The United States has a long history of electing sportsmen into the White House. Of course you know Teddy Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman, but did you know about some of these?
1st President: George Washington
1789-1797
Washington starts off the list of presidential sportsmen. Before becoming our first president, Washington counted “commercial fisherman” among his many occupations. He took several fishing breaks to Mount Vernon during the Constitutional Convention. While the General also duck hunted, his favorite outdoor pastime was fox hunting.
21st President: Chester Arthur
1881-1885
Arthur was famous for his salmon fly-fishing technique and even held an Atlantic salmon record for catching a 50-pound fish in Canada. He’s credited with increasing the popularity of fishing while he was in office.
22nd and 24th President: Grover Cleveland
1885–1889 and 1893–1897
Cleveland hunted and fished – but fishing was his favorite. So much so, that after getting married in the White House he and his new wife honeymooned in Maryland fly-fishing.
30th President: Calvin Coolidge
1923-1929
Coolidge is another avid fisherman. It’s a little hard to believe he could do this now, but he spent up to eight summer weeks at a time away from Washington, D.C., fishing with his family.
31st President: Herbert Hoover
1929-1933
Hal Wert wrote a book called Herbert Hoover: The Fishing President – enough said. Hoover himself published a book called Fishing for Fun – And to Wash Your Soul. Trout fishing was his first love but he also went saltwater fishing. Hoover is quoted as saying, “All men are equal before fish.”
34th President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953-1961
When Eisenhower’s family moved to Kansas, he became interested in hunting and fishing. During World War II, Eisenhower managed to go partridge hunting in North Africa. He was also such a well-known angler that he was sent lures and flies as gifts at the White House.
36th President: Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1969
LBJ was a big deer and dove hunter. The book Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President recounts the story of Johnson taking Bobby Kennedy deer hunting. Kennedy was knocked to the ground by the shotgun’s recoil. While helping Kennedy up, LBJ said, “Son, you’ve got to learn to handle a gun like man.”
39th President: Jimmy Carter
1977-1981
Carter has hunted possum to deer to duck, and is also a life-long fisherman. He especially loves fly fishing. He said, “fly fishing to me opened up just a new panorama of challenge, because you have to learn the intricacies of streams, of currents, of water temperature, of different kinds of fly hatches, how to tie your own flies, which you wouldn’t ordinarily do in other kinds of fishing.”
41st President: George H.W. Bush
1989-1993
H.W. learned to hunt visiting his grandparents in South Carolina, but fishing is his true love. He reeled in a 135-pound tarpon in the Florida Keys. While in office, he would take heads of state fishing, including Russian president Vladimir Putin.
43rd President: George W. Bush
2001-2008
W. likes quail hunting with friends and family, including spending some New Year’s Days hunting with his dad. He also loves bass fishing in Texas.
Now, maybe it’s time to work on getting a sportswoman in the White House.
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