Historian Reacts - One Misconception about Each US President (Part 1)

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#History #reaction

[@nickschulte3915]

One big misconception I remember being taught in school, was that Woodrow Wilson was one of our greatest presidents

[@abrahamlincoln937]

Wilson was a mediocre president in my opinion. He was good with his economic policies and I agree with his 14 Points plan for peace after WWI and he led America to victory in WWI. But he was very racist and a firm supporter of segregation and he was very authoritarian given that he signed into law the Espionage and Sedition Acts and he poorly handled the Spanish flu pandemic.

[@crusader2112]

@@abrahamlincoln937 “Good on economic policies”. Cough ***Federal Reserve*** Cough

[@abrahamlincoln937]

@@crusader2112 I support the Federal Trade Commission and the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Adamson Act which were enacted by the Wilson administration. I understand the criticisms of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve did a poor job when it came to the early stages of the Great Depression. But as Mr. Z said Theodore Roosevelt set the Federal Reserve into motion and it would have been implemented had Taft or Roosevelt won the 1912 election.

[@nickschulte3915]

@@abrahamlincoln937 I rank him in the bottom 3. His 14 points might have been good in theory, but that’s really all they ever were. He had no foreign policy ability. He was an idealist with a savior complex without the skill to achieve his goals. He also took extreme steps to ignore and bury the outbreak of the “Spanish” Flu and deserves little credit for leading “us” to victory in WWI. He wasn’t FDR rallying the nation the victory. The most he did was suppress information about the Spanish flu so they could continue to have Liberty Parades and sell war bonds. The Federal Reserve and Income Tax weren’t his ideas, they just came to fruition while he was in the White House. Same with Woman’s Suffrage (good) and Prohibition (bad).

[@abrahamlincoln937]

@@nickschulte3915 In terms of wartime leadership, FDR was definitely a better wartime leader than Wilson. But I always credit a president whenever they preside over American victory in a war. Wilson was a liberal internationalist on foreign policy and he pushed for the League of Nations which FDR was a strong supporter of. FDR was also a liberal internationalist on foreign policy who pushed for the United Nations which Truman implemented after WWII.

[@Chimpmanboom]

Video idea: give a brief summary of everything mentioned in the “we didn’t start the fire” song

[@Melon03296]

That is a great idea he should do that

[@kodywatts6886]

A video suggestion has never made me smile this hard 😂

[@commandervaughn1298]

Yes

[@8-bitstream379]

1 hour long video lol

[@lukaslambs5780]

I’d love to see that

[@alanfike]

1:24 As we all know, Gen. Washington rose to his rank despite a terrible affliction of being 67 years old his entire life.

[@JohnnyOlsson]

Also known as "inverted Ralph Macchio-syndrome".

[@everburn]

🤣

[@luisf2793]

Reverse Paul Rudd

[@gmwdim]

One misconception that comes to mind for me is that FDR and Eleanor were closely related (possibly since they had the same surname). They were actually fifth cousins, which is quite distant. Eleanor was much more closely related to Teddy.

[@ISpitHotFiyaa]

She was Teddy's niece. And Franklin's fifth cousin once removed I think. But yeah they had the same last name and as I recall they first met at a family reunion. That's just weird to me.

[@mitchelld3]

@@ISpitHotFiyaa Yeah, meeting your spouse at a family reunion is a pretty funky thing. I, personally, don’t think that anything beyond 1st cousins is all that immoral though. And 5th cousins, on a genetic level, is no big deal at all.

[@mattway18]

Yeah, fifth cousins once removed. So, one of Eleanor’s parents (in this case, her dad) was FDR’s cousin, not her.

[@bar0nv0nstrubel57]

I will say in my short time as a US history teacher, I've had several students ask me "Well didn't Abraham Lincoln own slaves?" I believe there's a popular notion that started about Lincoln being a hypocrite (only freeing southern slaves at first, saying he would preserve the union by freeing some or no slaves if he could, etc.) I think this idea was just trumped up into Lincoln owning slaves by misconception.

[@lucasdavis5929]

It's definitely a strange one, I've it also stems from Mary Todd Lincoln's family owning slaves

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

It's actually a misconception that John Adams was slandered as a hermaphrodite, he was merely said to have had "hermaphroditic character" which was just a way of calling him wishy-washy or perhaps a flip-flopper

[@djentyman4002]

We all know Grant’s name was really “Unconditional Surrender” Grant

[@JohnnyOlsson]

I find it interesting with Grant's name and how fast and loose Americans play with names. As a big hockey fan I've reflected on this before. Daniel becomes Danny, Alexander becomes Alex, etc. Not just as nicknames and in spoken word, but the actual written name in official records. I can't recall a similar practice in Sweden as we are very stiff and bureaucratic about names and records. This is not a history thing, more cultural and/or linguistic, but I can't imagine a scenario where a Swedish statesman would have a career under a "false" name based on a mistake when he was attending school. We may be wrong about some things, but damn it, we get the name right!

[@Crytica.]

This video flew by. The video itself is very relaxing and gives nice misconceptions. And you are adding a lot of important and interesting information with most of the misconceptions. I learned a lot and I liked it a lot!

[@Justanotherconsumer]

My great-grandfather was annoyed that his parents didn’t give him a middle name, so he changed it. He added an F. The F didn’t stand for anything, it was just there so he had a middle initial. Not quite Grant’s situation, but shows how little we care about middle names beyond the initial.

[@OrbGoblin]

I don't know why it made my laugh so hard that Ulysses S Grant didn't like the acronym of his original name spelling out "Hug" but that is hilarious!

[@judilecompte9377]

I can’t believe I haven’t seen your channel before (thanks history traveler!) I LOVE presidential history, and you’re sooo knowledgeable! Subscribed!

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Welcome, Judi! JD's a great guy, glad he sent you my way.

[@beckys2825]

Ok, my favorite factlet from this video is that Ulysses S Grant changed the order of his name to avoid having the initials HUG. Lol

[@RealzFoSho]

Adams vs Jefferson. All the nasty stuff that was going on in the press. Can you imagine if they had the exposure we have today with TV broadcast, cable, and social media?

[@benrythefox365]

28:46 "Boggs" was Julia's middle name. Her name at birth was Julia Boggs Dent. After her marriage, her name was Julia Boggs Grant. I think that's why he thought "Boggs" was her maiden name. Because, at that time, it was common for married women to be referred to as if their maiden name was their middle name, and that has applied to the wives of many presidents and vice-presidents. For example, Mary Todd Lincoln's birth name was Mary Ann Todd, but after she and Abraham Lincoln got married, everyone called her Mary Todd Lincoln, and Hillary Clinton's birth name was Hillary Dianne Rodham, but after she and Bill Clinton got married, some people wrote her name as Hillary Rodham Clinton. Pretty much any site that you search up Julia Grant on will tell you that her full name was Julia Boggs Grant, which is likely why he thought Boggs was her maiden name.

[@stephenparker6362]

Hi, Chris, I've just watched on a mobile device with no problem so hopefully the issue is resolved. Being from the UK I learn a lot from your presidential videos especially from your comments. Looking forward to part two next.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

The painting of young George Washington with old George Washington's head is "Parson Weems' Fable" by Grant Wood who is best known for painting "American Gothic."

[@mitchellhedden1978]

I’m looking forward to the more frequent streams. More KZbin money for VTH and the channel grows. Everyone wins.

[@tingcelery3]

I love how you are so real with us about history, you are every history teacher people wish they had keep going strong my friend:)

[@maximaldinotrap]

@Vlogging Through History, a bit of Ohio history not related to this video but something I found out that was interesting since you have mentioned the area in the past: The 1985 tornado outbreak of 1985 that took place in Canada and the US produced a F5 tornado that is the furthest east a F5 tornado has been recorded. The affected locations? Niles Ohio and Wheatland Pennsylvania.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

I lived through that tornado. I remember everything about that day. It was our last day of school so they gave out free passes to the skating rink in Niles. I was supposed to go but the tornado hit first and destroyed the rink. It went right passed my future wife’s house and obliterated the next street over. I had a cousin in Newton Falls (which was also heavily damaged) and it was a long night wondering if he survived. He did.

[@maximaldinotrap]

@@VloggingThroughHistory One thing I love about Ohio is that we have a lot of history and quite a few famous people have come from Ohio. Jurassic Park the novel may have been written by a Chicago boy but its movie was directed by a Cincinnati boy.

[@Bigdog5400]

Taft was never actually stuck in a bathtub. It broke my heart when I learned that when I was older lol

[@sjduges67]

LMAO!!! I just looked up Millard Fillmore and he DOES look like Alec Baldwin! If SNL ever creates a skit about Millard Fillmore, Baldwin can add to his list of Presidential Characters! 🤣🤣🤣

[@rhett1029]

One thing I found out today was I knew George Washington’s brother Lawrence was in the British Army but what I didn’t know was he saw a lot of combat especially in the war of Jenkin’s Ear

[@ThirteenthOfFour]

You and me were thinking of the exact same scene with John Adam's, Franklin and Jefferson, how true it is, the writers pride may distort them to history, but never erase them

[@MR_ARKANSAS]

its impressive just how knowledgeable you are.

[@jakitron890]

I don't recall ever once being unironically told the Cherry tree story as fact. My whole life I was told it was something made up that other people believe

[@jamesearly8518]

As is often the case in these "common misconceptions" videos (and the like), a good chunk of the misconceptions the host tries to debunk are not things that anyone believes any more. Like Chris, I found myself saying, "I've never heard that" constantly.

[@CapzL]

I recommend reacting the the "Curse of Tippecanoe" by Mr. Beat.

[@svenrio8521]

Man this didn't feel like 30 minutes, I was sure I had only watched 10 minutes of it and then wham! The video ended! This is how you know this is great content.

[@bierwolf8360]

really? I found it kinda hard to watch simply because the original talker was so repulsive. I actually opend a second window and overlayed it so I could only see the reaction

[@xjp1998]

When you said you put Johnson up with Wilson, I just died laughing OMG, you're so right. But a lot of these I have never heard of. Now on Zackery Taylor I knew a lot about him, Due to distant relations his grandmother was Elizabeth Lee which is the Lee's of Virginia, and that is the only reason I know about him.

[@CodyChepa88]

Made sure to like this now. Gonna watch this on my lunch break tonight . Keep up the good work chirs 👍

[@CodyChepa88]

Since finishing the video all I could think about is how much I hate $20 bills because I see Andrew Jackson's face. I just try to think about a world where he follows the Supreme Court's ruling and that would have been a big win for the natives

[@doylesgirl73]

I remember watching a video about it possibly being the water in DC. I think they were talking about exhuming one of them to prove it but they couldn't get permission. I could be wrong though. it's been a while since I saw the video.

[@tomray4140]

Hey I just discovered your channel! Our politics might be different but my senior year IB history teacher is actually a moderate republican who was a huge influence on my passion for history and even getting me into philosophy.

[@neontv2843]

its honestly really disappointing the extent to which people don't know what impeachment is. when i was in 5th grade my teacher was teaching us about the federal government and told us that no president had been impeached. me, a presidents nerd since 2nd grade, corrected her that 2 presidents had been impeached (this was almost 10 years ago). my teacher was essentially just like "no you're wrong" and 10 year old me didn't really care to keep arguing about it.

[@Thisandthat8908]

there is a fascinating letter quoted in Chernows Washington Biography some aquaintant had suggested to Washington that with his fame after the war he should try to become a King. The fascinating thing about the letter is how Washington was absolutely shocked that anyone knowing him thought of bringing up that idea to him. You can sense that even through the flowery language of the time in his response. Apparently this was the only time during or after the war that Washington demanded a proof from his staff that his response letter was actually sent. And the roginal writer send over time 3 letters apologising for it.

[@TheJohnnySlick]

Abraham Lincoln, contrary to popular belief, did in fact ride to work on a shovel

[@williamcross210]

You can get ice cream made from Jefferson's recipe (not oyster flavored) at Mt. Rushmore

[@David-fm6go]

So glad that Harrison's cause of death is getting more attention. This was early in the era of mass growth in the cities and sanitation did not keep up. Cholera epidemics in London during this same period as well. It was during this period that germ theory started to get developed against strong opposition from the medical establishment which held to miasma theory or bad air.

[@mitchellskene8176]

Won't say which one, but he kinda explains two misconceptions about an upcoming President.

[@theautomator8372]

I actually heard about the Pierce one awhile ago and I thought it was kinda funny

[@modernjosephus356]

"Grant was a drunk". 😂

[@crusader2112]

Hey man to keep up this tradition of US Presidents, you shout react to Monsieur Z’s 7 Ages of America (and the Men who shaped them) series. Sorry if I’m being annoying, it’s just a really great series and you’re input would be interesting.

[@abrahamlincoln937]

Agreed and hopefully Mr. Z releases Part 5 of his 7 Ages of America series.

[@crusader2112]

@@abrahamlincoln937 Agreed.

[@abrahamlincoln937]

@@crusader2112 Vlogging through History should react to both Mr. Z’s videos on Wilson and his Part 4 video in the 7 ages of America about the Progressive Era and hopefully he can possibly change Vlogging through History’s opinion on Wilson. I know that you think that Wilson was a terrible president and you know that I consider him to be a mediocre president, but is Wilson the worst president in American history in your opinion. In my opinion James Buchanan was the worst president in American history.

[@crusader2112]

@@abrahamlincoln937 I think it’d be either Wilson or James Buchanan, although Biden, is giving them some competition in that department too.

[@abrahamlincoln937]

@@crusader2112 Biden so far is definitely worse than Wilson in my opinion. Wilson was effective, Biden is not. Mr. Z said that Biden is worse than Wilson in the comments on his video about Wilson. I think that Mr. Z also considers Wilson a mediocre president.

[@JLS639]

Re: marriage... So, marriage can get complicated in history. Often people were married because they said they were. According to something I read in Gies' Life in a Medieval Village, a lot of "cohabitation" fines were just the church collecting its marriage license fee because peasants got married at the pub. Governments had to actively make non-official marriages illegal. But make no mistake: this wasn't for legal or records purposes. It was a regressive tax. I suspect that was why the United States has taken so long getting rid of it: it isn't a source of revenue for the state nor a state-sanctioned church. Most states didn't get rid of it until after income tax became a thing and it was a legal mess without official records /end rant

[@Justanotherconsumer]

“Common law marriage” is definitely a thing in the US. If you act as if you’re married and stick with it, the courts may recognize it. Laws vary by state. Fake it ‘til you make it.

[@ThePrinceLuvr]

It is very interesting that the future president born just after the death of Washington. Was none other than Alec Baldwin, and the fact that Buchanan was alive before Washington's death, totally amazes me. That may not be something interesting, but from the 1st president to the 13th-15th president. It is interesting

[@RapidsLurker15]

The period from October 4, 1822 (birth of Rutherford B. Hayes), to July 4, 1826 (deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams), is the period with the most amount of former, current, and future presidents alive at one time: all of the first 19 minus Washington.

[@Naylte]

02:50 The way I heard it George Washington's older brother coerced him into hacking at the tree. 25:45 I keep getting 'tenure' confused with 'ten-year', as in 'fixed term'.

[@Braddington1]

Ah, the Julia Boggs thing was because Boggs was her middle name.

[@joseeduardorivero9771]

I would love you to see the battle of cannae, one of my favorite battles of all time

[@DanielTompkinsGuitar]

About boy Washington's old head: it was common practice in the Middle Ages to depict babies (especially Jesus) with their adult heads. For Jesus, it was the concept of homunculus, meaning he was perfectly formed and unchanged from birth. It became the syle to paint all babies that way--with an old man's head. It was also easier to identify who the baby was. I wonder if the Washington painting was a throwback to that style. Or maybe the artist (Grant Wood) just did it to be funny, idk.

[@chancylvania]

5:41 I’m sorry WHAT 🤣

[@USSCYT]

I could watch a full version of this!!

[@danielhess1082]

To be a fly on the wall when Jackson recieved the news of the Treaty of Ghent

[@xWhoIsMoe]

woohooo more US president vids.. my fav!!!

[@crusader2112]

Same.

[@lisad6542]

You should react to some of CGP Grey’s historical videos! Lots of great content on that channel

[@Kresh42]

1:24 It's a painting by Grant Wood called Parson Weems' Fable painted in 1939.

[@bearcat2133]

Video doesn’t play on mobile

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

See if your app needs updated. KZbin has been having trouble with this for days now.

[@bearcat2133]

I just checked and I’m up to date for the app. It seems just to be your videos I can’t see. I wonder what the problem could be

[@Logan0o]

@@bearcat2133 i second this

[@treveralfonso1]

Always enjoy your videos! keep it up

[@David-fm6go]

26:58 Lincoln kind of did the same in 1860 for the North. Lincoln was and ex Whig from Illinois while Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was a former free soiler Democrat.

[@williamwallaceoftheus8033]

Look forward to part 2

[@KevinAColeman]

I always thought the S in Ulysses S. Grant stood for Sam since that was one of his nicknames

[@patrickmulligan4440]

Oddly enough my family grew up in Kinderhook, around the same area as his family

[@BeSkeptical851]

I would have thought Die Hard 3 would raise Chester A. Arthurs' popularity.

[@graham.crackers]

8:51 I immediately thought of the Who Was show 😂

[@alexwest2573]

Am I the only one who likes President Jimmy Carter? He’s like our only president who served on a nuclear sub as well as help contain a nuclear reactor after a meltdown in Canada

[@jdotoz]

As a former nuclear submariner, that's not something I count in his favor.

[@Jay-ky8vy]

Julia Grants middle name was Boggs

[@mr.davindick7503]

My brother's middle name is my mom's maiden name.

[@pyratpenguin]

Didn't Lincoln have the idea that maybe he could just ship all the slaves back to Africa? I thought I heard that he had talked about that at some point.

[@rootbeerfloathaspop3301]

Hey Chris, good video as always! Have you considered reacting to DocuDubery’s History Channel at 4 am Playlist?

[@BohemianRaichu]

Whilst the Battle of New Orleans didn't have an affect on the settlement of the war, it did have ramifications beyond the conflict in terms of standing with Britain and other powers.

[@ninjagirl226]

Oh this is a great birthday present on this very likely awful birthday. Love President videos.

[@taylorhagen3916]

I never had heard the word single for Buchanan just Bachelor

[@benhaney9629]

“I have gone wooing to several gentleman...” Uh... That’s pretty obvious no?

[@benhaney9629]

Unless the words “wooing” and “gentleman” and “gone” meant different things back then...

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Yes, I do believe the context of those words meant something very different to the average person in the mid 19th century compared to today.

[@David-fm6go]

21:50 it's like having your heart carved out like a spoon to here you say that "people don't care about history". :P.

[@drow_Lilith9940]

this was a fun watch after hearing podcast talk about The Mysterious Smedley Butler [ never hear about butler until last night but that guy a us hero]

[@42Quaker]

Mr. Beat you've been summoned 👀

[@History_Dude]

Shame I missed the live youtube didn't send out my notification 😢

[@danielbishop1863]

Now I'm wondering: What if John Adams had his way, and we had an "Emperor" of the United States instead of a "President"?

[@cow8844]

Video idea: tier list of founding fathers

[@fruitpunk]

cgp grey has a good video on presidential succession

[@benhaney9629]

As a kid I never understood the cherry tree story... I always thought to myself, “Is that fun? Am I missing something? Should I be chopping down trees?”

[@spencerheaton3332]

React to CrashCourse's US History videos. Maybe even their Civil War videos.

[@kaine6076]

I'm actually related to John Quincy Adams on my mothers side.

[@Gwailoh911]

I don't know if it's been mentioned in the comments but 29:00 Julia Boggs Dent, Boggs was her middle name. Still incorrect but it was there!

[@TheGoauldApophis]

That George Washington picture was in one of my elementary school history books.

[@AlexKS1992]

My middle name is my Mom’s maiden name, Kirby. Yes that’s my Mom’s maiden name and my middle name.

[@sebastiandelacruz3849]

Yo i cant watch the vid 😞

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Are you watching on a mobile device? Working fine for me on multiple PCs, just checked.

[@Nebulasecura]

@@VloggingThroughHistory doesn’t work for me either I’m on phone

[@ianwyckoff4874]

@@VloggingThroughHistory doesn’t work on phone but does on laptop

[@isaiahsalas2822]

@@VloggingThroughHistory I’m watching on mobile and I can’t watch

[@giovannigonzalez6068]

@@VloggingThroughHistory People on mobile devices can’t watch the video I guess

[@jaym7919]

i just watched the whole thing. no problem with video (PC)

[@iTz_Plewtoe]

Johnson was talking up about hanging all that seceded from the union but when he became president I don’t believe he held the same hatred to hang anyone. He turned to being lenient to the south, which I believe was to help get re elected.

[@mattwalter6697]

I cannot believe to this day that Chris used the word clout in a serious way to describe someone

[@ernieyt7942]

28:38 Hey Chris, Julia Grant's birth name was Julia Boggs Dent.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Yes I know. But there’s no situation in which she would be referred to as Julia Boggs the way she is here. It was clearly a mistake.

[@ssgbuddha400]

Everthing is fine on my phone

[@David-fm6go]

25:53 add Buchanan for me and I would agree.

[@danielmessi1092]

Mr Vth what are you putting on your face? Skin looks great!

[@uvjones9616]

I can’t believe you didn’t mention that Abraham Lincoln did NOT in fact, hunt vampires.

[@JohnnyOlsson]

I may have suggested this before, but a topic for a video and discussion I'd enjoy is a list of presidents that were better as, well, not presidents. Or simply cases of the man being better than his presidency, so to speak.

[@David-fm6go]

29:31 On the flip side dabbling in prohibition politics could damage you politically with the German vote especially and while the panic of 1873 was the primary cause of the devastating 1874 midterms for the Republicans, alienation of the immigrant and Catholic vote was a factor as well.

[@jefft5824]

John Adams is probably a bottom 5 president for me, mostly the Alien and Sedition acts. Ironic that his son would be a much better politician who would be considered "based" as the kids say

[@jamesfetherston1190]

It is interesting how the Dutch really just settled right along the Hudson. Go more than five miles east of the river and it is completely similar to western New England.

[@jdotoz]

At the head of the river, five miles east almost is western New England.

[@TheKnowledgeMan101]

Hey Chris, could you please react to Whatifalthist's video "What if America went full colonial"?

[@989meechy]

I do believe the Buchanan one

[@vantaplat7411]

13:05 If victory in war means territory is changed hands then America did win the war of 1812, Britain finally stopped propping up the United Indian Nations and America could finally annex it and settle it.