PRESIDENTIAL PASTIMES, PART II

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877), hero of the Civil War, had several hobbies he enjoyed. He was an excellent rider, and enjoyed a good ride through the park. Unfortunately, he also enjoyed riding too fast, and was once stopped and given a ticket for reckless riding in an area meant for pedestrians in Rock Creek Park. He also enjoyed billiards and was an excellent player. Often, the male guests after dinner would retire to the billiards room Grant had built in the White House. (The billiards table did not prove a problem to Grant as it had to John Quincy Adams.) Grant was also an avid swimmer.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) enjoyed croquet and shooting. He also enjoyed a new hobby called driving. Automobiles were a new invention not yet popular, and Hayes drove one of the new contraptions whenever he could.

James A. Garfield (1881-1881) was, like Grant, a billiards player and made good use of the billiards room created by Grant.

After Garfield’s death from an assassin’s bullet, Chester Arthur (1881-1885) moved in to the White House. Arthur refused to move in, however, until the White House had been completely redecorated. His only hobby was fishing, which he did at every opportunity. Actually, Arthur was a well known fisherman before he became President, and the sport received a great deal of publicity as a result of his enthusiasm for the sport.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897) was also an avid fisherman. One story goes that on the night the Democratic convention would vote to re-nominate him in 1892, Cleveland seemed more concerned with his fishing than the voting of the convention. At a crucial point in the balloting, Cleveland suddenly declared, “I forgot to dry my lines today.” He then went out back to hang up his fishing lines while the crucial vote from the New York delegation was being announced.

Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) was an enthusiastic hunter his entire life, and this continued while he was in the White House. One of the first Presidents to be closely covered by the media, many pictures of Harrison on hunting trips appeared in the papers.

William McKinley (1897-1901) enjoyed riding, swimming and walking, but he was never what one would call an exercise buff. With McKinley, they were hobbies, not sports.

Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909) was one of our most physically active Presidents. Only 42 when he took office, Teddy had always been an advocate of what he called “the active life.” Among the vigorous hobbies and sports Teddy enjoyed while in the White House were boxing, hunting, jujitsu, riding, shooting, tennis, wrestling and walking. His exploits as a hunter were reported in newspapers and magazines, and his famous refusal to shoot a helpless bear cub led to the invention of the teddy bear. For amusement, he and his children often shot at targets with the pictures of world leaders on them. Teddy had been a member of the Harvard boxing team while in college, and continued to enjoy the sport for the rest of his life. In one incident that did not become known until after he left the White House, Teddy went blind in one eye as a result of a boxing blow from a military aide.

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