J. Edgar Hoover liked to fire FBI agents whose palms were sweaty when shaking hands.
26
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
Theodore Roosevelt read at least one book every day.
23
Richard Nixon was so good at poker that most of his first campaign for the House of Representatives was funded by poker winnings from his time in the navy.
8
Abraham Lincoln was a licensed bartender.
259
In 1789, the total U.S. federal government debt was $190,000.
3
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.
10