WHEN George Walker Bush returns his seal of office this month and various foreign gifts - though hardly the shoes so unceremoniously presented to him in Baghdad recently - how will the 43rd US President be remembered? The latest opinion poll gives him a positive rating of only 28 per cent, the lowest since polls began in 1916, writes Paul Hurley.
"It's an awful thing to be president of the United States," said Woodrow Wilson in 1914, before it became the world's most powerful country. So it's not surprising that its presidents make an interesting study. Thousands of books have been written about them - the most, over 700, on Lincoln.
Grover Cleveland's name appears twice on the list, for he was the only one who served two non-consecutive terms. William Harrison, a doctor, had the shortest term, one month, though he gave the longest inaugural address, 8,500 words (Washington's was the shortest, at 143 words), which caused his death: he got pneumonia while reading it, standing bare-headed in pouring rain on a cold winter day. The longest in office, 12 years, was Franklin D. Roosevelt who, elected four times, was the only one to serve more than two terms. Only 15 served two terms, while 11 had less than one full term. Of the eight who died in office, four were assassinated - Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy.
William Harrison was the oldest to become President, at 68, while the youngest was Theodore Roosevelt, only 42 when as vice-president he succeeded McKinley. But Kennedy was the youngest elected president, at 43, and also the youngest to die, two years later - in contrast to John Adams, who had the longest life, 91 years. Nine became President "by accident", having already been vice-presidents, and five of these didn't get a second term, so they were never elected president. Since the decisive votes in electing US presidents are those of the Electoral College, six, including Lincoln and Truman, got only a minority of the popular votes.
To be eligible for the office one must be a natural-born American, at least 35 years old and 14 years a US resident. F.D. Roosevelt was the only one not born in the country, as his mother was on holidays in Canada at the time.
Two Presidents were of German and three of Dutch ancestry. Some had Irish blood, the closest being Andrew Jackson, whose parents were both from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim; but most were of British origin. Most also belonged to various Protestant churches: a quarter were Episcopalians, six were Presbyterians, four Unitarians, two Quakers (Hoover and Nixon); McKinley was a Methodist, Coolidge a Congregationalist, Theodore Roosevelt a "not very religious member" of the Dutch Reformed Church and Eisenhower a Jehovah Witness who became a Presbyterian. Several didn't belong to any church and a few didn't believe in God.
Kennedy was thought to have been the only Catholic, until it was discovered that the Catholic Review of January 27th, 1894 published a statement by Bishop Peter Lefevere of Detroit saying: "Lincoln was a Catholic in his youth. I heard his confession many times. But he later left the Church and became a Freemason". More than a third of all 43 presidents were also Freemasons, among them Washington, both Roosevelts and Truman.
The 43 included 25 lawyers and 12 generals. But the log-cabin background has long gone out of fashion, for most modern presidents were millionaires. Some earlier ones, however, were quite poor. The poorest, John Tyler, who annexed Texas, had to borrow money to go to his inauguration and when his term ended he got a job working on the roads. Madison, "Father of the Constitution", spent his last 20 years in genteel poverty, and Grant, the Civil War hero, died destitute. But such cases should never happen again, for since 1958 all ex-Presidents are given a pension.
Among some early presidents who spoke French were John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, who also spoke Dutch and German. But few modern ones knew a second language. The Bushes were the only other father and son presidents, but William Harrison's grandson, Benjamin, was also president, while F.D. Roosevelt was a cousin of Theodore. Benjamin Harrison and Millard Fillmore were the only widowers, though both married again after leaving office. James Buchanan was the only bachelor president.
William Harrison had the largest family, six sons and four daughters. Nine got married while in the White House and the 43 had an average of 3.5 children each. Not included are the progeny of those like Jefferson, whose black slave mistress bore him four children. Lincoln, at 6ft 4in, was the tallest; Madison, weighing just 7 stone, the smallest; and Taft, at 21 stone, the biggest.
Some suffered much from human weaknesses. Franklin Pierce died an alcoholic; Nixon was the only one forced to resign, in disgrace; and two others were impeached for "misdemeanours": Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, though the Senate later acquitted him after a tied vote.
The 43 had 26 different Christian or "first" names, ranging alphabetically from Abraham to Zachary. James (six) was the most popular, followed by John and William. Some had non-Christian "first" names, such as Dwight, Ulysses and Woodrow. And besides "Ike" (Eisenhower), "Tricky Dick" (Nixon) and "The Gipper" (Reagan, the only film star among them) others also had nicknames, like "Silent Cal" (Coolidge) and "Old Kinderhook" (Van Buren).
When 55 American historians were asked some years ago to rate their Presidents as great, near-great, average, below-average and failures, they named six as great, led by Washington and Lincoln, and two, Harding and William Harrison, as failures.
Which group will "Dubya" join?