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Rough Riders and High Stakes Poker 4:29 Miles: As the country grew, the presidents started getting even more "colorful," if you know what I mean. We moved from the quiet, diary-writing types to some real "tough guys." Have you ever heard of Andrew Jackson?
4:43 Lena: I’ve seen him on the twenty-dollar bill! He looks pretty intense.
4:46 Miles: He was! Before he was the seventh president, he was a general and a hero in the War of 1812. He was famous for his fiery temper. Get this—he once took a bullet to the chest during a duel, and instead of having it taken out, he just left it there for the rest of his life! He was so tough his nickname was "Old Hickory," like the wood of a tree.
5:07 Lena: That is way too intense! But wait, didn't he have a funny pet story too? I remember something about a bird.
5:15 Miles: Yes! He had a pet parrot named Poll. Apparently, Jackson used some... let’s say "colorful" language, and the parrot learned all of it. At Jackson’s funeral, the parrot started shouting obscenities so loudly they had to carry the bird out!
5:31 Lena: Oh my goodness! Imagine a parrot getting kicked out of a presidential funeral. That’s a scene. But moving along the timeline, I heard there was a president who was actually the first one born as a U.S. citizen.
5:43 Miles: That was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president. Even though he was the first born in the actual United States after it became a country, his family was Dutch, so Dutch was actually his first language! And he’s the reason we say "OK."
5:57 Lena: Wait, "OK" comes from a president?
5:59 Miles: It sure does! One of his nicknames was "Old Kinderhook" because he was from Kinderhook, New York. During his election, people would chant "OK" for Old Kinderhook. It became a huge hit, and now we use it every single day.
6:12 Lena: That is a fun fact I’m definitely telling my teacher. But not every president stayed in office a long time, right?
6:19 Miles: No, definitely not. William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, holds a record no one wants. He gave a two-hour speech in the freezing rain without a hat or a coat. He got really sick and died only thirty-one days after becoming president. It was the shortest term ever.
6:36 Lena: Thirty-one days? That’s barely enough time to unpack your bags in the White House!
0:34 Miles: Exactly. And then his Vice President, John Tyler, had to take over. People weren't sure if he was "the" President or just an "acting" President, but Tyler insisted on taking the full title. He was a bit of a firecracker, too. He once got into a fight with his Secretary of the Treasury, William Crawford, and actually chased him out of the room while waving red-hot fireplace tongs!
7:03 Lena: Note to self—don't get into an argument with John Tyler near a fireplace.
7:08 Miles: Good advice. Then you have James K. Polk, who was all about expansion. He wanted the U.S. to go "from sea to shining sea." He’s the one who negotiated to get the Oregon Territory and helped bring in California and Arizona. But his wife was very strict. She banned dancing and card games in the White House!
7:27 Lena: No dancing? That sounds like a tough four years.
7:30 Miles: Well, if you think that’s wild, wait until you hear about Warren Harding later on. He was the opposite. He loved poker so much he actually gambled away a set of White House china in a game! He bet the whole set on one hand and lost it.
7:47 Lena: He lost the dishes? I hope the next president brought their own paper plates! It’s so funny how different they all were—some were super strict and some were gambling away the silverware.