The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy

by Rick Beyer

What most of us don't know about our presidents could fill a book--and this just happens to be that book! From the archives of The History Channel(R) comes a treasure trove of quirky presidential history that will truly astonish, bewilder, and stupefy. Like Abraham Lincoln's duel or Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting . . . and let's not forget about the president who went skinny-dipping in the Potomac every day!

That's the kind of presidential history you'll find in The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told One hundred little-known stories to make you shake your head in wonder. If you want to find out how "Hail to the Chief" came to be the president's song, why the Oval Office isn't square, which president saved the game of football, and why Washington, D.C., could have been named Hertburn, this is the book for you.

Did You Know About:

The custody battle that made George Washington an American?

The counterfeiters who tried to steal Lincoln's body?

The woman who brought down Andrew Jackson's cabinet?

The man who was president for a day?

You know what makes the presidents famous, but it's the stuff you don't know that makes them interesting. A feast of fascinating presidential tidbits awaits.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Presidents, Politics

214 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Rick Beyer is a best-selling author, an award-winning filmmaker and long-time history enthusiast. His newest book, Rivals Unto Death traces the thirty-year rivalry of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

"In this fascinating dual biography, Beyer brings these two towering figures to vivid life on the page." --New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides.

Beyer is the co-author (with Elizabeth Sayles Sayles) of the New York Times bestseller The Ghost Army of World War II How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks Sound Effects and Other Audacious Fakery. Beyer has spent nearly a decade researching this story. His award-winning documentary film about the unit, The Ghost Army premiered on PBS in 2013. The San Francisco Chronicle called the film “mesmerizing,” while TV Guide referred to it as “entrancing.”

Beyer has also produced documentary films for The History Channel, A&E, National Geographic, the Smithsonian and others. He is the author of The Greatest Stories Never Told series of history books published by Harper Collins, and described by the Chicago Tribune as “an old fashioned sweetshop full of tasty morsels.”

Beyer has shared his unique take on history in interviews on CBS, MSNBC, CNN, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, NPR, Fox News, and audiences around the country. He has also worked as a radio reporter, a TV news producer, an ad agency creative director, and a janitor (not in that order). And here's a few other things he's done.

•Camp for ten days in the mosquito-infested Siberian Wilderness
•Flee New Orleans the day before Katrina
•Interview Jimmy Carter in the White House
•Climb Mt. Washington 5 times
•Get called stupid by David Brinkley
•Be consoled by Mary Tyler Moore
•Marry a beautiful woman during a lightning storm

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Beyer lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, with his wife, Marilyn Rea Beyer (see above about the lightning storm!)

Reviews

[Frank Jacobs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good presidential anecdote, but - perhaps because of this - I've heard most of the ones listed in this book before; still, nice to learn a few new things: Robert Todd Lincoln, was not just present at the shooting of his own father, but was also at the side of two other presidents who subsequently got shot (Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901).

[Anup Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed all three of Rick Beyer’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” book and this was as good as the other two. If you’re into presidential and American history at all, you will love this. Lots of amazing coincidences and backstories and he does a great job packaging them in a narrative. A quick, fun, and educational read.

[Caroline Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

To keep it short, the book is interesting and does span a large amount of time, however sections around social justice (particularly for people of color) have certainly not aged well.

[Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to read for 5 minutes at a time. Doesn't go in-depth, but piques interest.

[Julie Bestry · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan more than a scholar of American history, I'd say I knew all of the well-known and some of the lesser-known stories in this book, but that didn't hurt my enjoyment one bit.

Beyer's 200 pages of presidential anecdotes generally come down to one page of narrative and a page of photos and captions. This is what some people might call a "bathroom" book, in that it can be easily read in tiny moments. The anecdotes remind me most of those Bicentennial Minutes that used to come on during commercial breaks during 1976. (I was nine. I thought they were cool.) So, there's nothing in-depth here, but there are factoids that one may not know, and it could prompt an interested party to learn more.

Beyer is a documentary producer, but not an investigative journalist or historian. He quotes his sources as The Encyclopedia Britannica (!), Wikipedia, The New York Times Archives, Cornell University's (my alma mater) The Making of America web site and a variety of web sites and books. (The book was published in 2007, and the web was not yet what it is today.)

An academic historian would likely have dug deeper into stories. The question of JFK's possibly apocryphal first marriage deserves more than a page of text and a page of photos to give the reader a sense of certainty; Taft did not actually ever get stuck in a White House bathtub, or so the modern scholars report. So, Beyer loses a star from me for lack of precision, but it's only one star, as the book is an easy, almost charming read.

Again, there's a good mix of the stories you know well (Teddy Bears, Edith Wilson, Nixon & Elvis) and new ones (Eisenhower's secret professional athletic career, the Wyatt Earp/FDR "connection"), enough to keep your attention. Women, and Black, Indigenous, Asian and other marginalized people play small roles. George Washington Carver and Nelson Mandela are the only Black people named completely. The stories end in 2000, leaving almost 10% of American presidential history undocumented in the book.

This square book seems designed to be a gift; it would also be a good book to take out of the library to give someone recovering from the flu — with short anecdotes, pithily told, it demands little of the reader, and might inspire deeper reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Looking for a quick U.S. history read? The creative essay titles on the cover of The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told will be enough to intrigue those with even a mild fascination with U.S. presidential history. For example, Washington’s Whiskey, The Naked President, Lincoln’s Duel, and The Woman Who Became President.

Each story, covers a two-page spread, a combination of a short essay and photographs. The design makes it easy to either pick up and read randomly or, as I did, read chronologically from cover-to-cover. A couple of the tales had me thinking “that sounds familiar” but most of the stories were new to me.

The book reminded me why I have always been captivated by stories of our presidents. I closed the cover wanting to dive into another presidential book. I think it is time for me to read a book that has been staring at me from my TBR pile since it was published in 2020: Brad Meltzer’s The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President⁠—and Why It Failed.

[Lance Hillsinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told by Rick Beyer is a fun book. For history buffs, like this reviewer, some of the stories may be “old news,” but most readers will find each and every story informative and entertaining. I received this book as a present. It would make a good gift for the history buff in your family or to spur an interest in history in a high school student. The book was published in cooperation with the History Channel, so I’m assuming all the “never told stories” are indeed true.

Rick Meyer has two other similar books. I hope I get one next Christmas.

Depending on the price your pay, this book deserves four or five stars since I got mine for free, so I give it five stars.

Lastly, for reasons which are not clear, this book is sold with different book covers.

[David Lumpkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. I normally shy away from anything political, but I found that the book does not try to tell me how to vote nor form a political opinion in its subject. The stories are entertaining and might give one seed for future conversation. The style of the book is easily read, though not simplistic. The subject carries the pace of reading.

[Joan Arbogast · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who likes tidbits from history, especially about presidents and politics, this was one fun read. Full of interesting little-known anecdotes. Beyer had to dig to uncover some of these tidbits from American history. Thumbs up.

[Peggy Huey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book lives up (mostly) to its subtitle promise to "astonish, bewilder, and stupefy" readers with these tales about many of our country's former leaders with a few leaders from other countries, such as Nelson Mandela, thrown into complete the mix.

[Armen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting book! The interesting stories not found in history books are all in here! What I liked about this book is that it had presidential stories from all around the world, not just the US.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes two page spread accounts of interesting unknown bits of history of US presidents from Washington to Bush Sr. It's aimed at older youth, but anyone interested in history will enjoy the easy reading and fascinating short accounts.

[Marianne Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cute little read. I learned a lot of tidbits.

[Samra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an insider look on America.

This more along the lines of obsessive history for some.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book! It seems that what’s been happening lately is not totally unprecedented! This would be a good book for homeschooling or history buffs.

[Laurie Sytsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of very short stories about US presidents and others, many of which I have never heard before. Enjoyable read!

[Nova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short read and full of things I never knew. My adventure this year will hopefully cover each President, in order.

[NonFiction 24/7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some known stories. OK book.

[Joyce Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short stories. Most I hadn't heard before.

[Kailyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, fun read to brush up on some presidential trivia. I got through this book in a few days and enjoyed my time reading the stories about our presidents (and also some other countries presidents). I also liked the pictures throughout and the variety of topics that Beyer chose from.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an avid reader of history, I had already heard about half of these little tidbits of American history. The rest were new to me, and quite fascinating. The book moves chronologically from 1620 to 2000, beginning with the pilgrim forefather of three of our presidents and ending with some presidential election trivia. Most of the book covers American presidents, with a few from other countries (Mexico, France, South Africa) thrown in. I just love books like this where I learn new things! I didn't know where the term "gerrymander" came from, or that a man named John Hanson may have been our first president, or that one former American president was a member of the Confederate government after his term. I loved the picture of Thomas Jefferson's invention of a revolving bookstand that could hold five open books at once. I also enjoyed the picture of President Taft's huge bathtub--almost a small swimming pool! Beyer also covers some amazing "coincidences" and ironies; for example, a bulletproof vest had been offered to President McKinley the day before he was shot by the assassin Guiteau, but the president's secretary said "the matter couldn't be considered until after the president's trip to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York" (p.120)! What intrigued me the most, however, was one sentence in a caption of a picture on page 33: "Recently discovered documents suggest most of the books in the Library of Congress were actually saved from British destruction." I had always heard that the contents of the Library of Congress were burned by the British in the War of 1812. This I must investigate further! I also think I'll need to purchase this for my own private collection. Recommended, especially for American history buffs!

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like gossip about our Commanders-in-Chief since the very beginning.

1. Did you know that John Hanson was the first elected president? Neither did I. Washington was the first president elected under the Constitution. Hanson was elected after the thirteen colonies ratified the Articles of Confederation in 1871. Under his leadership, Congress established the Treasury Department, adopted the Great Seal of the United States, and declared the fourth Thursday of every November "a day of Thanksgiving".

2. President Washington added the unscripted words "so help me God" to the oath of office.

3. President Franklin Pierce did not use a bible for his swearing in. Instead he placed his hand on a law book. Pierce was suffering from a crisis in faith after the death of his eleven-year-old son in a train accident on the way to Washington for the inaugural. He affirmed the oath, he didn't swear to it.

4. President Woodrow Wilson is on the $100,000 bill. These bills were printed in 1934 and 1935. They were not circulated among the public. They were illegal for individuals to own. They were used in gold transactions between Federal Reserve banks. Only 42,000 were printed. All known pieces are in museums. Other larger denominations include William McKinley on the $500 bill, Grover Cleveland on the $1,000 bill, and James Madison on the $5,000 bill.

These are just a small sampling of the cool things you can learn if you read this book.

[Briony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book after reading Berg's first book, The Greatest Stories Never Told, and although I knew a quite bit of information from the historical point of view, I wanted to give this book a go since I wanted to learn some fun facts about our presidents.

What I got was an interesting book that did provide me some insight to our presidents, such as Silent Cal was actually pretty talkative to some information that I already knew. Sometimes I did zone out when the information solely focused on politics, but this is a personal taste issue.

The only complaint I had was that Berg sometimes threw in other countries presidents. While I have nothing against this, I just found it a bit jarring that he tended to focus entirely on the U.S. presidents and would then randomly throw in a president from another country. I would have preferred if he had either just focused on the United States or gave it more diversity by adding in more stories from other countries instead of just a handful. I know this could have difficult since the United States has the longest line of Presidents, but there are other countries that have a long line of presidents.

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're anything like me, you don't know much more than a high school level of American history, but you have a strong interest in historical trivia and fun facts. If that's the case, than this is the book for you. After having torn through such books as Stupid History and Stupid American History, I was looking for something new. And when I stumbled upon this little gem while at the library, it was not possible to pass it up.

This is a fun little book. It's a quick read, chock-full of information and fun facts. In these 214 pages, I've learned more about the presidents than I have in years of Social Studies and History classes throughout grade school and high school.

Perhaps one of the best aspects of this book is that the chapters are so short. Each story encompasses a two-page spread. If you just have a few minutes to yourself on the bus, or at lunch, or even for a quick bathroom break, this is easily one of those books you can pick up for just a few minutes or a few pages and easily have a perfect stopping point.

A perfect book for any history buffs with an interest in the presidents. And a lot of fun at that :)

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this book a solid "OK". The writing style is engaging, and the author does a good job of using media (newspaper articles, political cartoons, photos, letters, etc) to help tell the story.

On the other hand, I think it's stretching it to say that these stories have "never been told". I think I was familar with about half of them, and I don't consider myself particularly knowledgable. (I just paid attention in my AP U.S. History class 14 years ago! :P) And there was at least on piece of info I knew to be wrong, and anyone else who is remotely familiar with the Mormon church would also recognize the error.

While I'm not willing to dismiss the whole book on the grounds of a few errors, they still bother me. The author isn't a historian; he's a documentary producer for The History Channel. I'll cut him some slack. But if someone is looking for some truly great unknown presidential stories then they should probably look somewhere else.

[Timothy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book, I recommend to anyone who has a flare for the ironic, the odd, or the absurd. The events and facts in this book go beyond the internet urban legends often circulated about the presidents. They do not defame the character of the men it reveals, and it is strictly non-partisan. At the same time, it pulls no punches in helping the reader to laugh at some decidedly unlaughable people. Who knew that Kennedy hoarded Cuban cigars the day before he signed the law of economic sanctions against Cuba? That one of the secret servicemen who saved president Reagan's life was, in his youth, inspired to become a secret serviceman by a Ronald Reagan movie. That Mrs. Wilson performed most of the president's duties following Woodrow Wilson's stroke.

This book is ideal for nighttime reading because it is delivered in brief, unrelated, two page vignettes. A few bites and off to sleep.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining stuff. It's a quick read, with lots of pictures and captions, and each story is about four paragraphs long. I'd already heard some, like how the Gettysburg Address was widely panned after its delivery, but I was unfamiliar with most of them. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson introduced the tradition of the presidential handshake in 1801? Or that the Smithsonian is named after a British chemist who left his entire fortune to the United States...and President Andrew Jackson almost didn't accept it because of the bad blood still flowing between England and America? Or that Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was present at three of the four presidential assassinations? A really interesting book.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is best used for "call of nature" reading. It is well suited for such a purpose. Each "story" is two pages long, with photos, and takes about a minute to read. There is no great depth, or even much significance, to most of the stories (with a few exceptions) but they are interesting facts and trivia about the men who have held the most powerful office in the country. Mr. Beyer also does not just focus on the biggest presidential names, but has numerous "stories" about the lesser known presidents as well.
"The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told" was a quick, sometimes informative, and mostly interesting read. It served its purpose well, and I now know a little more presidential trivia than I did before. Not bad at all.

[Keeko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I emjoyed reading this book. I read a page or two each day. Even the stories that were familiar had information that was new to me. I took the book to work a few times to show the photos. One of my co-workers has a degree in history, and the stories were new to him too. I also like how the author often includes the actions and thoughts of the people with the president's story, so you get an idea of the culture of the time. The date in the upper left corner is handy too. Thanks to the author for all his work. Definitely a good read!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small book only about 8 by 8 inches in size includes 100 stories presented in two page spreads with excellent photographs and other illustrations. While some of the stories fall flat, and others are well known to readers of history, there are enough real gems that meet the subtitle's expectation that everyone will enjoy it and at times even be amazed. Rick Beyer also includes many additional resources that the reader may enjoy investigating.