Read more
Informationen zum Autor Ken Jennings is the New York Times bestselling author of Brainiac , Maphead , Because I Said So! , Planet Funny , and 100 Places to See After You Die . In 2020, he won the "Greatest of All Time" title on the quiz show Jeopardy! and later succeeded Alex Trebek as the show's host. He lives in Seattle with his family. Mike Lowery is an author and bestselling illustrator who has worked on more than eighty books for children, including the Mac B., Kid Spy series with Mac Barnett, They Call Me No Sam! with Drew Daywalt, and more. He is also the creator of the Everything Awesome and Bug Scouts books. He lives in Decatur, Georgia, with his wife and kids, and his daily sketchbook can be seen at MikeLowery.com.U.S. Presidents The Highest Office in the Land After winning the Revolutionary War, General George Washington probably could have had anything he wanted. Some of his army officers suggested he should be crowned king. If Washington had agreed to be king, and the crown had been passed down to his heirs, do you know who would be running America today? Paul Emery Washington, of San Antonio, Texas, retired regional manager of a building-supply company! Luckily, Washington didn’t want to be king, and instead, in 1789, he was elected and sworn in as the first president of the United States. For the last 225 years, instead of “His Majesty,” we’ve referred to our head of state as just plain “Mr. President.” (And maybe, someday soon, “Madam President.”) MAYBE THIS SHOULD BE THE HANSON MONUMENT IN HANSON, D.C. Strictly speaking, Washington wasn’t the first American president—he was the ninth! Before the Constitution was ratified, eight different men presided over the Continental Congress. If you count these guys, America’s real first president was a Maryland tobacco planter named John Hanson. But even though the United States is a democracy, the president still gets plenty of pomp and ceremony. In this chapter, we’ll take a look at some of the traditions and trappings that have grown up over the centuries around the highest office in the land. Big Bird The bald eagle on the official presidential seal holds both a bundle of arrows and an olive branch, to symbolize the president’s leadership in war and peace. Many people believe that the eagle is redrawn to face the arrows during times of war, but you should know better, Junior Geniuses. That’s just a myth. The seal has lots of hidden thirteens, to symbolize the thirteen original states of the union. If you watch the president on TV, you’ll see the seal printed everywhere he goes. The Mars candy company even puts the seal on special presidential boxes of M&M’s, available only at the White House and on Air Force One. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue George Washington never lived in the White House! It took ten years to build the city now named for him, so Washington governed from executive mansions in New York and Philadelphia instead. John Adams moved into the White House in November 1800 as its paint was still drying. Not a single room was completed, and the First Family used the large East Room, where ceremonies and receptions are held today, to hang their laundry. The day after moving in, Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: “I Pray He...
