently worked. I
guess we all have our little oddities, but most of
us don't have to share him in the spotlight, right.
(06:07):
I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Duran Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
(06:30):
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
All right. Imagine a powerful guy who likes to regularly
get his hair pulled or get vasileene rubbed into his
head every day, or who relieves himself in public. How
about one who carries loaded guns onto the Senate floor.
I'm Patty Steele. Weird stuff about our presidents. Next on
the backstory. We're back with the backstory now. For the
(00:24):
most part, we think of people that run our government,
like them or not, as having just a little bit
of decorum. Right, But we all have our quirks, and
our presidents have been no exception. President Lyndon Baines Johnson
aka LBJ, was a guy who never worried what anybody
thought of him. One of his most unusual traits. If
(00:45):
he had to relieve himself, he would do so no
matter who was around. He was known to have conversations
with men and women and just suddenly unzip what he
called jumbo and do his thing. LBJ did it in
front of staff, he did it while doing interviews with journalists,
and he even did it while chatting with diplomats. Insiders
(01:05):
say he often did it to gauge how people felt
about him, actually invading their personal space in order to
size them up. On one occasion, he actually took aim
at his secret service agent's leg, drenching him, and the
agent just stood there as if he didn't notice. Now,
speaking of power plays, our eighth President, Martin Van Buren
(01:26):
was kind of a little insecure about his personal safety,
despite having been in politics in New York State since
he was in his mid twenties. When he was vice
president under Andrew Jackson, he always brought a pair of
loaded pistols into the Senate assemblies, claiming it was a
precaution against the frequent outbursts of violence there. Apparently the
Senate was even more exciting back then than it is now.
(01:50):
Van Buren was kind of a weird guy anyway. He
wrote an autobiography after he was out of office and
never once mentioned in it his long dead wife, despite
having children with her. Some presidents used competitive sports as
a way to prove themselves, including Abe Lincoln, who's actually
in the wrestling Hall of Fame. In twelve years of
(02:11):
wrestling even while practicing law and early in his political life,
he racked up three hundred wins and only one defeat.
Maybe his strength had something to do with how carefully
he ate, I say he rarely had more than apples
and grapes, along with nuts and occasionally a biscuit. He
never touched anything to drink but water, and in the winter,
(02:32):
only a glass of milk. Another healthy president was Teddy Roosevelt,
who loved physical activity. He was big into boxing and
even working out with weights, which, if you know anything
about the early nineteen hundreds, was pretty unusual at that time.
But he especially loved walking on stilts. When he and
his six kids moved into the White House, every member
(02:54):
of the family had a pair of stilts, including his
wife and Teddy and crew would walk through the hallways
and even up and downstairs on their stilts in a
little less standard activity. There was our twelfth President, Zachary Taylor,
who treated chewing tobacco as a sport. He was only
in office for sixteen months before he died, but he
(03:16):
was noted for his ability to spit tobacco juice ew
and hit a target across huge distances without so much
as a drop of that nasty juice missing either the
spittoon or his intended target. Then there was President number seven,
(03:37):
Andrew Jackson. He was a party animal and allowed the
public to regularly drop into the White House for some
raucous and pretty destructive parties. One report said he once
had a fourteen hundred pound wheel of cheese brought in
for one party and was gone within two hours. Jackson
also was a big fan of cock fighting. He held
(03:59):
those cockfights all the time at his estate in Tennessee,
and once he was in the White House, he would
clear out big rooms to set up an occasional cockfight. Yikes, no,
thanks to that. Here's a weird skill. President number twenty
James Garfield not only was ambidextrous, meaning he could write
with both hands, but he loved to show off the
(04:20):
fact that he could write in Greek with one hand
and in Latin with the other at the same time.
Wonder if that even came in handy as a president. Now,
one really odd president was number thirty Calvin Coolidge. He
had been an avid horseback rider before becoming president, but
(04:42):
of course, once elected, the Secret Service said, Nah, no
more horses, way too dangerous. We don't want to lose
a president who falls off the horse. He was broken hearted,
so a doctor friend rigged up what may well have
been the first electric mechanical horse, and Coolidge wrote it
while in the White House three times a day. He
(05:03):
claimed it was good for his liver. In addition to that,
he had a decent head of hair, and every pick
that you see of him shows it perfectly slicked back. Well,
now we know why it was slicked back. It seems
that every morning while he ate his breakfast, he had
someone rubbed vasilene all over his head and threw out
his hair. And finally, another president obsessed with his due
(05:26):
was John F. Kennedy. He was noted for having one
gorgeous head of hair. Well, it turns out he had
a White House barber who kept it looking perfect. But
word is jfk loved to have his hair pulled really
hard while he was getting it cut. Why for relaxation,
stress and pain relief, Because he believed it would make
(05:47):
his hair follicle stronger. Seems like it apparently worked. I
guess we all have our little oddities, but most of
us don't have to share him in the spotlight, right.
(06:07):
I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Duran Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
(06:30):
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
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