which u.s. presidents have actually, personally, killed people?

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a friend of mine and i were trying to figure this out over drinks last night

george washington
andrew jackson
u.s. grant
teddy roosevelt
truman?
ike?
jfk?

kerry!

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

all of them, I bet, at some time or another.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Laura Bush killed her high school sweetheart.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

oh duh george sr of course

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Bush No. 1, probably.

xpost

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

no, RJG.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

prove it.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Zachary Taylor killed people, I bet.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"why does our joyless president never dance?"

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And he has the distinction of sharing a name with 2/3s of Hanson!

xpost

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"How I Could Just Kill a Man" -- William Henry Harrison.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone know Zachary Taylor's middle name? $5 says it's Isaac.

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

this is a serious thread.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

that sounds kind of gay.

crosspost crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

other possibilities:
james monroe
william henry harrison
zachary taylor
r.b. hayes

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I like this list a lot. I think it should be a new requirement for the presidency.

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

do the Point Break dead presidents count?

― kephm, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't see why not.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Nixon was in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. I'm not saying he killed Kennedy, but he did shoot him in the head.

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

do the Point Break dead presidents count?

Ex-presidents.

< / Point Break pedantry >

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually Harrison was a serious answer, despite my little nod to "the realest nigga alive." Surely WHH had blood on his hands after serving in the wilderness under Indian-killer "Mad Anthony" Wayne.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Does killing people through poverty count?

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

neither of them were presidents, but i just thought i should mention the burr/hamilton episode on this thread because when i read about this in grammar school it fucking blew my mind, and it still does.

― amateur!!!st, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

dude I doubt Nixon was that good of a shooter!

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Franklin Pierce apparently ran down a pedestrian, driving (a carriage) while drunk. Don't know if the person died, though.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

In the 1992 King interview, Nixon maintained he'd never had any interest in digging into the JFK
assassination: "I don't see a useful purpose in getting into that and I don't think it's frankly useful for
the Kennedy family to constantly raise that up again."

What did Nixon do in Dallas? He arrived on Nov. 20 to attend a board meeting of the Pepsi Cola
Company, one of his law clients. Dallas reporter Jim Marrs says Nixon and actress Joan Crawford, a
Pepsi heiress, "made comments to the effect that they, unlike the president, didn't need Secret
Service protection, and they intimated the nation was upset with Kennedy's policies. It has been
suggested that this taunting may have been responsible for Kennedy's critical decision not to order
the Plexiglas top placed on his limousine on Nov. 22."

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah Harold, i caugh that right as i hit enter. doh!

have all these victims been shot or has a us president ever stabbed someone to death or bashed someone int he head with an encyclopedia

― kephm, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, sure, blame everything on nixon. i mean, the man was serving his country, people.

― amateur!!!st, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost to Huck - that's like saying Bush is responsible for the Iraq insurgency by saying "Bring it on!" er, wait...

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

amateur!st are you secretly G. Gordon Liddy?

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

james monroe "fought with distinction in the Continental Army," add him.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Most major world events have been shaped by insecure Beta-Males egging each other on with infantile posturing.

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Laura Bush killed her high school sweetheart.

Wait, back up here.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, no kidding. Was it with a gardening tool or a hardbound Jane Austen novel?

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

it was with a car.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I think what I'm trying to ask here is whether or not the word 'intentional' was involved.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

This site claims that of the 30 U.S. Presidents who served in the military, 15 saw action in combat. But it doesn't seem to list which ones.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost

oh. That's not very amusing at all.

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

wow George Washington "Accused of murdering a French Ambassador during peacetime"
WH Harrison lead the charge against Shawnee Indian chiefs in my hometown.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

We're a violent nation, yo. But then again, who isn't?

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Ronald Reagan, of course. Oh wait, that was his character in "Hellcats of the Navy." As you were.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.jmasland.com/z_color/z-312.jpg

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

"The wife of Gov. George W. Bush was responsible for a traffic accident that killed a high school classmate in Midland 37 years ago, according to a newly released accident report. Investigators said a 1963 Chevrolet driven by Mrs. Bush - then Laura Welch, a high school senior - ran a stop sign and struck a Chevrolet Corvair driven by Michael Douglas. Copies of the accident report - parts of which are illegible - were released Wednesday by Midland City Attorney Keith Stretcher after state Attorney General John Cornyn held that the information was public....Mr. Stretcher, the Midland city attorney, initially declined to release any information about the accident on the grounds that it involved minors and therefore was exempt from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act. He also contended that disclosing the information would violate the parties' privacy rights. Police listed two violations as contributing to the accident, both by Mrs. Bush. One checked box read "disregard stop sign or light," and the other was illegible....Both drivers were Robert E. Lee High School students. Neither was drinking, and no citations were issued, according to the report." - Dallas Morning News, May 4, 2000

nothing on this thread is about "intentions."

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

aw fuck that link.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

haha ... "parts of which are illegible " ... soulmates, they.

― dean? (deangulberry), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

also Bill Janklow's going to jail this year for what Laura Bush did back then, so I figure it's fair game.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Bill Clinton.

― Jerry Falwell (nabisco), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

FDR never did.
Truman probably.
Eisenhower killed half of Nazi Germany.
JFK, seems like he killed a few when he was marooned on that island.
LBJ, killed JFK, but didn't actually pull the trigger.
Nixon, I can't see it.
Ford, lucky he didn't kill himself.
Carter, served on a submarine, probably not.
Reagan, slayed us all with his incredible wit.
Bush I, a war hero.
Clinton, No, despite what you hear about Vince Foster.
Bush II, too much of a wet pussy lip to personally take another man's life.
Kerry!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"Reagan, slayed us all with his incredible wit."

barf

― amateur!!!st, Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Fiercely jealous of his honor, [Andrew Jackson] engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel."

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, I knew Rachel, and that slur was justified. Word.

― Huck, Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

McKinley, James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes served during the Civil War. General Benjamin Harrison was Colonel of the 70th Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. William Henry Harrison famously won the Battle of Tippecanoe and stands a very good chance of having been an Indian killer several times over like Zachary Taylor. LBJ, Ford and Nixon were Lieutenant Cmdrs. in the Navy during WWII.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Slur for the Slut.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry, Ms. Jackson.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

What a slattern she was. Huh? Whatchoo say, Andy? You wanna piece of me?

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Fiercely jealous of his honor, [Andrew Jackson] engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel."

The best part is that Jackson wore billowy white robes in his duals, so that he'd make for a harder target. One guy actually shot him in the chest once, but Jackson was still able to get his shot off and dispatch the guy. The bullet's probably still inside his chest right now.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Order your "Rough Riders On San Juan Hill" playset today!!

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/BMC/BMCBOX.GIF

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/BMC/bmcdetailrough.jpg

― andy, Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I think you meant to post that on the "euphemisms for bum sex" thread.

― Harold Media (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

ok some very rudimentary research reveals

george washington: indians
james monroe: brits (vet of continental army)
andrew jackson: indians, brits at NoLa, the duel
w.h. harrison: indians
zachary taylor: indians, mexicans
franklin pierce: mexicans
abraham linconln: indians
u.s. grant: indians, mexicans
r.b. hayes, garfield, b. harrison, mckinley were all civil war vets (mckinley as a private, so you know he'd been in the shit)
teddry roosevelt: cubans
truman: artillery officer in ww1, so germans, rats, anyone in front of him really...
ike: maybe not! he was a brilliant staff officer, beyond that, i don't know.
jfk: famous for being hit, i don't know abt him either
lbj: silver star, navy, ww2.
nixon, ford, carter were all naval officers, again, dunno.
bush sr was a decorated airman.
and then kerry!

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

George Washington commanded the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
JFK was famous for commanding a PT boat in WW2.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Which US Presidents have killed people AND won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Teddy mofuckin' Roosevelt.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

abraham linconln: indians

Pretty sure he didn't see any actual combat in the Blackhawk war.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

carter

Didn't graduate Annapolis 'til '46.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

ok scratch him then.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

er, him and him.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

truman: artillery officer in ww1, so germans, rats, anyone in front of him really...

Truman, who suffered permanent hearing loss from the war, was firing rounds at the Germans until 10:45 am on Nov. 11, 1918.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

eh? which island was JFK marooned upon/

my american history isn't as good as i thought.
is this a famous story?

― piscesboy, Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Zachary Taylor entered the army as a first lieutenant and quickly shot up to captian, so he may not have actually killed anyone.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

the army was a helluva lot different in the early 19th Century, Noodles.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

For JFK Dessert Island Stories, click the pic.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/galleries/pt109-rescue/images/primary/DC109_5.jpg

Or just click this.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

also, Taylor served in the Mexican-American War, and owned slaves.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

(...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt)

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Polk?

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Zachary Taylor entered the army as a first lieutenant and quickly shot up to captian, so he may not have actually killed anyone. As either, he was a professional soldier in a very small U.S. Army whose duties, apart from garrisons, consisted mainly in killing Indians. When he served, there's a very good chance he was discharging his pistol at the natives regularly.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

And LBJ may have been awarded the Silver Star, but it sho' wasn't for killin'.

Merits of late president's wartime record still debated.

As timely as today's headlines.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Re: Polk

He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1795. Studious and industrious, Polk was graduated with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. As a young lawyer he entered politics, served in the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson.

In the House of Representatives, Polk was a chief lieutenant of Jackson in his Bank war. He served as Speaker between 1835 and 1839, leaving to become Governor of Tennessee.

Doesn't look like he served in the military.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"That Grant began drinking heavily during the Mexican War, I think, is beyond doubt, the reason being that much of this war must have been extremely dull and depressing. As he did not gamble, disliked sport, was too shy and self-conscious to flirt with the girls and women chance might throw in his way, he began to find a sweet relief in liquor. When all was going right, drink had no mastery over him; but when nothing was doing, or when he felt that he could do nothing, he was unable to resist the temptation to discover in drink that magician who can charm away those dark hours which find the soul on the verge of suicide." (Fuller, J.F.C. General Grant: A Biography for Young Americans. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1932, page 39.)

― andy, Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Polk was the most-expansionist president though, that's gotta count for something.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:10 (twenty-one years ago)

If I remember correctly both Lee and Grant thought the Mexican-American War an ignoble one, though they both 'did their duty'.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

much like Kerry!

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post
"He was unable to resist the temptation to discover in drink that magician who can charm away those dark hours which find the soul on the verge of suicide"
I have a strange urge to start writing everything in the style of children's books of the 1930s.
Neither John Adams nor his son ever killed anyone, I think.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

much like Kerry!

Kerry joined. Lee & Grant West Point graduate career officers.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

also, Taylor served in the Mexican-American War,

As a general, he should have been the one to finish it too not Scott. Captian by the War of 1812. So he had at least two years of native uprisings to crush as a lowly officer.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I meant in their sentiments, Michael.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I know hstencil. Just pointing out the difference between the duty an officer already in the Army and the civilian who volunteers.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Straight Dope tackles this question this week.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 29 October 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc9y5ayeeb4&search=george%20washington%20brad

Apparently George Washington has

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 19 June 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

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