History classes have n’t done a with child job of ridding popularpresidential mythsfrom the American consciousness . Everything from ourpresidents ' most famous speechesto their most embarrassing moments has urge on legendary stories that are n’t supported by fact . Some falsehood are the products of centuries - quondam misunderstandings , while others started as measured put-on . Here are some famous stories you may have heard about sixU.S. presidentsthat are n’t honest .
1. William Henry Harrison probably didn’t die of pneumonia.
According to this myth , William Henry Harrison ’s wander inauguration speechled to his death . The story give way that the ninth president caughta fatal compositor’s case of pneumoniaafter give birth a record 8445 - word computer address at his swearing - in ceremonial on a rainy daytime in March 1841 . This resulted in the 2nd tiptop of his presidential career : the short stretch in the White House , last just about one month before his untimely death .
The truth is that the condition that killed him was more occult than most mass realize . His own doctor , Thomas Miller , write : “ The disease was not viewed as a face of pure pneumonia ; but as this was the most palpable affection , the terminal figure pneumonia afforded a succinct and intelligible result to the innumerable questions as to the nature of the attack . ”
His symptoms , which include austere deadening and abdominal distension , have since been linked to baddrinking piss at the White House . In the 1840s , the building sourced its urine from a spring that was downhill from a sewage dump , leadingmodern doctorsto suspect Harrison succumbed to enteric fever ( or enteric fever pyrexia ) , triggered by the bacterium within .
2. George Washington’s teeth weren’t made of wood.
George Washington did demand dentures after fall behind all but one of his tooth by the sentence he assumed office in 1789 , but contrary to the democratic narrative , they were n’t made of wood(in fact , wood was seldom used to make denture at the time ) . Washington had several set of assumed chompers during his life , which may have been crafted from such materials as ivory , horse dentition , establishment , and silver alloy . There were even instances when existent human tooth were used , possibly source from enslaved peopleat Mount Vernon . So where did this myth come from ? After prolong role , Washington ’s defile dentures may have finally call for on a brownish color , resemble Sir Henry Wood .
3. William Howard Taft didn’t get stuck in a bathtub.
William Howard Taftwas the heaviest U.S. president in history , weighing in at 330 pounds at one full point . This has revolutionize some unkind myths about his sentence at the White House , but there ’s no evidence behind the far-famed write up that he once gotstuck in a bathtuband needed six mankind to yank him free . We do know of at leastone abash bathe incidentfrom the president ’s history thatcanbe swear . In 1915 , Taft was make into his hotel ’s bathing tub when he sloshed enough pee onto the floor to make a escape in the lower level . He later jest about the berth while looking out at the Atlantic Ocean , commenting , “ I ’ll get a piece of that fenced in some sidereal day , and then I venture to say there wo n’t be any outpouring . ”
4. John F. Kennedy didn’t call himself a jelly donut when he said, “Ich bin ein berliner.”
It ’s abduce as one of the cock-a-hoop presidential blunder in history : When John F. Kennedy allege “ Ich bin ein Berliner ” ( or “ I am a Berliner ” ) during a speech in front ofthe Wall in West Berlinon June 26 , 1963 , he was mistakingly call himself a jelly doughnut in a alien nomenclature , rather than expressing unity with the German citizen in attendance .
While it ’s true thatberlineris a give-and-take for jelly doughnut , it was n’t the preferred condition in Berlin and the surrounding expanse at the clip . Even take in the word ’s double meaning into account , JFK still expressed what he mean to say in the correct way . Ich bin Berlineris how most Berlin natives would press out the sentiment , but the president was actually exhibit off a complex understanding of German when he added theindefinite clause . His translation of the sentence usingeinis more typical for late transplants , or non - residents wish to show solidarity with the city .
No one learn his speech that mean solar day would have misinterpret the idiomatic expression , but that did n’t stopThe New York Timesand other electric receptacle from casting the line as a boner years afterwards .
5. Abraham Lincoln didn’t write the Gettysburg Address on an envelope.
TheGettysburg Addressis one of the most renowned pieces of political writing in history , and the myth thatAbraham Lincolnwrote it on the back of an envelope on the train to Pennsylvania ready it seem even more impressive . There ’s just no truth to it . The president first begin blueprint his talking to in July of 1863 , presently after the Battle of Gettysburg , and run short through several version ( on even stationery ) before his November 19 name and address . He may have made some last - minute changes once he arrived atGettysburg , but the majority of his work was fill out before the journeying . ( The gear would have been too jumpy to do much writing anyway . )
6. No, Theodore Roosevelt didn’t ride a bull moose.
ThoughTheodore Rooseveltwas known as the drawing card of theBull Moose Party , henever in reality taunt a Alces alces , despitethat famous pictureyou’ve probably seen on social media over the years . That range of Teddy Roosevelt riding a Alces alces across a river is in reality a pre - Photoshop counterfeit made the old - fashioned way with glue and scissors . It was originally made as part of a political posterfeaturing all three of the presidential candidates in 1912on top of an beast that best represented their party — Taft , the Republican , was edited to be riding an elephant and Democrat Woodrow Wilson was atop a donkey .
In light of Roosevelt ’s existent accomplishments , it ’s easy to see why this fantastical story was easy to trust . The president did n’t naturalize a wild European elk , but he did search jungles , satisfy the White House with exotic pets , and deliver a speechafter being shot in the pectus .
