# Do you know who was President when you were born? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653 "2011-08-22T14:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/61 "2011-08-22T18:27:50Z")
I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about US history, and certainly know my own birthday, but am a bit embarrassed by not being confident about this, because I was born in what should have been Nixon’s second term, and thus it’s either Nixon or Ford. I think probably Nixon… (checking Wikipedia) …and I was right by about 9 months. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/62 "2011-08-22T18:30:10Z")
Holy crap, I was WRONG! I was 100% sure that I was born during Carter’s adminstration, but when I double checked wikipedia to see how far into his term he was, I discovered that I was actually born when Ford was president! Weird! ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/63 "2011-08-22T18:32:41Z")
Boy, that was a no-brainer. His excellency Herbert Hoover still had two years to go when I entered this vale of tears. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/64 "2011-08-22T18:36:46Z")
I knew it off the top of my head … I would have chosen option two, but it didn’t take me but about 5 seconds to go … 1965: Johnson. So I can’t give the full minute it’s due and proper. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/65 "2011-08-22T18:37:31Z")
Had to think for a minute to choose between FDR and Truman, but it was definitely Truman. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/66 "2011-08-22T18:39:03Z")
Truman here. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/67 "2011-08-22T18:42:05Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Ronald Reagan. Ye gods, but you’re younger than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/68 "2011-08-22T18:48:11Z")
Eisenhower, I think. (I’m not American). Having checked, it appears I am wrong, it was Truman. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/69 "2011-08-22T18:49:30Z")
I always have to think for a few seconds to figure out if it was Ford or Carter. They were both in office the year I was born, hence the confusion. It is Carter, ftr - he took office a couple of months before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/70 "2011-08-22T18:49:41Z")
LBJ ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/71 "2011-08-22T18:52:02Z")
> [@FrancisCastle](#): > > So I answered that I knew off the top of my head, but then I googled it and I was wrong! :eek: > I always assumed it was Reagan, but I’m a couple days off and it was actually Carter. OK Yeah. I’m going to fully admit I’m an idiot too. I went through life always thinking it was Carter. It wasn’t. It was Ford. I never even thought about those two and a half weeks of 1977 where Carter wasn’t President until now. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/72 "2011-08-22T20:23:34Z")
DDE for me too. I don’t know for sure who was House Speaker but if I had to guess, I’d go with Sam Rayburn. (Nope, it Joseph W. Martin, who I’ve never even heard of. Weirdly enough, while looking this up I found out that the image I’ve always associated with Sam Rayburn isn’t him at all, it’s John Nance Garner.) This got me thinking about U.S. Presidential elections and I wondered whether people had any trouble remembering who they voted for. My guess is that it is probably tougher for those of use who have voted for more than a couple of presidents. I found that my brain skipped over one of my choices and remembered another incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/73 "2011-08-22T20:28:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’ll be the first to post Truman. That’s what I was going to post … but reading the thread first I see I’m only in time to be Truman #5 and there’s already a Hoover ! (Thanks, **Daylate** – you make me feel like a teenager!) > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I notice we’re not getting a lot of Britons in this thread. I assume having had the same head of state for the last fifty-nine years take a lot of the fun out of this game. Chatting with a 30-year old Brit friend during the Olympics, the conversation turned to national anthems and _God Save the Queen_. He suddenly startled and gasped “Hey! Didn’t we use to have a King? What did we use for an anthem then?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bri2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/48db29/32.png) [@Bri2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bri2k)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/74 "2011-08-22T20:39:47Z")
LBJ Bri2k ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/75 "2011-08-22T20:43:01Z")
For bonus points, I know who was running both my countries of citizenship when I was born. ETA: Take my points away; I missed Diefenbaker by just under a month. I now know it was St. Laurent. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/76 "2011-08-22T20:49:40Z")
Reagan, speaker was Tip O’neil. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/77 "2011-08-22T20:55:35Z")
Jimmy Carter. Didn’t have to look, didn’t have to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/78 "2011-08-22T21:07:41Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > For bonus points, I know who was running both my countries of citizenship when I was born. > > ETA: Take my points away; I missed Diefenbaker by just under a month. I now know it was St. Laurent. :eek: :: points and yells :: _ **Canadian!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/79 "2011-08-22T21:14:27Z")
> [@charmstr](#): > > DDE for me too. I don’t know for sure who was House Speaker but if I had to guess, I’d go with Sam Rayburn. (Nope, it Joseph W. Martin, who I’ve never even heard of. Weirdly enough, while looking this up I found out that the image I’ve always associated with Sam Rayburn isn’t him at all, it’s John Nance Garner.) Rayburn was Speaker when I was born (although only for the next eighteen days). But for some reason I was thinking he had left the office earlier (I think of him being Speaker in the forties and fifties, not the sixties). And I knew Carl Albert was later (in the seventies) and I couldn’t remember who had been Speaker between those two. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653/80 "2011-08-22T22:05:37Z")
Yes I know. The fucker was [General Jorge Rafael Videla](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Rafael_Videla), de facto President of Argentina (I was born in 1979) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-who-was-president-when-you-were-born/593653.md?page=5)