What do the following presidents, and only the following presidents, have in common?
James Monroe
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Rutherford B Hayes
Chester A Arthur
Woodrow Wilson
Calvin Coolidge
Dwight Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Barack Obama
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I’m stumped. Maybe someone can carry the ball further, but two things stand out. Taylor died a little over a year after taking office so its unlikely that what they share in common is an attribute of their presidency. Fillmore (Taylor’s VP) and Arthur were never elected to be President, so its unlikely to be something about their election. I assume the trivia is something independent of the Presidency, like being left-handed, which I now learn Wikipedia has a specific entry for and that’s not it.Report
Other things it’s probably not – past jobs as either US Senator or state Governor (because some people that have been one or the other are not on this list, and the list itself is a mix of people that have been either of the two – and also Monroe was both, haven’t looked up if anyone else has been both).
It’s not something like ‘born in a state other than their declared residency at the time of election – because again Monroe is on this list and neither Bush is. I also don’t think it’s “born the furthest west of any President who had yet served”, because Nixon was born in California.Report
For a second I thought it might have been ‘Presidents where both parents had passed away at the time of their inaugural (because most of the early guys were youngish men with their moms still alive, but even George Wash’s mom only passed away three months after he became President). And even ‘old’ Presidents like Bush Sr still had his mom around when he was President.
But both of Trumps parents passed away in the 20th century so it’s not that.Report
They were (or are, in Obama’s case) left-handed?
I assume “only these presidents” means “among those who have been president” and not “only these presidents AMONG HUMAN BEINGS”Report
Among human beings, only these have been left-handed AND president?Report
I remember some joke from when I was a kid that half of the presidents were left-handed and half of prisoners are left-handed so if you’re left-handed and you’re not president…Report
Tuesday hint: It has something to do with their time in office.Report
The opposing party held both houses of congress their entire term?Report
Wednesday Hint:
If the ghost of John Tyler sees this he might wonder why he isn’t on the list, or complain that he is being excluded on a technicality.Report
The technicality being that the Tyler Doctrine applied to Hawaii, not North or South America?Report
For each of them there’s something called the (insert name here) Doctrine.Report
There was a Fillmore doctrine? (I know there was a Bush one.)Report
I don’t know about doctrine, but he took a strong stand against European powers, the British in particular, messing in the Caribbean and Central America. Failed to stop the Southern states from attempting to invade Cuba — which didn’t go well for the Southern states.Report
Each one had a day that was the most important one in their professional lives. But for everyone else, it was a Tuesday.
All these guys, and only these guys became President on a Tuesday. Most because they took their first oath of office as President at noon on a Tuesday. Arthur was first sworn in by a New York state judge at 2 in the morning, (but then took a ‘real’ oath two days later in Washington.
Tyler became President on a Sunday, but the technically is probably that the Constitution was vague and their was no precedent, a lot of people considered him just acting. (but wikipedia said he did have an oath in his hotel room, so I might be wrong about everything)Report
This is really really close.
Thursday Hint was going to be: When the previous hint said “their time in office” it was a direct reference to dates and chronology.Report
What about Zachary Taylor, he was inaugurated on Monday, right? (Monday, March 5, 1849) I actually thought of this theory after Tuesday’s hint, and saw that the first and last Presidents listed were inaugurated on Tuesday, the third President I checked was Taylor and abandoned it. He died on Tuesday?Report
Last hint: For many of these, but not all, the most relevant days of the week are “Sunday” and “Monday”Report
The common piece seems to be Presidential inaugurations that were scheduled at a later date:
These inaugurations were officially scheduled by law to be held on a Sunday, but were moved to Monday out of religious considerations:
*James Monroe (2nd term)
*Zachary Taylor
*Rutherford B Hayes
*Woodrow Wilson (2nd term)
*Dwight Eisenhower (2nd term)
*Barack Obama (2nd term)
This inauguration was rescheduled to the next day due to inclement weather:
*Ronald Reagan (2nd term)
These are inaugurations performed one or more days after the death of the sitting President:
*Millard Fillmore (became POTUS on death of Taylor, sworn-in the next day in House of Representatives)
*Chester A Arthur (local judge performed initial swearing-in, but two days later a formal ceremony was performed in DC with the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS)
*Calvin Coolidge (local judge/dad initially swore him in, but formal ceremony held 18 days later in DC before federal judge)
There are several Vice Presidents who took office on the same day that the sitting President died or resigned. The three mentioned above were sworn in on a later date. However, Tyler was also sworn-in two days after the death of William Henry Harrison. I’m not sure of the nature of the technicality here, but it might be that Tyler didn’t think he needed to be sworn in after having done so as Vice President.Report
You got it! (Sorry I replied yesterday but it must not have gone through?)
The list is “Presidents whose inaugurations were the day after the start of their term.
Tyler’s was two days after and was not recognized as legitimate until some time after.
Arthur became president on 9/19 and was sworn in by a NY justice on 9/20Report
I think I didn’t quite get the VPs though. When I saw two of them were attributed two different inauguration dates, I assumed that was stood out about them, and strongly suspected that Fillmore had been sworn in twice as well, but it wasn’t commonly mentioned. As far as I’m aware nobody ever said anything nice about Fillmore but his mother and Michael Cain.Report
Good, obscure trivia Will!Report