CHAPTER 1

AMERICANA

Before it was painted white in 1814, the White House was called "thePresidential Palace."

In the 1950s, nearly 50 percent of American workers were unionized. It was atime of unprecedented gains in wages and benefits. Today, only 15 percent ofAmerican workers belong to unions.

Circus fans, do you know how many Ringling Brothers there were? Seven. Al, Gus,Otto, Alf, Charles, John, and Henry. They had a sister, too, named Ida.

How many children did George Washington have? Although he was "Father of HisCountry," Washington had no biological children of his own.

If you're an average American, you'll spend about a year and a half of your lifewatching TV commercials.

It's not just a popular stereotype; most barns in the 1800s really were paintedred. Why was that? Red paint hid dirt well and was easy to make without havingto resort to expensive store-bought paint. Here's the recipe: Mix skim milk withsome linseed oil and lime. Add rust that you scraped off some old farm tools forthe pigment. Voilà!

President John Quincy Adams kept a pet alligator around the White House. He saidhe enjoyed "the spectacle of guests fleeing from the room in terror."

In Maine, log cabins are exempt from property taxes.

In 1920, the average bill at an everyday diner was 28 cents.

"Kiki" was the childhood nickname of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

So far, all U.S. presidents have had siblings. Not one has been an only child.

U.S. founding father, George Washington, was a leader in more ways than theobvious. He was first to introduce the mule to America, and he is alsoconsidered the Father of the American Foxhound.

The very first American entrepreneur to be worth a billion dollars? Car mogulHenry Ford.

It may be hard to imagine a time when presidents took pride in culturalpursuits, but two presidents actually published books of poetry: John QuincyAdams and Jimmy Carter.

What do you call a president? George Washington wanted to be called "HisMightiness, the President." John Adams preferred "His Highness, the President ofthe United States and Protector of their Liberties." Neither title caught on.Finally, democratic Thomas Jefferson came up with "Mr. President."

Thomas Jefferson was also the first president to actually shake hands withpeople. Previous presidents preferred a slight, dignified bow and no bodycontact.

In the 1880s, about 15 percent of all city dwellers in America had access to anindoor bathroom.

John Breckinridge at thirty-six was the youngest vice president, followed byRichard Nixon, thirty-nine.

Larger than life: The Statue of Liberty is about twenty times bigger than anaverage American woman. From her toes to the top of her head, she measures a bitover 111 feet.

The term "french fries" was coined by our favorite president Thomas Jefferson.He brought back samples of the fried potato sticks from France and dubbed them"Potatoes fried in the French manner." Americans are an efficient lot, soshortened the name to "french fries."

In the United States, more gold is used to make class rings than any other pieceof jewelry.

Benjamin Franklin was the father of the bifocals, the stove, and theConstitution, but did you also know that he was controversial in his time as anadvocate of taking baths? Puritans had made bathing illegal on the grounds thatnudity of any kind—even in the privacy of your own bath—was a sin. Ben arguedthat the laws should be repealed. They were, eventually.

Was the Statue of Liberty modeled after a specific person? Two people to beexact. Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi used his mother as the model forLiberty's face and his girlfriend as the model for her body. Dr. Freud will seeyou now, Monsieur Bartholdi.

There's only one crime mentioned by name in the entire U.S. Constitution:treason.

How much does it actually cost to mint our coins? A penny costs about half acent; a nickel, 2.5 cents; a dime, 1 cent; a quarter 3 cents; and a half-dollar,5 cents.

Hey, it's tax deductible: every year, American citizens donate about $1 millionto the United States government to reduce the national debt.

It is a criminal offense for a sailor or soldier to pose nude, under the U.S.Uniform Code of Military Justice.

There've been quite a few Jims in the White House over the years. As a matter offact, James is the most popular presidential first name—there have been six sofar. John and William tie for the second most popular president's name.

We have it on good authority that there are 132 rooms in the White House.Thirty-two of them are bathrooms.

During the Cold War, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency advised thateach of the following can block radiation as well as 4 inches of concrete: 18inches of wood; 5–6 inches of brick; 8 inches of hollow concrete block; 7 inchesof soil; 6 inches of sand; 10 inches of water; or 14 inches of books ormagazines.

If you vote by absentee ballot but die before election day, what happens? Yourvote still counts.

Only one-third of American presidents have not been lawyers.

The smallest U.S. president was James Madison, measuring 5 feet 4 inches andweighing in at 98 pounds.

Hubert H. Humphrey kept his pharmacy license as a backup in case his thirty-one-yearpolitical career didn't pan out.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He was secondcousin, three times removed, of the man who wrote the U.S. national anthem.

Most people assume that stamping on U.S. currency "In God We Trust" has a longtradition. Actually, it was mandated in 1955. During those jittery Cold Wardays, Congress also added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and "so helpme God" to the official oath of office.

On a sad November day in 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson had to phone three Dallaslawyers before he found one who had a copy of the presidential oath of office.He needed it so that he could be sworn in on Air Force One after PresidentKennedy was killed.

Worried about natural disasters? Add all the Americans who die in an averageyear from tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods, and you'll get a total of lessthan two hundred. Contrast that with the number of city dwellers who die fromsummer heat in a typical year: about fifteen hundred.

How do you get into the Fort Knox gold repository? Not easily. Only afterseveral trusted individuals dial their own secret combinations can the 20-tondoor creak slowly open.

Believe it or not, the presidential oath of...