US Presidents
Contents - First Ladies - Classroomhelp.com

U.S. Presidents
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George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William H. Harrison
John Tyler
James K. Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William H. Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

Key Dates

1800 William Harrison is elected governor of the Indiana Territory.

1813 Harrison wins a decisive victory a the Battle of Thames during the war of 1812.

1824 Harrison is elected to U.S. Senate. 1840 Harrison is elected president.

1841 Harrison dies one month after his inauguration, becoming the first President to die in office.

 

Benjamin Harrison
1889 - 1893
23rd President

Benjamin was born in North Bend, Ohio on August 20, 1833.

Benjamin Harrison was one of seven Presidents born in Ohio.

Harrison was a Presbyterian.

Benjamin was 5' 6" tall.

He served in the Civil War. He was the last Civil War general to serve as presdint.

Benjamin Harrison lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote. Incumbent president Grover Cleveland won the popular vote. (One of three Presidents.)

Benjamin Harrison, 1888.
Library of Congress
(Click for larger image.)

President Harrison was called "the Centennial President" because he was inaugurated 100 years after George Washington.

Benjamin Harrison gave a 140 speeches in 30 days.

Harrison and his family often went to bed and left all the new electric lights burning because they were afraid to touch the switches. He used to have White House staff turn them on and off.

He was the first president to attend a baseball game. He also enjoyed playing pool.

Harrison appointed a former slave, Fredrick Douglas, as the ambassador to Haiti.

Benjamin Harrison was a Republican.

Benjamin Harrison's Vice President was Levi P. Morton (1889-1893).

Electric lights were installed in the White House during his term.

President Harrison was the only grandson of a President (William Henry Harrison) to be elected President.

Benjamin Harrison had a beard and mustache. He was the last president to wear a beard.

Six states were admitted to the union while he was president:

  • North Dakota
  • South Dakota
  • Wyoming
  • Montana
  • Washington
  • Idaho

Harrison was the second President whose wife died while he was in office.

Benjamin Harrison served only one term.

Only Harrison and two other presdidents have tried a case in front of the Supreme Court after they retired from the presidency. (John Quincy Adams and Grover Cleveland also tried cases.

Harrison died in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 13, 1901. He was 67 years and 205 days old. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind.

Quotes from Benjamin Harrison:

"Have you not learned that not stocks or bonds or stately homes or products of mill or field are out country? It is the splendeid thought that is in our minds."

"Great lives do not go out. They go on."

Topics

Nicknames for the Presidents

First Ladies

Presidents who died in office

Assassinations and Assassination Attempts

Vice Presidents who became Presidents

Presidential Salaries

Oldest living Presidents

Presidents' Military Service

Books about U.S. President

Pets of the Presidents

 

 
Sources:

The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004

James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002

Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.

McCullough, Noah, The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia. Random House, USA, 2006

Pine, Joslyn, Presidential Wit and Wisdom: Memorable Quotes from George Washington to Barack Obama . Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 2009

Huffington Post web site.

Lang, Stephen, The Complete Book of Presidential Trivia, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 2011

O'Reilly, Bill, and Dugard, Martin, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2011

St. George, Judith In the Line of Fire: Presidents' Lives at Stake , Scholastic Inc. New York, 2001

I have set a goal of reading a book about all of the deceased presidents. I share the ones that I have read as well as my current reading. You can view the books on my book page. I am open to suggestions of books to read. (jim@anewadventure.org.)

What I am currently reading:

Gurzman, Kevin R.,James Madison and the Making of America, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2012
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This page was last updated on Monday, May 14, 2012

For comments or corrections email jim@anewadventure.org.