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www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQmCRYRo9to

This financial sacrifice in some circumstances could be quite significant and create a hardship on the office holder.  In addition, the finances of the young nation were not always on firm footing either.  Sometimes the US Treasury had a hard time paying its bills and the paychecks to the President, Vice-President, as well as Congressmen were not always regular.  

Since most of these early leaders were wealthy men this irregular pay schedule was only an inconvenience.  The financial constraints of public office certainly limited who was able to lead the country.  Quite simply not everyone could take off work to run for office.  The financial hardships were just too great for most would-be-politicians. 

A major exception to this rule was Vice President John Tyler.  In 1841, Tyler became Vice President to John Henry Harrison.  Vice President Tyler was so strapped for cash that he could not afford to rent a room in Washington for any extended length of time.  He was so insolvent that he had only stayed in Washington after the Inauguration just long enough to open the Senate session in order to confirm Harrison’s nominees for Cabinet Posts.  He then hustled back to his home in Williamsburg, Virginia so he did not have to pay room and board in the capital.

Back in Virginia, he impatiently waited for the postal service to bring his paycheck.  At long last, the letter arrived; that he hoped would be his paycheck.

Instead of his vice presidential paycheck, he received word that he had gotten a promotion.  The missive informed Tyler that he needed to immediately report to Washington, D.C. as President John Henry Harrison had suddenly died.  The Harrison administration had only been in office for about a month.

So here is the rub, Tyler was so cash poor that he could not afford to travel from his home in Williamsburg, VA to Washington for his own presidential inauguration. 

After much hand wringing, Tyler’s friends loaned him the money and he and his family headed to the capital just in time for his inauguration.  I think we can agree that this was a safe loan since everyone knew Tyler now resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  He became the tenth president of the United States and the first ever to become president via succession.  In 1841, Tyler also became the youngest person to assume the presidency at 51 years of age.  Of course, eventually Theodore Roosevelt would surpass that feat becoming the youngest president at 41 and John Kennedy the youngest elected president at 42.

The Tyler administration was not very noteworthy, with the admittance of Texas to the Union being its biggest accomplishment.  He tended to struggle with Congress leading former president John Quincy Adams, and then a member of the House to initiate impeachment proceedings, which never cleared the House. 

Tyler was not re-elected and retired to his home in the Virginia low country where he lived outside of politics until 1861.  At the start of the Civil War, he voiced his support for state’s rights and southern secession.  Tyler became the only former president elected to office in the Confederacy, but died before formally taking office.

As a former president, Tyler’s death of should resulted in the standard state funeral and national mourning period that other presidents had received.  Since he had sided with the Confederacy, he was the only former president not to receive a state funeral.

Tyler also had the distinction as being the oldest former president to father a child at 70 years of age.

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Woodrow Wilson was a car guy, which of course on its own does not make one quirky.  However, unlike other car guys who thrive on the adrenalin rush of a fast cars and the thrill of speed Wilson liked to take things slow.  A 1916 issue of Northwest
Motorist described Wilson’s driving habits noting that he “lacks the speed mania and prefers an appreciative passage through pleasant country scenes to the thrill that comes from speeding.”  To enhance his driving experience Wilson was an early proponent of a national highway system and advocated federal funding for quality road construction.

In addition to bad roads, early automobile travelers faced the challenge of the lack of traffic laws and enforcement.  When
President Wilson’s obsession with speed demons began after he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919.  While out on his daily drives he ordered his chauffeur to never, exceed a speed of 15 to 20 miles an hour.  Anything faster Wilson reasoned was just plain reckless.  While the presidential motorcade was crawling along at a snail’s pace, from thebackseat Wilson freaked out every time another motorist passed his car.  This prompted him to order the Secret Service, traveling in the car behind him to chase down the offending speeder or as he described them, the public menace.  Imagine if you will, a honking motorist passing the presidential
motorcade and flipping the president off as they drove by.

The Secret Service detail was to bring the speeder back so they could receive the presidential tongue lashing that they so deserved.  Oddly, the Secret Service was never able to catch up with the speed demons that passed the presidential motorcade.

Wilson’s obsession with speeders continued and this led him to petition the Attorney General concerning his presidential authority to arrest speeders and serve up justice curbside.  After much conversation, the Secret Service successfully convinced Wilson that it was not a good idea for the president of the United States to get involved in enforcing traffic statutes.  Not only was it dangerous, but they argued it could possibly be humiliating to his office.  Having been freed from this important public safety obligation, Wilson was able to then concentrate on the presidential business at hand, which included the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, and his push for the League of Nations.