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Over the centuries since the founding of the United States, forty-four different men have
served as President.
Let's take a look at some of the standouts, starting with the tallest.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, served from 1861 until his
assassination in 1865.
At 6 feet, 4 inches tall (that's 193 cm), he is the tallest man ever to be President.
Wearing his trademark stovepipe hat, he would have seemed even taller.
On the other end of the spectrum, James Madison was the shortest man ever to be President,
at 5 feet 4 inches or 163 cm tall.
That's a full foot shorter than Abraham Lincoln!
Madison was the 4th President, serving from 1809 to 1817.
James Madison holds another record, too.
Since he never weighed more than 100 lbs or 45 kg, James Madison doubles up as the lightest
U.S. President in history.
On the other hand, we have the heaviest man to be President: William Howard Taft.
Taft was the 27th President, in office from 1909 to 1913.
At 350 lbs or 158 kg, he was so large that he had an oversized bathtub installed in the
White House.
Next up: Presidential ages!
The youngest man ever to become President, Theodore Roosevelt took office at the age
of 42, following the assassination of President William McKinley.
The 26th President of the United States, Roosevelt served from 1901 to 1909.
Because he took office following an assassination, however, Roosevelt was not elected to his
first term, and the record for youngest elected President belongs to someone else.
The youngest man elected to the office of President was John F. Kennedy, only 43 years
old on election day.
Kennedy was the 35th President, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
The oldest man ever to be elected President, Ronald Reagan, was in office from 1981 to
1989 and served as the 40th President.
He was 73 years old when he was elected to his second term, but he is not the oldest
man to become President.
Donald Trump, the 45th and current President of the United States, assumed office in 2017
at the age of 70.
If he wins re-election in 2020, he will overtake Ronald Reagan's record as the oldest elected
President.
If he is re-elected President for a second time, he can never be the President again,
but that wasn't always the case.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's distant cousin, was the only President in
history to serve more than two terms.
The 32nd President of the United States, he won a record-breaking four presidential elections,
serving from 1933 until his death in 1945, only 11 weeks into his fourth term.
Prior to Roosevelt's presidency, there was an informal tradition that no president would
serve more than two terms.
The tradition began when George Washington refused to serve a third term in 1796.
Following Roosevelt's death, Congress passed the twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution,
which bars anyone from being elected President more than two times.
The 9th President, William Henry Harrison, served for the shortest term in United States
history: only 31 days.
Shortly after being elected, he got caught out in the rain and caught a cold, which turned
into pneumonia.
William Henry Harrison died after being sick for nine days.
He was the first President to die in office.
Next, let's look at the only President who was never elected: Gerald Ford.
Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, was never elected President - or for
that matter, Vice President.
In 1973 Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from his post, and Gerald Ford was appointed
to take his place.
When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford automatically became the President, without
ever winning an election.
He served as President from 1974 to 1977, and while he did run for re-election he did
not win, leaving him the only President never elected to the position.
In contrast, one president was elected unanimously.
In the first presidential election, held in 1789, George Washington received 100% of the
electoral votes, making him the only president in US history to be elected by a unanimous
vote.
I hope you've enjoyed learning a little Presidential trivia today.
Good-bye till next time!