The Most Surprising Presidential Firsts

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And as promised, here is the script from my video:

Who’s first?
Who’s on first?
(looking down) Oh good job writing the first comment underneath this video! You know who I’m talking about.
But yeah, I’m Mr. Beat, and I’ve never gotten first place at anything. Although, as far as I’m aware, I think I’m the first person to livestream myself calling every Senator in the country.

But enough about Senators, this video is about presidents. American presidents.

Every president probably was the first to do and be SOMETHING, but in this video, let’s look at the more INTERESTING and HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT stuff. And if they were the first and ONLY, well…I left that out. In fact, that just might be a future video.

Let’s start with the ultimate first.

George Washington
The first President of the United States…obviously
And being the first president he was unavoidably the first president to do A BUNCH OF STUFF. I mean, we could get pretty boring here if you want to start talking about routines and everyday activities. For example, I’m almost certain that George Washington was the first president to pick his nose and fart. Nah Joseph, let’s focus on the big stuff.

Washington was the first to go uncontested in an election, the first to be inaugurated…twice… the first to serve a full term…well two full terms…and the first to voluntarily step down after two terms, setting a precedent that lasted until Franklin Roosevelt messed it up. But yeah, Washington was the first to issue a veto, an executive order, a pardon, sign a bill into law, yada yada I shouldn’t have to go into all that. (and you know this man)

John Adams
The first vice president, he was also the first Vice President to become President. He was the first president with a vice president from an opposing political party (Thomas Jefferson) and the first president to live in the White House. He and his wife Abigail apparently moved in even though it was still under construction at the time. Adams was the first president with biological children. He was the first president to have never served in the military and to not veto any bills.

Oh, and I know this is still a sore spot for Adams, but he was also the first president to lose re-election. He lost to his Vice President…

Thomas Jefferson
Well Jefferson was the first president to previously have been a governor. There’d be 16 presidents after him who were also governors. He was also the first Secretary of State to become president. 5 presidents after him were also in THAT position. He was the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C. and the first to have an inaugural parade. And with the Louisiana Purchase, he was the first president to expand the country’s borders. 

James Madison
The first president to ask Congress to declare war on another country. Congress said “yes,” by the way. That was the War of 1812. And thus, Madison was also the first president during war time. He was the first president to have his vice president die in office. George Clinton. No, not THAT George Clinton. I’m really getting tired of this, ok? And finally, Madison was the first of 19 presidents to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

James Monroe
The first president to serve as a U.S. Senator. There’d be 16 presidents after him who were also U.S. senators at some point. He was also the first president to ride on a steamboat. And he was the first president to have one of his kids married at the White House.

John Quincy Adams
The first president elected despite receiving fewer than a majority of electoral votes and fewer votes than one of his opponents. Ah snappity snap. 

Adams was the first of two presidents to have a Dad who was also the president. He was also the first president to be photographed, although this photograph of him that you’re looking at right now was taken several years after he left office. He was the first to have shorter hair AND facial hair. And finally, Adams was the first president to not be a Founding Father.

Andrew Jackson
I’ll start with one you probably have already heard before. Jackson was the first president born in a log cabin. Believe it or not, seven American presidents were born in log cabins. Jackson was the first to face assassination attempts. He was also the first to ride on a train. And although the evidence is shaky, Jackson apparently was the first president to have a tattoo. Say, do you want to see MY tattoo? (turns around and bends over)

Martin Van Buren
The first president born after the United States became a country. After he left office, he’d be the first president to run for a second nonconsecutive term. That was with the Free Soil Party, making him also the first president to run for president with a third party. 

William Henry Harrison
The first president to die while in office. And sadly, that’s all he’s often known for. But hey, he was also the first president to serve less than one full term in office. Oh wait. Uh…he was also the first president to have a photograph taken of him while in office. No, that’s not it. That’s a photo of a painting of him taken 9 years after he died. The photo of him is actually lost, and I still haven’t found it.

-We’ll be right back-
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-And now back to your regularly scheduled presidents-

John Tyler
The first president to just become president despite not being elected…president. After William Henry Harrison died, there was actually a bit of a crisis, since the Constitution didn’t explicitly say who takes over as president if a president dies in office. Well Tyler, being the Vice President, took it upon himself to just take over. Tyler was also the first president to lose his wife while in office…and then remarry while in office. 

James Polk
The first president to be under the age of 50 upon entering office.  He was the first president to not seek re-election. True to his promise, he left office after his one term ended and then promptly died.

Zachary Taylor
The first president who had never been elected to any office before becoming president. Not even class president, for realz. But here’s a more obscure fact. Taylor was the first president to be in office when his own political party, the Whig Party, didn’t have a majority in either house of Congress.

Millard Fillmore
The first president to establish a permanent White House library. That’s about it. Oh, he apparently was also the first president to install a kitchen stove in the White House. So there’s that.

Franklin Pierce
Well if we’re gonna keep this theme going, he was the first to have central heating installed at the White House, and the first president to bring a Christmas tree into the White House. Pierce was also the first president to have multiple vetoes overridden by Congress. You thought I was going to say “multiple wives.” No, “multiple vetoes!” What kind of channel do you think this?

James Buchanan
The first president to serve in the military but not become an officer during their service. Yeah that’s all I got about Buchanan.

Abraham Lincoln
The first president assassinated. Yeah man. Did you hear about that? After this, he was the first president to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. “Lying in state,” by the way, just means the body of a dead distinguished person is placed in a state building so that the public can pay their respects. But also Lincoln was the first president born outside the original 13 colonies, the first to have pet cats, and the first with a full beard. 

Andrew Johnson
The first president impeached. He escaped conviction by just one vote. Serious stuff. But here’s a more lighthearted one. Johnson was also the first president to welcome an organized baseball team to the White House.

Ulysses Grant
The first president to create a National Park. That would be Yellowstone National Park, which still exists today…heck yeah. Grant was also the first president to host a Native American Chief at the White House and the first to host an official  White House state dinner. After leaving office, he was the first president to publish his memoirs. 

Rutherford Hayes
(holding phone) Hello? Oh yeah? Hayes was the first to have a telephone installed at the White House? Thanks. Bye! (hanging up) He was also the first to hold the White House Easter Egg Roll and serve Thanksgiving dinner at the White House. And, believe it or not, Hayes was the first president to visit the West Coast of the United States while in office.

James Garfield
The first president to die before the age of 50. Garfield was also the first president to deliver a campaign speech in a language other than English. That was a speech he gave completely in German to around 5,000 people on October 16, 1880. 

Chester Arthur
First president to weigh over 200 pounds. Oh that can’t be the only “first” we have for Chester. Oh, he was also the first to have an elevator installed in the White House. (awkward pause) Those two things might be related.

Grover Cleveland
The first president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. Yeah you know who the other one is. 
Cleveland was also the first president to be filmed in a short motion picture. In 1895, Alexander Black filmed Cleveland as he signed a bill into law. I couldn’t find the footage, though.


Benjamin Harrison
The first president to wear a modern neck tie, like this one. I hate neck ties so much. Anyway, Harrison was also the first president to install electric lighting in the White House. 

William McKinley
The first president to ride in an automobile. Car. A car, for you youngins out there. And apparently McKinley was the first president to own a bike. 

Theodore Roosevelt
The first sitting president to travel outside of the country. I’m not joking. It took that long. Roosevelt was also the first president to ride in a submarine. The first to fly in an airplane. He was the first president to call the White House…uh…”The White House.” Roosevelt was the first president to get work done in the West Wing, a separate building he had built just next to the White House…WEST of the White House as a matter of fact. He was the first to issue more than 1,000 executive orders. And finally, Teddy was not only the first president but first AMERICAN to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

William Howard Taft
Taft was the first of two presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the other being John F. Kennedy. The first president to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. Taft went to multiple major league baseball games while in office. He was the first to play golf while in office. Yeah, there he is. Taft was also the first president to work in the Oval Office, a literally circle room in the aforementioned West Wing.

Woodrow Wilson
The first president to hold regular press conferences. Wilson was the first sitting president to travel to Europe. And he was the first president to declare a national emergency. He did this on February 5, 1917, in response to what was going on at sea due to World War One.

Warren Harding
The first president ever heard on the radio. He was the first president to learn how to drive a car. And apparently he was the first president to use the term “Founding Fathers,” which is pretty crazy.

Calvin Cooldige
The first president to give a radio broadcast from the White House and the first to be sworn into office by another president.

Herbert Hoover
The first president born west of the Mississippi River. (pick up phone) What’s that? Oh yeah? He was also the first president to have a telephone on his desk? Well how about that. (hang up phone) Yeah this phone isn’t hooked up to anything. It’s a gag. A lame gag.

Franklin Roosevelt
I got a lot of ones for FDR. Understandably…
He was the first president to appear on television. The first SITTING president to fly on an airplane. In fact, he was the first president to fly in an airplane across the ocean. He was the first sitting president to travel to THREE different continents- South America, Asia and Africa. Roosevelt was the first president to be named Time’s Person of the Year. And finally, FDR was the first to establish a presidential library.

Harry Truman
The first president to go bowling at the White House, of course. Also, the first to have a nationally televised inauguration. 

Dwight Eisenhower
The first president to be in office when the country had 50 states. Eisenhower was also the first president to play football in college. Yeah, incredibly there were four OTHER presidents who played college football. Eisenhower was the first president to ride in a jet and a helicopter. He was the first to hold a televised news conference. And finally, Eisenhower was the first president to appear on color television.

John F. Kennedy
The first president to be Roman Catholic. He was the first president to meet a championship team at the White House. That was the Boston Celtics in 1963. Kennedy was the first president to use the Situation Room, which is actually a 5,000-square foot complex on the ground floor of the West Wing of the White House and used ever since to deal with any major crisis that pops up. 

Lyndon Johnson
LBJ was the first president to visit Australia. He was also the first to use a presidential call button, a way to call aides quickly to the Oval office.

Richard Nixon
The first president to visit all 50 states. Nixon was also the first to attend an NFL game while in office.

Gerald Ford
Here’s a couple of weird ones that probably don’t come to mind. Ford was the first president to testify in a criminal trial. He was also the first president to release a full medical report to the public.

Jimmy Carter
The first president born in a hospital, believe it or not. He was also the first president to install computers in the White House. Carter was the first president to host the freaking pope. That was Pope John Paul II in 1979.

Ronald Reagan
Our first truly old man president! Reagan was the first president to first get elected over the age of 70. He was the first to attend the Olympics and a NASCAR race. And he was the first president to temporarily give up his powers as president under the 25th Amendment. On July 13, 1985, Reagan let his Vice President George H.W. Bush fill in for him while he had colon cancer surgery.

George H.W. Bush
The first president to pardon a turkey, sparking this weird tradition right before Thanksgiving that has happened ever since. And that’s all I got for Bush. Just the turkey thing.

Bill Clinton 
The first president to use the internet and send an email while in office. He was also the first president to stream his inauguration over the internet. Clinton was also the first to attend an NHL hockey game while in office. And he was the first Boomer president! And Boomers have been in power ever since.

George W. Bush
The first president to have a State of the Union live broadcast on the internet. And he was the first president to attack another country in the so-called “War on Terror.”

Barack Obama
The first African American president. More specifically, he was the first president to be multiethnic, with his father being from Kenya and his mom being from Kansas. Obama was also the first president born outside the 48 contiguous states. He was the first sitting president to travel north of the Arctic Circle…and the first visit to a federal prison, crazily enough. He was the first sitting president to attend an NBA game and appear on a podcast.

Donald Trump
I mean, there’s a lot of “firsts” with this dude, too, but since he is such a…we’ll say “unique” president…maybe some of these will be “onlys?” Trump is the first president to launch his own cryptocurrency, the first to own a social media platform, the first to be banned from a social media platform, the first billionaire president, the first to attend a UFC competition while in office, the first to have children from three different wives, the first to pardon a corporation, and the first to have a personal YouTube channel reach 1 million subscribers. Yeah he may be the ONLY to do all that.

Joe Biden
The first to join a picket line while in office. He was the first to get the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The first to become a great-grandfather while in office. And yeah, I should note that Biden had the first female Vice President in American history, Kamala Harris.

Well that’s it. Let me be the FIRST to tell you thanks for watching this video.

And now it’s time for a shout out for my Patreon supporters who donate at least $15 or more each month to my channel. Starting with my biggest donors in reverse alphabetical order, thank you to…

Creative commons credits:
Rene Sturgell 
Geraldshields11

Sources/further reading:
https://potus.com/presidential-firsts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_firsts ​