President Obama has asked the Senate to cut $50 billion from the economic stimulus plan. Yeah, Obama says the government will no longer need the $50 billion once everyone in his Cabinet pays their back taxes.
— Conan O'Brien
IN THE POSTMODERN age U.S. presidents are routine targets of public derision, often deservedly. While political barbs are nothing new, 100 and 200 years ago we saw our leaders as having been cut from a different, more noble cloth than politicians of today. Presidential folklore, in the form of jokes, legends, and historical errata, reflects that.
As a child, George Washington could not tell a lie, supposedly, even if it meant confessing to chopping down his father's beloved cherry tree. It's "common knowledge" that young Abraham Lincoln diligently wrote his homework on the back of a shovel with a lump of coal when there were no other implements at hand — no lame excuses from "Honest Abe." As a young storekeeper in New Salem, Illinois, Lincoln walked a mile on foot to return a customer's change. These are examples of the sort of "true grit" qualities we fantasize about in a national leader.
From 'The Great Emancipator' to 'Slick Willy'
Every American of a certain age was raised on such tales, some true, most not. The crux of presidential folklore isn't the veracity of the tales, but how well they jibe with our sense of the men's characters.
Presidential nicknames illustrate the point. Lincoln was known as "The Great Emancipator." Washington was "The Father of His Country." Jefferson, "The Sage of Monticello." The most mythic of contemporary presidents, Ronald Reagan, was called "The Great Communicator" and also referred to on occasion as "The Gipper," recalling his pre-political career as a Hollywood hunk. Bill Clinton was tarred from day one with the nickname "Slick Willy," an appellation only slightly less ignominious than "Tricky Dick," Richard Nixon's earned sobriquet. G.W. Bush's most popular nickname was "Dubya," a take-off on his middle initial. In some quarters he was known unflatteringly as "Shrub" or "Dumbya." The shift from noble characterizations to ignoble ones speaks volumes about the tenor of modern politics, not to mention modern politicians.
Wooden Teeth and the Gettysburg Address
Other bits of presidential folklore are more on the order of historical boo-boos. It's said, for example, that Washington's dentures were made of wood. They were not. Nor were they manufactured by Paul Revere, as many people believe. Longstanding tradition holds that Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope, which is also untrue. Grand speeches are rarely dashed off in the manner of pop songs.
Another curious, often-repeated myth pertaining to Honest Abe holds that the hands of his statue in the Lincoln Memorial were intentionally sculpted to form the letters "A" and "L" in American Sign Language. Not so, according to the National Park Service. The "hidden message" was purely coincidental. Also untrue is the odd claim that the face of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, Lincoln's nemesis during the Civil War, was secretly carved into back of the same statue. What would the American mythos be without its conspiracy theories?
More presidential lore is debunked and historical trivia dispensed on these websites:
- George Washington Myths - direct from MountVernon.org
- George Washington: Fact & Fancy - by Robert Longley
- The Moral Washington: Construction of a Legend - the legacy of Parson Weems
- Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist? - book review by Robert Longley
- The Lincoln/Kennedy Coincidences - deconstructed by David Mikkelson
- W.H. Taft: Originator of Baseball's 7th-Inning Stretch? - pseudo-Americana
- JFK: "I Am a Jelly Donut" - presidential blunder, or the gaffe that never was?
- The Kennedy Curse - debunked by the Skeptic's Dictionary
- Grace Under the Scalpel - some famous Reagan quips, semi-confirmed
- On G.W. Bush's IQ (or Lack Thereof) - a crass Internet hoax
- The Queen, the President and the Flatulent Horse - a well-traveled joke
- Tecumseh's (Zero Year) Curse - are some presidents doomed to die in office?
- Presidential Trivia - oddments from Salon magazine
