The Presidents

I forgot to get this posted yesterday. Oops.

If you want to learn (or memorize) the American Presidents, we found a clever song, written by Genevieve Madeline Ryan. Apparently her dad challenged her to memorize the presidents, for Father's Day one year, and she came up with this. (She had a little help, which you can read about, if you click on the link.) I'll put the words below, and you can listen to it set to music, (the William Tell Overture), if you like. She's followed the Bambi rule ("If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"), and mentioned something each president is or will be remembered for.

Enjoy.

The American Presidents, by Genevieve Madeline Ryan

America’s president number one,
Founding Father Washington.

John Adams, second president,
The very first White House resident.

Thomas Jefferson, number three,
Doubled the size of our country.

Then James Madison, number four,
Led us through the English War.

James Monroe is number five,
His Monroe Doctrine still survives.

Another Adams, John Quincy,
Rose to the sixth presidency.

Seven, Andrew Jackson,
Was a frontier common man.

Number eight, Van Buren,
First president born an “American.”

Harrison, nine, passed away,
One month after Inaugural Day.

President Tyler, number ten,
Ended the war with the Indians.

James K. Polk, eleven,
Looked to western expansion.

Taylor, twelve, of the army,
Nicknamed “Rough and Ready.”

Thirteen, Fillmore, in his eyes,
Best for all was a compromise.

Fourteen, Franklin Pierce is here,
The Civil War is drawing near.

James Buchanan, fifteen,
The one bachelor we’ve ever seen.

Sixteen, Lincoln, “honest Abe,”
Signed the law that freed the slaves.

Seventeen, Andrew Johnson,
Started Reconstruction.

Eighteen, Union General Grant,
Had led his troops with good judgment.

Nineteen, President R.B. Hayes,
Pursued the South in many ways.

Garfield, number twenty,
Killed while in his presidency.

Chester Arthur, twenty-one,
Sought reform and got it done.

Grover Cleveland, twenty-two,
Remember him ‘cause he’s not through.

Twenty-three, Harrison, comes again,
It’s William’s grandson, Benjamin.

Grover Cleveland, twenty-four,
Ran for the White House, elected once more.

Here’s McKinley, twenty-five,
The Twentieth Century had arrived.

Teddy Roosevelt, twenty-six,
“Speak softly and carry a big stick!”

Twenty-seven, Taft we see,
Biggest man in the presidency.

Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eight,
Thought a League of Nations was great.

Twenty-nine, Harding, Post-World War One,
“Normalcy” promised to everyone.

Calvin Coolidge, thirty,
Taught one and all frugality.

Herbert Hoover, thirty-one,
On no! The Depression had begun.

Franklin Roosevelt, thirty-two,
With his “New Deal” the country grew.

Harry Truman, thirty-three,
Won with atomic energy.

Eisenhower, thirty-four,
Commanded in the Second World War.

Thirty-five, John Kennedy,
Assassinated in sixty-three.

Thirty-six, Johnson, Lyndon B.,
He declared a “War on Poverty.”

Thirty-seven, Nixon, went far,
Opening China and the U.S.S.R.

Gerald R. Ford, thirty-eight,
Moved the nation forward past Watergate.

Thirty-nine, with all his might,
Carter fought for human rights.

Reagan, forty, from the West,
Taught the world that freedom’s best.

Bush, forty-one, showed solid form,
Freed a nation in “Desert Storm.”

Forty-two, Bill Clinton,
President through the Millennium.

George W. Bush, number forty-three,
Strengthened Homeland Security.

First to be elected of African descent,
Obama, our forty-fourth president.