Original photo by IanDagnall Computing/ Alamy Stock Photo
In his nearly 100 years on Earth, Jimmy Carter has set a number of records and achieved almost as many firsts. In addition to being the longest-living President in U.S. history, he was also the first one born in a hospital — an event that occurred on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. It was much more common for babies to be born at home in the early 20th century than it is now, but Carter’s mother was a nurse at what was then known as Wise Sanitarium. There happened to be a room available on that fateful October night, and the hospital has since been renamed the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center.
Of the 46 Presidents, only one never married: James Buchanan, who held the highest office in the land from 1857 to 1861. Grover Cleveland was a bachelor when he was elected in 1884, but later tied the knot (to Frances Folsom) in the White House — the only President to do so.
All five Presidents born after Carter — Joe Biden (1942), Donald Trump (1946), George W. Bush (1946), Bill Clinton (1946), and Barack Obama (1961) — were likewise born in hospitals. George H. W. Bush, who was born less than four months before Carter and assumed the presidency 12 years after Carter, was born at home in Milton, Massachusetts.
Jimmy Carter’s favorite President is Harry S. Truman.
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Martin Van Buren was the first President born a U.S. citizen.
Though his seven predecessors were also born in what’s now the United States of America, Martin Van Buren was the first President born a U.S. citizen. His predecessors all came into the world as British subjects, but Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782 — six years after the Declaration of Independence was signed and less than a year before the Revolutionary War officially ended. He was also the only President not to learn English as a first language, as he was raised in the Dutch community of Kinderhook, New York, and learned Dutch first. English was his second language.
Michael Nordine
Staff Writer
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
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