7 Secretly Talented US Presidents

Dwight Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower was a five-star general, one of only five in US history. He was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II. What’s less known is that he was also a talented, if somewhat pedestrian, artist.

Eisenhower didn’t start painting until age 58, after he watched Thomas E. Stephens paint a portrait of his wife, Mamie. He began by copying imagesfrom magazines and photographs, eventually branching out into landscapes and portraits. Eisenhower completed a total of over 300 works, mostly during the last 20 years of his life. He never considered himself a great painter, referring to his works as mere “daubs.” Painting served mostly as aform of relaxation for the president.

Regardless of what the man himself thought of his work, Eisenhower’s old-fashioned subjects do hold a certain charm. They include his family farm in Gettysburg, an old brown barn covered in snow, and his seven-year-old grandson swinging a golf club. Eisenhower also painted five traditional portraits, including a self-portrait and one of Abraham Lincoln, which he executed during his first year in the White House in 1953. Despite his prodigious output, Eisenhower forbade that his works be bought or sold. He preferred to give them as gifts to family members and personal friends.

6Harry Truman

President Truman was a pianist of admittedly questionable talent. After observing one of his performances, actress Lauren Bacall later confided that then–Vice President Truman played “badly, playing the ‘Missouri Waltz,’ or something.” Anyone could be forgiven for performing less than flawlessly with the famously leggy actress perched atop their piano, but Truman apparently shared Bacall’s assessment of his talent. As a boy, he had awakened every morning at 5:00 AM to practice for two hours before going to school and had once dreamed of being a concert pianist, yet he reportedly later said “I missed being a musician, and the real and only reason I missed being one is because I wasn’t good enough.”

In the PBS program American Experience: Truman, violinist Stuart Caninrecalled Truman playing for him and pianist Eugene List during the Potsdam Conference in 1945. “He didn’t always have the technique to do what he wanted,” Canin said, “but you could sense that he really loved music.” Truman was more critical of his own abilities, joking later that year at a Missouri county fair performance “When I played this, Stalin signed the Potsdam Agreement.”

5Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton famously exhibited his saxophone skills in 1992 with his rendition of “Heartbreak Hotel” on The Arsenio Hall Show, as seen in the video above. But that’s not Clinton’s only secret talent—he’s also a master of crossword puzzles. He can reportedly finish the New York Times crossword in just a few minutes, which he always uses ink to complete, and with so little effort that he can do so while carrying on a serious political conversation. In his appearance in the 2006 documentary Wordplay, Clinton explained how solving a crossword puzzle is similar to tackling any complex problem, saying “You start with what you know the answer to and you just build on it.”

In 2007, he even got the chance to write clues for a New York Timescrossword puzzle, which was called “Twistin’ the Oldies.” The puzzle, in which the answers consisted of rock song titles updated for the Baby Boomer generation, came with a warning from editor Will Shortz that the clues “are a little more playful and involve more wordplay than in a typical crossword.” While some of the answers—such as “You’re So Veiny” as the answer to “Boomer update to a Carly Simon song”—seem more cringe-inducing than clever, the puzzle is impressive.

4Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln had always loved science and cutting-edge technology. In the late 1850s, he taught himself the highly mathematical art of surveying as well as Euclidean geometry and law. In 1848, when Lincoln was a Congressman, he was traveling back to Illinois when his flatboat became stranded on a sandbar. The crew placed empty casks under the boat until it was lifted high enough to clear the sand bar, which gave Lincoln an idea.

With the help of Walter Davis, a Springfield mechanic, Lincoln created a scale model of a device for “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals.” When he returned to Washington, he applied for a patent, which was issued on May 22, 1849. Lincoln’s invention was never manufactured, and it’s not clear whether the full-sized version would have worked, but he remains the only US president to have held a patent. The scale model of his invention is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

3Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter is well known for his humanitarian work, for which he won the2002 Nobel Peace Prize. What you might not know is that he is also apublished novelist and poet as well as a respected artist and furniture maker.

Carter began writing poetry while he was in the submarine force from 1948–1952. In 1995, he published a book of poetry called Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, making him the first US president to do so. Unfortunately, the critical response was underwhelming. The New York Times called Carter a “mediocre poet” who wrote “well-meaning, dutifully wrought poems that plod from Point A to Point B.” Eight years later, Carter also became the first president to publish a work of fiction, a novel set in the Deep South during the Revolutionary War called The Hornet’s Nest. He displayed more of his talents when he couldn’t find a cover for the book that he liked and decided to paint one himself.

Carter’s paintings and furniture are auctioned off from time to time by his nonprofit organization, the Carter Center, along with items such as luxury vacations and presidential and celebrity memorabilia. In 2012, one of Carter’s paintings sold for $250,000, while last year, a stool handmade by the former president fetched $300,000. Profits from the sale of Carter’s works benefit the center’s initiatives to advance worldwide peace and health.

2Ronald Reagan

Before entering politics, Reagan was an actor with more than 50 film credits to his name. His most famous film is the 1940 biopic Knute Rockne, All American, in which Reagan played Notre Dame football star George Gipp.

Reagan started his career in radio, making $10 per game plus transportation expenses as a sportscaster for WOC in Davenport, Iowa. He graduated to radio commercials, eventually becoming a staff announcer for the station. Within two years, he was transferred to WHO, an NBC affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. By 1936, he was recreating Chicago Cubs baseball games and doing sportscasts of Big Ten football.

In the late ‘30s, Reagan turned to acting. Over the next 15 years or so, he appeared in dozens of films and television shows, but by 1954, the roles had dried up. Reagan took what work he could get, including two weeks as anemcee and performer in a Las Vegas song and dance revue. The Reagans didn’t care for the Vegas scene, however, so the actor signed on with General Electric Theater, a Sunday evening television show which Reagan hosted for the next eight years.

As part of his duties on GET, Reagan spent 10 weeks every year visiting General Electric’s research and manufacturing facilities as a “roving ambassador.” By his own account, Reagan had visited 139 GE facilities by 1952, speaking with over 250,000 employees in the process. This surely played no small role in his emergence as the Great Communicator.

1Thomas Jefferson

The author of the Declaration of Independence was also an innovative architect and inventor as well an accomplished musician. As an architect, he is best known for his plans for the University of Virginia, including the university’s famed Rotunda, which Jefferson modeled after the Roman Pantheon. Jefferson also designed his plantation (Monticello), his villa retreat (Poplar Forest), and several other Virginia homes.

In addition to planning cities and landscapes, he improved household items he had seen in Europe. His innovations included a portable copying press, a pasta machine, a plow, and a mechanical dumbwaiter. He designed furniture as well, including a revolving chair with a leg rest and writing arm and a revolving book stand with adjustable book rests that folded up for easy storage.

One of Jefferson’s most celebrated inventions, the “Great Clock,” still adorns the entrance hall at Monticello. Gravity powers its 8-kilogram (18 lb) weights, which are strung on ropes and hang through holes in the floor to the cellar below. Markings on the wall tell onlookers the time and day of the week. In Jefferson’s day, the clock was connected to a large copper gong on the roof, which could be heard throughout the plantation. To facilitate the clock’s repairs, Jefferson invented a folding ladder, which could also be used for pruning trees. It was the first of its kind in the United States and later became widely used in libraries.

Jefferson played the violin, which he is said to have practiced three hours a day. He was proficient enough to receive regular invitations from Virginia colony Governor Francis Fauquier to play chamber music in “the Palace.” During his presidency, Jefferson championed the music of the Native Americans, using it to counter European claims about the inherent degeneracy of the New World.

One stain on Jefferson’s record—and there are many—is his attitude toward the music of African Americans, which he mentions just twice in all of his numerous writings. Jefferson preferred the music of European composers—especially his favorite, Corelli—but he does appear to have at least kept an open mind regarding the music of his slaves. He admits that “they are more generally gifted than the whites, with accurate ears for tune and time,” but goes on to say “Whether they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved.”

7 Reasons JFK’s Death Might Have Been An Accident

7Hickey’s Rifle, But Possibly Not Oswald’s, Could Have Created JFK’s Head Wound

Oswald used a 6.5 x 52mm Carcano M91/38 rifle with full metal jacket ammunition. This is standard military ammunition, designed for penetration, but not massive wound cavitation. The Hague Convention outlawed the use of hollow-point or expanding ammunition in warfare, although it remains used for hunting, and by police and civilians for self-defense. Because the bullet will “mushroom” or expand as it strikes any moderately hard surface, hollow-point bullets generally cause much more severe wounds inside the target than a full metal jacket can.

In his study of the assassination, Howard Donahue argued that the explosive second impact seen in the Zapruder film could not have been caused by Oswald’s full metal jacket bullets. However, the hollow-point bullets from Hickey’s AR-15, behind and to the left of the President, could have. Donahuealso claimed that a bullet fragment seen in X-rays of Kennedy’s skull was unlikely to have come from Oswald’s rifle, since full metal jacket bullets generally do not have fragments shear off on impact. Instead, Donahue suggested that Kennedy’s death might actually have been a terrible accident. According to his theory, Oswald’s first bullet hit the President, causing severe but nonfatal wounds. In the aftermath of the shooting, Hickey seized the AR-15 but, inexperienced with the weapon and jolted by the car’s sudden halt, accidentally discharged the rifle, causing Kennedy’s fatal head wound. The shorter distance between Hickey and Kennedy meant that the bullet would have struck the President at a much higher velocity than a bullet from Oswald’s Carcano, making up for the AR-15′s lighter bullet weight.

6Eyewitness Jean Hill Saw Men In The Motorcade Return Fire

Jean Hill is easily identifiable in the Zapruder Film as a woman in a body-length red suit, standing just off Elm Street as Kennedy’s limousine passes. The vehicle then briefly vanishes behind a road sign. Just as Kennedy emerges, he is shot in the upper back and raises his arms to his throat, then leans left into Jackie. Texas Governor John Connally jolts slightly at being struck by the same bullet and turns to the left to see Kennedy. Here, the vehicle passes Jean Hill and a woman in a dark dress, Mary Moorman, standing to her left. Almost immediately after the film pans them out, Kennedy is struck in the head.

According to Hill’s written testimony: “Just as the President looked up toward us two shots rang out and I saw the President grab his chest and fall forward across Jackies [sic] lap and she fell across his back and said ‘My God he has been shot.’ There was an instant pause between the first two shots and the motorcade seemingly halted for an instant and three or four more shots rang out and the motorcade sped away. I thought I saw some men in plain clothes shooting back but everything was such a blur and Mary was pulling on my leg saying ‘Get down thery [sic] are shooting.’”

It has been argued that the returned fire Hill thought she saw could have been George Hickey accidentally discharging his rifle.

5The Secret Service Detail Were Rumored To Have Been Drinking The Night Before

The night before the assassination, several of the Secret Service personnel guarding the President went out to a Fort Worth nightclub called the Cellar Coffee House. The club did not have a license to serve alcohol and the agents apparently consumed nothing stronger than fruit drinks, some with “non-alcoholic rum flavoring.” Nine Secret Service agents also attended a Fort Worth Press Club reception which did serve drinks. However, according to later testimony, none of the agents consumed more than one mixed drink or three beers.

The columnist Drew Pearson later claimed that at least one of the Secret Service agents had been visibly inebriated at the Press Club reception. In his syndicated column, Pearson alleged that the agents had been drinking until 3:00 AM at the Press Club before heading on to the Cellar Coffee House, which he characterized as a “beatnik joint.” This was strongly denied by the Secret Service and by Calvin Sutton, an editor at the Morning Star-Telegram and the host of the reception. Sutton did admit to keeping the Press Club open several hours later than the scheduled 12:00 PM closing time. At 2:00 AM, as the last guests were leaving, a party of four Secret Service agents entered. Sutton asked his bartender to serve them one drink each, after which they left. Sutton insisted that he was not aware of any agent having more than one or two drinks in total, although he acknowledged he could not necessarily tell Secret Service personnel apart from other White House staffers attending the reception. Several other witnesses also testified that they did not see any agent who appeared noticeably intoxicated.

Pearson’s article has occasionally been used to argue that some Secret Service agents may have been hungover on the day of the assassination, and that this may have impaired their judgement. However, while Pearson’s claims cannot conclusively be ruled out, they have proven impossible to corroborate and seem relatively unlikely. As with many details of the assassination, we may never know for sure.

4The Mysterious Autopsy

After the shooting, Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. According to Texas state law, the President’s body was not allowed to be taken from the hospital until after an autopsy had been entirely performed. However, the Secret Service chose to ignore this, taking the body straight to the airport and securing it on board Air Force One. According to Charles Crenshaw, a doctor at Parkland, this led to a heated confrontation between Secret Service agents and Dallas Chief of Forensic Pathology Earl Rose, during which the agents displayed their guns menacingly. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Summers has claimed that the sidearms were actually drawn and Dr. Rose and others forced against a wall while the body was taken away, although Crenshaw does not mention this.

The body was flown to Maryland’s Bethesda Naval Hospital, where an autopsy was finally carried out. Secret Service agents Roy Kellerman, William Greer, and John O’Leary were all present during the autopsy. According to proponents of the accident theory, the Secret Service might have been desperately trying to hide something, and it might have been the trajectory of the bullet through the head. An autopsy performed in Texas, not under their auspices, could easily have determined whether the bullet struck from right to left or left to right, and whether it came from an elevation of 16 degrees or the same elevation.

Why would the Secret Service, of all organizations, refuse to let the Parkland Memorial Hospital’s professional surgeons perform the autopsy? What is the difference between an autopsy performed by expert professionals in Dallas, and one performed by expert professionals elsewhere?

3Kennedy’s Wounds

A fact much beloved by conspiracy theorists is that the entrance wound to the back of Kennedy’s head measured six millimeters wide—significantly less than the width of Oswald’s 6.5mm Carcano bullets, which were actually 6.8 millimeters across. How can a bullet make a hole smaller than itself? According to the Warren Commission: “The dimension of 6 millimeters, somewhat smaller than the diameter of a 6.5-millimeter bullet, was caused by the elastic recoil of the skull, which shrinks the size of an opening after a missile passes through it.”

This is actually quite plausible, since the scalp itself, containing fluid, will indent slightly as the bullet strikes it. If it is pressed against a hard, unyielding object like bone, then the entrance wound can appear to have a smaller diameter than the bullet, because the skin will bend inward around the entrance. Furthermore, the skull itself does have elasticity on the order of15–25 gigapascals of pressure. This measurement indicates the extent to which a human skull will deform before shattering. Pressure of 10 GPa would deform a skull, but probably not break it.

When a bullet penetrates it at high speed, thus exerting more pressure, the skull usually shatters into fragments. The inside will be blasted into the brain, while the scalp may hold the outside of the skull intact. The Warren Commission’s explanation for the size of the wound is perfectly reasonable, however it is worth noting that the wound would have been measured from the exterior of the scalp. There is no information on whether the interior of Kennedy’s skull was measured.

Hickey’s rifle was an AR-15 in 5.56mm NATO caliber. The 5.56mm bullet is actually 5.7 millimeters in diameter, and could very easily have caused a wound only slightly wider than itself in a human head. This does not prove that Hickey was the shooter, but does not disprove the theory any more than it proves Oswald was the shooter.

2Multiple Witnesses Smelled Gunpowder At Street Level

At least seven witnesses testified that they smelled gunpowder at street level immediately after the shooting.

Billy Martin was a Dallas police officer who was driving his motorcycle just behind the Presidential limousine’s left rear fender at the time of the shooting. He is on record as stating: “You could smell the gunpowder . . .you knew he wasn’t far away. When you’re that close, you can smell the powder burning . . .you could smell the gunpowder . . .right there in the street.”

Senator Ralph Yarborough, riding with Vice President Johnson in the second convertible, claimed to be able to: “smell the gunpowder from the assassin’s murder weapon.”

Elizabeth Cabell testified that she was riding in the third or fourth car behind the President’s limousine when the shooting occurred. She had this to say: “It was in just a fleeting second that I jerked my head up and I saw something in that window, and I turned around to say to Earle, ‘Earle, it is a shot,’ and before I got the words out, just as I got the words out, he said, “Oh, no; it must have been a . . .’ [then] the second two shots rang out. After that, there is a certain amount of confusion in my mind. I was acutely aware of the odor of gunpowder.”

Tom Dillard was a press photographer riding well behind the Presidential limousine. At the time of the shooting, Dillard’s vehicle was still approaching the Texas School Book Depository Building, facing Oswald’s sniper position. He stated: “I very definitely smelled gunpowder when the car moved up at the corner.”

Virgie Rackley was a bystander close to the street in front of the Depository Building who, after the second shot, smelled gunsmoke.

Earle Brown was a police officer stationed on top of the overpass under which the motorcade passed after the shooting. At the time of the shooting, Brown was looking north toward Dealey Plaza and the Depository Building. Inhis testimony he stated: “I heard these shots and then I smelled this gunpowder . . .It come on it would be maybe a couple minutes later so—at least it smelled like it to me.” Officer Joe Smith also reported, “a distinctive smell of gun smoke cordite,’ as he rode along Elm Street.

According to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), measurements taken at Love Field , 8.5 kilometers (5.3 mi) by road from Dealey Plaza, found that the wind on the day of the assassination was blowing at around 24–32 kilometers per hour (15–20 mph) from the west-northwest.

1Oswald’s Position And The Path Of The Headshot

The Warren Commission estimated the distances from Oswald’s firing position in the Book Depository to Kennedy’s seat in the limousine as 53 meters (175 ft), 75 meters (240 ft), and 80 meters (265 feet) for each of the three shots heard. The last shot is generally accepted as the headshot, but the HSCA gives the placement of Kennedy’s head entrance wound as 10 centimeters (3.9 in) above the external occipital protuberance and 1.8 cm (0.7 in) to the right of the midline. The exit wound was found to be 11 cm (4.3 in) in front of the entrance wound, 1 cm (0.4 in) below it, and 5.6 cm (2.2 in) right of midline, near the right temple. Given his position from the 6th floor corner window of the Texas School Book Depository, this casts some doubt on Oswald firing the headshot. A computer rendering of a line drawn through the two head wounds and extending behind the target intersects the Dal-Tex Building, behind the Depository.

This does not necessarily prove or disprove anything, since the position of the President’s head is very difficult to determine. But it does allow the possibility that Hickey’s rifle was the source of the shot. Oswald’s rifle might also have been the source. A gunman on the famous grassy knoll does seem unlikely, since the wound in the rear of Kennedy’s head would have been larger and less neat if it were the exit wound.