Holiday snapshot of Washington and Lincoln

Much has been written about the two men we salute on Presidents Day. And rightfully so, considering the pivotal roles that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln played in shaping the nation. You really can't say enough. Here are a few things we came up with.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Lincoln stood 6-foot-4, the tallest president until Lyndon Johnson, who was the same height. Washington was at least 6-2?, as was Thomas Jefferson. Other tall presidents: Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are both 6-2, and so was Franklin Roosevelt -- making them all an inch taller than Barack Obama.

The shortest president? James Madison at 5-4 -- that's shorter than the average American male these days, who measures 5 feet, 9.3 inches

A DEGREE ABOVE

Both Washington and Lincoln rose to the highest office in the nation without the benefit of a college education. Other presidents with no college degree: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland and Harry S. Truman.

FAVORITE FOODS

Washington loved ice cream. He was such a fan that he had an icehouse built near his home at Mount Vernon, Va., to enjoy it as often as possible.

According to Suzy Evans, who writes the History Chef! blog, the icehouse was on the banks of the Potomac. Washington's slaves used chisels and axes to carve large chunks of ice when the river froze during winter and stored them in the icehouse for spring and summer.

Lincoln, says Evans, was more of a "food-for-fuel kind of guy." But he continued to love Kentucky corn cakes throughout his life, along with gooseberry cobbler, gingerbread cookies and corn dodgers -- all "simple foods of his Indiana-Kentucky youth," adds Evans.

ONLY THEY DID IT

Washington remains the only president to be elected unanimously by the Electoral College. Twice.

Raising a toast to that accomplishment wouldn't be too difficult for Lincoln: He is the only president who was also a licensed barkeep. He owned several taverns in Illinois with partners.

He didn't drink much, however. By his own account, he enjoyed just a "drop of Champagne" on occasion, and, according to other accounts, beer in moderation.

DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMEN

Washington and Lincoln are typically ranked as the nation's greatest presidents. One got the country started; the other preserved the nation during its greatest crisis.

What else about them stands out?

How about Lincoln's beard? He was the first president to grow one, at the famous suggestion of 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., who told him in a letter sent during his first presidential campaign that she would try to get all of her four brothers to vote for him "if you let your whiskers grow." She thought his face looked too thin. She added: "All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President."

And how about Washington's stiff upper lip? Ill-fitting dentures distorted his jaw. He suffered from poor dental health and started losing his teeth in his 20s. He had only one or two teeth remaining by the time he took office. Maybe that's why he liked ice cream so much.

Oh, and forget that business about his false teeth being made of wood. Laser scans done on one existing set of his dentures in 2005 showed components of gold, ivory, lead and human and animal teeth.

According to Washington's Mount Vernon estate and museum, one set of his dentures included a cow's tooth and hippopotamus ivory.

Bolts held the dentures together and springs helped them open. Washington had to consciously keep his mouth shut or it would pop open on its own.

MEN OF MANY MYTHS

The falsehood about Washington's wooden teeth is one of many tall tales.

One of Lincoln's favorite books as a boy was Mason Locke Weems' popular biography of Washington, the origin of the made-up story about Washington chopping down a cherry tree in his youth and not being able to lie about it.

Washington never threw a coin across the Potomac River, which is a mile wide, nor did he kneel in the snow at Valley Forge to pray. He did not wear a wig. And he was not clumsy, but rather a fine dancer.

As for Mr. Lincoln, he really was handy with an ax, chopping wood and splitting logs to make fence rails in his younger days. But he never used it to hunt vampires, as a recent work of fiction-turned-into-a-film details.

Nor did he ever sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House -- the room actually served as an office during his presidency.

And the Gettysburg Address was not jotted down on the back of an envelope as he rode on the train from Washington to dedicate the Soldiers' National Cemetery on the site of the Civil War battleground at Gettysburg, Pa. Lincoln carefully crafted his most famous speech in the weeks before he delivered it on Nov. 19, 1863.

CHILDHOOD TRAGEDIES

Both Washington and Lincoln lost a parent when they were children. Washington was 11 years old when his father died. Lincoln was 9 when he lost his mother.

O.C. CONNECTION

Are there legacies of Washington and Lincoln in Orange County? Yep.

A partial denture said to belong to George Washington is part of the collection at the Orange County Dental Society Dental Museum in Santa Ana.

The document that Lincoln signed returning ownership of Mission San Juan Capistrano to the Catholic Church is carefully stored in archives at the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano, around the corner from the mission.

All 21 of California's missions had been transferred to private landowners after Mexico won independence from Spain. The patent of title for Mission San Juan Capistrano that bears the 16th president's signature is one of nine that he signed.

INAUGURAL MOMENTS

At his second inauguration, Washington gave the shortest inaugural speech ever, 135 words long and lasting less than two minutes.

Lincoln was the first president to be photographed at an inauguration. One of the photographs, taken March 4, 1865, while Lincoln read his second inaugural address to a throng at the Capitol, shows his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, standing above and to the right behind the president. Other conspirators in Lincoln's assassination also were in the crowd.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or

Contact the writer: twalker@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50847657/ns/local_news-orange_county_ca/

post grad arpaio carol burnett neil degrasse tyson neil degrasse tyson davy jones death born this way foundation