Former U.S. President Franklin Pierce was arrested during his term as President for running over an old lady with his horse, but the charges were later dropped.
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Daniel Webster, who ran for president and lost three times, declined the Vice Presidency twice, thinking it a worthless office. Both presidents who offered it later died in office, meaning that if he had accepted, he would’ve become president after all.
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Theodore Roosevelt read at least one book every day.
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The system of democracy was introduced 2,500 years ago in Athens, Greece.
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J. Edgar Hoover liked to fire FBI agents whose palms were sweaty when shaking hands.
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There was a pre-WWII movement called Technocracy, which held that scientists and engineers should take over the government and economy from politicians and economists. The leader of the movement was known as the Great Engineer.
6
President George W. Bush and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner are cousins!
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In 1789, the total U.S. federal government debt was $190,000.
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