# Who was the first non-W.A.S.P. US president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853 "2012-09-26T03:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/41 "2012-09-27T00:50:47Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Quick: who was the first president who was actually born Amercan, even? Everybody before was in violation of the Constitution (to be amended). False: Art 2, section 1: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/42 "2012-09-27T01:20:32Z")
Obama was quoted four years ago as saying, “Some of my relatives look like Bernie Mac, and some of them look like Margaret Thatcher.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/43 "2012-09-27T01:36:18Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Quick: who was the first president who was actually born Amercan, even? Everybody before was in violation of the Constitution (to be amended). Right, because it never occurred to the people writing the Constitution to account for this. The first president born after 1789 was John Tyler, in 1790. The first to be born after the Declaration of Independence was Martin van Buren. And the first to be born outside one of the 13 colonies was Lincoln. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/44 "2012-09-27T01:45:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And the first to be born outside one of the 13 colonies was Lincoln. Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi. And while the first thirty presidents were all born east of the Mississippi, eight of the last fourteen presidents were born west of the Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/45 "2012-09-27T02:03:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Seriously? How much time do you think the average person spends thinking about Charles Curtis? 1 hour 17 minutes per day ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/46 "2012-09-27T02:32:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi. > > And while the first thirty presidents were all born east of the Mississippi, eight of the last fourteen presidents were born west of the Mississippi. Little known facts: Garibald P. Horatio, elected president in 1848 from the Merkin Party, was born on a bridge 43 feet above the Mississippi, while Uranus O. B. Kornblow, who won on the Populuxe Party ticket in 1900, was actually born in a cave 800 feet below its surface. The Nondenominational League of Trivia Concordencers foresaw that they would cause endless bickering in future pub trivia games and took the appropriate steps to erase them from history books, to the general benefit of all. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/47 "2012-09-27T03:13:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Quick: who was the first president who was actually born Amercan, even? Everybody before was in violation of the Constitution (to be amended). I remember this question, and the answer, from a highlight of family lore. My father, at his citizenship test right after World War II, told the judge he was a student of political science. The judge, to bust his balls, asked him this question. Can you imagine? He was off by one president, so the judge didn’t deport him after all. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/48 "2012-09-27T03:14:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Little known facts: > > Garibald P. Horatio, elected president in 1848 from the Merkin Party, was born on a bridge 43 feet above the Mississippi, while Uranus O. B. Kornblow, who won on the Populuxe Party ticket in 1900, was actually born in a cave 800 feet below its surface. The Nondenominational League of Trivia Concordencers foresaw that they would cause endless bickering in future pub trivia games and took the appropriate steps to erase them from history books, to the general benefit of all. Yes, but how many names did their assassins have? Hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/49 "2012-09-27T03:17:18Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > False: Art 2, section 1: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President” Correct, and I should have known that. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/50 "2012-09-27T04:59:33Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Then of course there was Jefferson. Very much of an Anglo-Saxon, but a deist and I doubt that would make him a Protestant. Yeah; in fact Wikipedia has [an entire article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_religion) regarding TJ’s religious beliefs, so suffice to say, they were very… individualistic. “Diverging widely from the orthodox Christianity of his day”. He certainly expressed his belief in God many times, in any event. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/51 "2012-09-27T05:08:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Little known facts: > > Garibald P. Horatio, elected president in 1848 from the Merkin Party, was born on a bridge 43 feet above the Mississippi, while Uranus O. B. Kornblow, who won on the Populuxe Party ticket in 1900, was actually born in a cave 800 feet below its surface. The Nondenominational League of Trivia Concordencers foresaw that they would cause endless bickering in future pub trivia games and took the appropriate steps to erase them from history books, to the general benefit of all. And, of course, Barack Obama was born on a plane while flying over the Mississippi. His mother was rushing back home from a brief visit to Kenya, hoping that he would be born a native Hawaiian. The fact that he was born half in Mississippi and half in Louisiana (and so is the only president from either state) has been erased from official records, to avoid confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/52 "2012-09-27T13:15:02Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > 1 hour 17 minutes per day Piker. I spend three hours a day _easy_, thinking about Charles Curtis. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/53 "2012-09-27T13:31:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Obama was quoted four years ago as saying, “Some of my relatives look like Bernie Mac, and some of them look like Margaret Thatcher.” Seriously doubt this. Had Bernie Mac been getting it on with Margaret Thatcher, the paparrazi would have been all over it. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/54 "2012-09-27T13:42:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Quite so: [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-23-Obama-Ireland-visit\_n.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-23-Obama-Ireland-visit_n.htm) Irish people don’t think of themselves as Anglo-Saxon. ---
**Author:** ![what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/55 "2012-09-27T16:31:04Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > The Dutch are very much anglo-saxon Smartest forum on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/56 "2012-09-27T16:38:08Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > [Martin Van Buren](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren) was not WASP, since his ancestry was Dutch. (He’s also the only President who did not speak English as a first language.) Except for W. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/57 "2012-09-28T02:06:48Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Irish people don’t think of themselves as Anglo-Saxon. Well, not all, maybe. > **[Irish Democrat : Features : Relax - we're all Anglo-Saxon anyway!](https://www.irishdemocrat.co.uk/features/relax-were-all-anglo-saxon-anyway/)** > > Peter Berresford Ellis takes issue with Professor Stephen Oppenheimer's claim to have dropped a "bombshell" amongst Celtic scholars by concluding that the populations of Britain have not changed, biologically at least, from pre-Celtic through Celtic... > **[Request Rejected](http://www.finfacts.com/)** ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/58 "2012-09-28T03:47:05Z")
Back to the OP, why did it exclude Reagan and Clinton from the WASP list? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/59 "2012-09-28T05:12:49Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Back to the OP, why did it exclude Reagan and Clinton from the WASP list? Irish, both working class backgrounds. You choose: actor, big city cop, or fireman. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853/60 "2012-09-28T07:57:33Z")
It’s worth mentioning, though, that the ancestors of almost all Presidents originally hail from the English speaking part of Europe. No Italian-American, no Hispanic, no Armenian-American, no Portuguese-American, no Russian-American or Polish-American, no Jewish-American, not to mention other continents than Europe (Obama, of course, breaking new ground in this regard). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-non-w-a-s-p-us-president/635853.md?page=4)