John Adams, patriot and founding father, actually defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

In 1796, Federalist candidate John Adams won the presidency while his opponent, Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson, was selected to be vice president. This was the only time that candidates from different parties held the two top positions in the executive branch.

John Tyler was the only president to join the Confederacy.

Grover Cleveland married a woman 28 years his junior.

William Howard Taft's goal was actually not the White House but instead the Supreme Court. He got his wish when he became chief justice in 1921.

While living in the White House, President Hoover and his wife would sometimes speak in Mandarin Chinese, possibly to avoid eavesdroppers.

When Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke during his presidency, his wife, Edith, took control and acted as the gatekeeper, deciding which issues were important enough to be brought before the president.

The press and pollsters had awarded the 1948 election to Republican candidate Thomas Dewey. However, Harry S. Truman actually won, forcing polling groups like the Gallup Organization to change their polling strategies.

Dwight D. Eisenhower never personally saw any field combat despite being in the military for 35 years and two world wars.

Gerald Ford was such a good football player that he was given offers to play professionally for both the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers.