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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 10 general entries.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
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John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. 1826 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; sadly, the day was marred by the simultaneous passing of two of the primary forces behind the Declaration. The 83 year-old Jefferson had been in declining health, but held on until the fourth. When the day came, the former president inquired from his sickbed "This is the fourth?". When told that it was, he closed his eyes and died in his sleep. The 90 year-old Adams did not hear of his friend's passing, he died a few hours after Jefferson and is reputed to have said "Thomas Jefferson survives...Independence forever." before expiring.
Another U.S. president, James Monroe, passed away on the fourth five years later, in 1831.
| On the fourth of July, 1826, the same date which saw the deaths of two U.S. presidents, this noted American was born. Who was he? | FunTrivia Facts About the Fourth
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Stephen Foster. Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826, the same day John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. Perhaps no other songwriter in American history so completely captured the spirit of the nation, in all its complexity and diversity; the eminent English impresario Walter Legge said of Foster, "That man wrote himself, and alone, the real folksongs of America." Sadly, Foster never enjoyed the benefits of his life's work; born into an affluent family, he died in 1864 at the age of thirty-seven, a victim of alcoholism and poverty. In his pocket at the time of his death was a scrap of paper, on which he had written "Dear friends and gentle hearts..." (probably the first line of a song) along with thirty-eight cents. His legacy survives in such songs as "Beautiful Dreamer", "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", and "Oh Susannah".
The Washington Monument. Congress had decided to erect a monument to America's first president as early as 1783, however financial and bureaucratic difficulties delayed work on the project until more than sixty years later. The monument was designed by architect Robert Mills, the cornerstone was laid on Independence Day, 1848. Work was halted on the project in 1853 when funding dried up; Mills died two years later and did not live to see the finished structure, which was completed in 1885. One notable feature of the monument is its iron stairway with 897 stone steps. The steps are made of stones from every state in the Union, along with stones donated by foreign countries and Native American nations.
Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth, Vermont. Nominated as vice-president in 1920, he unexpectedly assumed the presidency in 1823 following the sudden and untimely demise of President Warren G. Harding; he was sworn in by his father, a notary public. Coolidge's personal integrity and no-nonsense demeanor helped restore some much needed dignity to the office of the presidency, following the scandal-plagued Harding administration. Famously taciturn, he was nicknamed "Silent Cal". A female dinner guest once confided to him, "A friend of mine and I have a wager going; she bet me that I wouldn't be able to get more than two words out of you", to which Coolidge famously replied "You lose!" He was not devoid of a sense of humor, and genially permitted himself to be photographed wearing a farmer's overalls and a Native American war bonnet. Although popular throughout much of his presidency, Coolidge fell from favor in the wake of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression, for which his economic policies are generally held to have been responsible. He declined to seek a second term, and died in 1933, four years after leaving office.
| This celebrated American popular composer, some of whose songs are an integral part of most Independence Day celebrations, adamantly claimed to have been born on the 4th. His baptismal records, however, indicated that he was one day shy of the fourth, having been born on July 3rd. Who was he? | FunTrivia Facts About the Fourth
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George M. Cohan. Born into a show-business family in 1878, Cohan grew up onstage performing with his parents Jerry and Nellie and his older sister Josephine. He won audiences' hearts at the end of each show with the now famous line "Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you!" George eventually became a Tin-Pan-Alley songsmith and both wrote and performed in numerous successful musicals, including "The Governor's Son", "Little Johnny Jones", "George Washington Jr.", "45 Minutes from Broadway", and "Little Nellie Kelly". Although these shows are largely forgotten today, they included such songs as "Give My Regards to Broadway", "You're A Grand Old Flag", "Mary's a Grand Old Name", and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy", which are an indelible part of the American musical lexicon. Cohan also penned the stirring "Over There" at the outset of World War I. Cohan's life was the subject of the 1942 movie musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy", starring James Cagney, and the 1968 Broadway musical "George M." He died in 1942.
| The current U.S. flag featuring fifty stars was adopted on July 4, 1960, following the admission of this state into the union. Which state was it? | FunTrivia Facts About the Fourth
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Hawaii. Hawaii became the fiftieth state on August 21, 1959, under the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The annexation of Hawaii following the overthrow of the government of Queen Lili'uokalani in 1893 remains rather controversial, and an anti-statehood rally was held there as recently as 1999, on the fortieth anniversary of Hawaii's admission. Officially, Hawaii celebrates "Admission Day" on the third Friday in August as a state holiday.
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