Although George Washington oversaw the construction of the house, he never lived in it. It was not until 1800, when the White House was nearly completed, that its first residents, President John Adams and his wife Abigail, moved in.
Andrew Johnson's deal to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million was initially mocked, but has since proven to be a monumental bargain for the nation.
The first President to appear on black and white television was Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 30, 1939 at the opening ceremonies for the World's Fair.
Abraham Lincoln used the telegraph extensively during the Civil War, and was known to spend many hours in a small telegraph office set up in the War Department building near the White House.
Thomas Jefferson did not veto any bills during his 8 years in office.
John F. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for his book Profiles in Courage, a biography highlighting eight instances in which U.S. Senators risked their careers and stood alone against tremendous political and social pressure for what they felt was right.
During the 1992 Presidential Campaign, Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show -- wearing dark sunglasses, he played "Heartbreak Hotel" on his saxophone. At the time, he was trailing in the polls, and some critics have suggested that this appearance captured the imagination of the American people and turned the race around. In the end, Clinton carried 43 percent of the vote, easily defeating George Bush and Ross Perot and making him the forty-second President of the United States of America.
In the 1964 Presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater used the slogan "In your heart you know he's right". Goldwater had taken a lot of heat from his opponent and the media who labeled him an extremist. This slogan was intended to convince voters that the "extremist" label was unwarranted and that his views were not that different from their own. It was, apparently, unsuccessful as Goldwater carried only 38.5 percent of the vote, losing to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide.
In 2002, Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize for "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development". Carter was the third U.S. President to win the Nobel Peace Prize after Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only President of the United States to serve more than two terms in office. In response to this unprecedented achievement, the 22nd Amendment limiting Presidential terms was passed by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951.
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