The US Election 2020: The facts, the figures and the legends

Ever wondered who the longest living president was? Or perhaps who was the tallest? Have you ever thought about the strange links between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy? We have the answers here

There is an underground bunker located under the East Wing and a tunnel to the Treasury building (Getty/iStock)

The president’s official residence in Washington – 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – has a history scarcely less colourful than that of the presidency. Work began on it in 1792. John Adams was the first to occupy it (before it was finished) in 1800 and Dolley Madison famously did it up, with the help of a grant from Congress, only for the British to burn it to a shell in 1814. 

James Monroe spent $50,000 – controversially – doing it up again, in extravagant Parisian style. Martin Van Buren was attacked for turning it into “a palace as splendid as that of the Caesars”. Chester A Arthur auctioned off wagon-loads of priceless presidential memorabilia in order to pay for another makeover in the 1880s. 

There have been numerous refurbishments and additions since, including extensive restorations under Theodore Roosevelt (who added the West Wing), William Howard Taft (who added the Oval Office) and Harry S Truman (after the house was declared to be in imminent danger of collapse in 1948). The most extravagant recent redecoration was instigated by Jacqueline Kennedy, with the help of the French designer Stéphane Boudin.

President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901. It had previously been known by an assortment of names, including the President's Palace, the President's House and the Executive Mansion.

The White House now has six storeys and includes 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, eight staircases, and three lifts. Around 570 gallons of (white) paint are required to cover its outside surface. The house did not get running water until 1831; central heating arrived in 1837. James Polk added gas lighting in the 1840s and Millard Fillmore installed the first stove in the 1850s.

For many decades, the house had a problem with rats. Andrew Johnson, an animal lover, used to leave out food for them (while his daughter Martha, acting as his First Lady, tried to poison them). Rutherford Hayes claimed that they nibbled his toes at night. The problem was solved by Benjamin Harrison, who let ferrets loose in the house until all the rats had been killed.

Five full-time chefs are employed in the White House kitchen. Up to 140 guests can be entertained there at a time for dinner, while there are facilities to provide hors-d'oeuvres for more than 1,000.

There is an underground bunker – the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre – located under the East Wing. There is also a tunnel to the Treasury building.

The Hayes family banned alcohol from the White House between 1877 and 1881.

Number of presidents: 45

Number of men who have been president: 44

Grover Cleveland is counted as No 22 and No 24.

Living presidents: 6

George HW Bush, Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump.

Presidents whose children became president: 2

John Adams, George HW Bush.

Presidents whose grandchildren became president: 1

William Henry Harrison, grandfather of Benjamin Harrison.

Former actor-turned president Ronald Reagan was a leftie (National Archive)

Left-handed presidents: 7

Herbert Hoover, Harry S Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.

Ambidextrous presidents: 1

James A Garfield.

Presidents who died in office: 8

William Henry Harrison, 1841, Zachary Taylor, 1850, Abraham Lincoln, 1865, James A Garfield, 1881, William McKinley, 1901, Warren G Harding, 1923, Franklin D Roosevelt, 1945, John F Kennedy, 1963.

Presidents who were assassinated: 4

Abraham Lincoln, 1865, James A Garfield, 1881, William McKinley, 1901, John F Kennedy, 1963.

Presidents who survived assassination attempts: 7

Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W Bush.

Presidents who were freemasons: 15

George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Warren Harding, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B Johnson, Gerald Ford.

Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and assassinated in 1865 (Library of Congress)

Unmarried presidents: 1

James Buchanan.

Presidents elected in a year ending in “0”: 10

Thomas Jefferson (1800), William Henry Harrison (1840; died in office), Abraham Lincoln (1860; assassinated), James A Garfield (1880; assassinated), William McKinley (1900; assassinated), Warren G Harding (1920; died in office), Franklin D Roosevelt (1940; died in office), John F Kennedy (1960; assassinated), Ronald Reagan (1980; survived assassination attempt); George W Bush (2000; survived assassination attempt; alive at time of going to press).

Presidents born in Virginia: 8

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Woodrow Wilson.

US states that have never given birth to a president: 29

Presidents elected to the office despite losing the popular vote: 4

John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W Bush in 2000, and Donald Trump in 2016.

Thomas Jefferson is said to be the cleverest of all US presidents (Public domain)

Presidents who were not elected at all, either as president or as vice-president: 1

Gerald Ford became Richard Nixon's vice-president after Spiro Agnew resigned over Watergate, then took over the presidency when Nixon resigned as well.

Presidents who died on 4 July: 3

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe.

Presidents who were born on 4 July: 1

Calvin Coolidge.

Presidents who died on 26 December: 2

Harry S Truman; Gerald Ford.

Presidents with beards: 5

Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison.

Tallest president: Abraham Lincoln (6ft 4in)

Shortest president: James Madison (5ft 4in)

Shortest-lived president: John F Kennedy (died at 46)

Longest-lived president: Gerald Ford (93 years, 121 days)

Shortest presidency: William Henry Harrison (31 days)

Longest presidency: Franklin D Roosevelt (12 years, one month and eight days)

At the age of 70, Trump is the oldest president to take office (AP)

Oldest president on taking office: Donald Trump (70)

Youngest elected president on taking office: John F Kennedy (43)

Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he stepped into the shoes of the assassinated William McKinley, but was 46 the first time he was elected.

Average age on becoming president: 55

Heaviest president: William Howard Taft (23st 10lb at his peak)

Lightest president: James Madison (7st 1lb)

Presidents who were preceded and succeeded by the same president: 1

Benjamin Harrison.

Cleverest president: Thomas Jefferson. 

John F Kennedy, entertaining Nobel laureates in the White House in 1962, told his guests that this was the most distinguished gathering of intellectual ability that had ever graced that dining room – except when Thomas Jefferson dined alone there.

President who sired the most children: John Tyler (15)

George Washington had a state and a mountain named after him (National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution)

Presidents who have had US counties named after them: 24

Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Madison, Lincoln, Monroe, Polk, Grant, Garfield, Adams (including some that refer to Quincy Adams), Harrison, Pierce, Taylor, Van Buren, Buchanan, Fillmore, Cleveland, Roosevelt (both named for Theodore, not FDR), Tyler, Arthur, Harding, Hayes, McKinley.

Presidents who have had mountains named after them: 14

Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Washington, Lincoln, McKinley, Pierce, Roosevelt (FDR; in Canada), Eisenhower (also in Canada – although it reverted to its original name, Castle Mountain, shortly after his death).

The Lincoln/Kennedy Connection

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846; John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860; John F Kennedy was elected president in 1960.

Both presidents were shot while in office, in the head, by a Southerner, on a Friday.

Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

JFK, the youngest elected president, took office when he was 43 (National Archives)

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon B Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre. The car in which Kennedy was shot was a Lincoln, made by Ford.

Both three-named assassins – John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald – were murdered before they could be tried.

The list goes on, with declining accuracy. Coincidence-obsessives add that Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy (false), while Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln (true); and that John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839 (false), while Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939 (true); and that Lincoln, a week before he was shot, was in Monroe, Maryland (true), whereas Kennedy, a week before he was shot, was with – and possibly in – Marilyn Monroe (false). But you try explaining such niceties in a pub quiz... 

Leaders’ wives: First Ladies by numbers

Number of First Ladies: 47

Official total, counting Frances Cleveland twice.

First use of the term “First Lady”: 1849

By Zachary Taylor, at Dolley Madison's funeral.

First Ladies officially counted as First Ladies although they died before their husbands were sworn in: 4

Martha Skelton Jefferson, Rachel Robards Jackson, Hannah Van Buren, Ellen Arthur.

Official First Ladies who weren't married to the president: 1

Harriet Lane, niece of the unmarried James Buchanan.

Unofficial First Ladies – nieces, daughters, daughters-in-law, etc – who carried out social duties on account of the death, illness or disposition of the president's wife: 10

Martha Randolph, Emily Donelson, Sarah Jackson, Angelica Van Buren, Jane Harrison, Priscilla Tyler, Mary McElroy, Rose Cleveland, Mary McKee, Margaret Wilson.

First Ladies who died while First Lady: 3

Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison and Ellen Wilson.

First Ladies who married in the White House: 1

Frances Folsom Cleveland.

Longest-lived First Lady: Bess Truman (died aged 97 years, 247 days)

Highest-profile pre-Civil War First Lady: Dolley Payne Todd Madison, who entertained lavishly, instituted the inauguration ball, refurbished the White House, rescued many valuables when the British sacked Washington in 1814 but also served occasionally as First Lady for the widowed Thomas Jefferson, when his daughter was unavailable.

Highest-profile post-Civil War First Lady: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy, who created such a sensation when she travelled with her husband to Europe that he was reduced to saying: “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.”

Most powerful First Lady: Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, who screened all her husband's work while he was convalescing from a stroke and decided which matters were important enough to bring to his attention.