Tagged: Barbara Bush

THE PRESIDENTS, AND THE PRESIDENT’S LADY

June 8th in history:

On June 8th, 1861, Tennessee became the last Southern state to secede from the Union.

President Andrew Jackson lived most of his adult life in Tennessee, and that’s where he died on June 8th, 1845.

Charlton Heston played Andrew Jackson in two movies: “The Buccaneer” and “The President’s Lady.” Heston became a president in real life on this date in 1998, when he was elected president of the National Rifle Association.

And June 8th is the birthday of the second woman to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another: Barbara Bush (1925).

THE PRESIDENT’S KIDS

November 25 in history:

The British occupation of New York City, which began in 1776, ended on November 25th, 1783.  That was several weeks after the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the American Revolution.  New York became the capital of the U.S. for several years, through the inauguration of George Washington as president in 1789.
President Dwight Eisenhower had a stroke on this date in 1957.  Although it was a minor stroke, the health scare was serious enough for the president to write a letter authorizing Vice President Richard Nixon to assume power, if Eisenhower was unable to carry out his duties.  The crisis was one factor leading to the creation of the 25th Amendment, which also permits the appointment of a vice president if that office becomes vacant.

An amendment dealing with presidential succession was discussed again after the John F. Kennedy assassination.  President Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25th of 1963 — the day his son John Junior turned three years old.  Film footage shows young John saluting at his father’s funeral procession.

Two other presidential children — twins Jenna and Barbara Bush, the daughters of George W. Bush — were born on this date in 1981.  Their grandfather George Herbert Walker Bush was in his first year as vice president at the time.