A Little Bit of History

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In 8th grade, I had a History teacher that required you to recite a poem that included all of the Presidents. It was such a daunting task, but we were able to memorize the first half and then recite in front of our class and then memorize the 2nd half and recite the whole darn thing in front of the class. To this day, I can remember the first part (probably because of all the reciting of the first half). So, without further adieu and courtesy of a wonderful Facebook Group dedicated just to learning this darn poem in the 8th grade (which have you know I only recently discovered and I have been searching for this poem for years!)...here is your History lesson:

THE PRESIDENTS POEM

(Ramsey Junior High School – Fort Smith, AR)

A Noble List

author unknown

A noble list, George Washington,

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,

James Madison, and James Monroe,

John Quincy Adams and below

Came Andrew Jackson in his turn,

Martin Van Buren next we learn.

William Henry Harrison,

And soon John Tyler followed on.

James K. Polk

And Zachary Taylor ruled the folk

‘til death and Millard Fillmore came.

Franklin Pierce we next must name.

James Buchanan then appears,

And Abraham Lincoln through those years

Of war ‘til life was lost

And Andrew Johnson filled his post.

Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes

Each filled out his appointed days.

Then a second man must yield

To a frenzied gunman; James Garfield.

So of Arthur we must learn

For he completed Garfield’s term.

Grover Cleveland for the first time,

Benjamin Harrison fits my rhyme.

Cleveland again, and you’ll recall

McKinley was third by an assassin to fall.

Theodore Roosevelt with his big stick,

William Howard Taft both tall and thick.

Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations

Won both praise and condemnation.

Warren G. Harding by his friends was betrayed

When “Teapot Dome” headlines displayed

Calvin Coolidge both silent and glum,

His only words, “I do not choose to run.”

Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression,

F.D. Roosevelt four times in succession.

Harry S. Truman with the great dilemma-

Should we drop the bomb on Hiroshima?

Beloved General Ike dried Republican tears

After a drought of twenty long years.

John F. Kennedy was the fourth martyred man

To be slain in office for his countrymen.

Strange as it seems, after the assassin’s hand

Another Johnson was president of the land.

First to resign, Richard Nixon’s fate,

In the scandal called Watergate.

Then Gerald Ford sat beneath the President’s seal,

He was the first to be appointed. He helped our wounds heal.

In the year of our bicentennial celebration

Jimmy Carter was elected head of the nation.

But for only one term,

Then Mr. Reagan was in power

And big tax reduction was the program of the hour.

George Bush, first veep since Van Buren’s time

Succeeded the President as next in line.

Then one for Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, Whites, All---

Man of the people, Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

**When I was in 8th grade, this is where the poem ended.**

Added by someone else:

Through the 1990’s he stayed around;

Until a new Bush showed up in town;

George the second was the forty-third.

And for eight years he was heard;

Until Barack Obama made history in his own right,

With the hope to help people out of their plight.

It's been memorize, memorize, history down the line,

but after grade eight I shall end my rhyme.