Famous Lefthander Birthday, February 22

George Washington, First President of the United States of America

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) became the first U.S. President (1789-1797). He is regarded as “Father of His Country” because of his important and significant role in the formation of the United States of America.

In 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Washington the commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, lost New York City, and crossed the Delaware River in New Jersey. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies at Saratoga and Yorktown. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and French allies, he held together an army and a fragile nation amid threats of uncertainties.

Washington became President of the United States in 1789 and established many of the customs and usages of the new government’s executive department. He sought to create a nation capable of surviving in a world torn asunder by war, in particular, between Britain and France. His unilateral Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793 provided a basis for avoiding any involvement in foreign conflicts. He supported plans to build a strong central government by funding the national debt, implementing an effective tax system, and creating a national bank. An inspirational leader, he avoided war and a decade of peace with Britain began with the Jay Treaty in 1795. His farewell address was a primer on republican virtue. He was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal with the Thanks of Congress in 1776.

On Washington’s death in 1799, Henry Lee, delivered the funeral oration, declaring Washington “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen”. He is consistently honoured as one of the greatest presidents the U.S. ever had.

Image Source:   Wikimedia Commons

Famous Left-hander Birthday, February 6

Former American President Ronald Reagan

Although a natural left-handed, the late former American president Reagan was converted to right-handed in writing when he was in Grammar school.

Any reader interested may want to check out: United States Presidents Trivia and First Ladies of the White House.

Lefty Presidential Candidates for 1992 US Elections

Interestingly, during the 1992 United States presidential election, the three main candidates were all left-handed:

• George Bush
• Bill Clinton
• H. Ross Perot

Bill Clinton won and became the 42nd US president.

Related article:

Left-handed presidents of the United States of America

For the lefties, it is interesting to note that left-handed political leaders held America’s top job as presidents of the United States. Profiled great men include Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Harry S. Truman, Herbert Hoover and James Garfield.

Notably, although Truman and Reagan are included as left-handed, some sources prevail that both former presidents were ambidextrous. This is not surprising. Unlike the present generation, in the past centuries, left-handedness was considered a disability, and both parents and teachers made efforts to suppress this. Result is either the child ultimately wrote with the right-hand but remained left-handed in all other activities, or the child became ambidextrous.

Continue reading … Left-handed Presidents of the U.S.A.

Famous Left-hander Birthday, February 12

16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln

Former American president, Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), served as the 16th President of the U.S. – from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He was a country lawyer, Illinois state legislator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives before his 1860 election as the first Republican president.

He successfully led the United States of America through the American Civil War, preserving the Union and putting an end to slavery. As an outspoken opponent of the slavery in the U.S., he won the Republican nomination in 1860; later in the year he was elected president.

Lincoln introduced measures resulting in the abolition of slavery. Just six days after the surrender of Confederate forces headed by Gen. Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Known to be one of the most eloquent American speakers of all-time, he is often quoted. One famous Lincoln quotation is from his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

~ 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 ~

Famous Left-hander Birthday, January 17

American Polymath Benjamin Franklin – Inventor, Statesman, Writer, Printer, Political Leader, Scientist, Soldier

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706  – April 17, 1790) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. A polymath, he was an author, printer, satirist, diplomat, politician, scientist, inventor, statesman,  and soldier.  His legacy of scientific and political achievement, and distinction as one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers, saw Franklin honored in the U.S. currency, both in coinage and money; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies; and numerous more references.

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the Enlightenment Era.  He became remowned for his many inventions. He invented many things, such as the Franklin stove, lightning rod, bifocals, odometer, and many more. He also made discoveries relating electricity.

Franklin formed the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. An early proponent of colonial unity, and as a political writer and activist, he supported the idea of an American nation. As a diplomat during the American Revolution, Franklin secured the French alliance that helped to make independence of the U.S. possible.

Franklin became a newspaper editor, printer, and merchant in Philadelphia. He published Poor Richard’s Almanac and The Pennsylvania Gazette. He played a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society.

Benjamin Franklin became a U.S. national hero when he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act.  An accomplished diplomat, he was a major figure in the development of the Franco-American relations, widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris.

From 1775 to 1776, Franklin was the Postmaster General, and from 1785 to 1788, the President of the Supreme Executive Ocuncil of Pennsylvania. Bejmain Franklin became one of the most prominent abolitionists in the last years of his life.

Photo Credit:  Wikimedia Commons

Photo by Michael Parker.
James Earle Fraser, sculptor

Famous Lefthander Birthday, November 19

Former US President James A. Garfield

(20th US President)

James A. Garfield was the first left-handed US president. He liked to show off his ambidxterity for White House visitors by writing in Latin with one hand and in Greek with his other hand – and simultaneously.

Famous Lefthanded Birthday, August 19

Politician, Leader and 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton

William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe Clinton III, August 19, 1946) served as the 42nd President of the United States (1993 to 2001.)

He became president at the end of the Cold War, and as he was born in the period after World War II, he is known as the first Baby Boomer president. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is currently the U.S. Secretary of State. Both Bill and Hillary are graduates of Yale Law School.

Photo Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Famous Lefthander Birthday, August 10

Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st Republican President of the U.S., 1929–1933. Aside from his political career, he was a professional mining engineer and author. He was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under two presidents, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Hoover promoted government intervention under the rubric “economic modernization”. Hoover is the last cabinet secretary to be directly elected President of the United States.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lefthanded Birthday Celebrant, July 14 – Former US President Gerald Ford

Left-hander Gerald Ford was the first American to hold the US nation’s top two positions – vice president and president – without being elected to either one.

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.), born July 14, 1913, was the 38th President of the United States. He served as president  from 1974 to 1977. He was also the 40th U.S. Vice President serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency, when he became President upon Richard Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, Ford also became the only President of the United States who was not elected for either President or Vice-President. Before becoming a vice-president, Ford served 25 years as Representative from Michigan. He died on December 26, 2006.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons