Did You Know?

Two Presidents Are Born on The Same Day

There have been five sets of presidents that have been born in the same year, but only two presidents that have been born on the same date (November 2): James Polk (1795) and Warren Harding (1865). Despite sharing the same birthday, the two have little else in common. Actually, in a lot of ways they can be seen as polar opposites.

President Polk was a workaholic and slaved over making sure his four main focal points of his presidency were achieved 1) lowering the tariff 2) implementing a constitutional treasury 3) acquiring Oregon 4) acquiring California. Each of which, except for acquiring California, was achieved within his first three months of presidency. On the other hand, President Harding was a gambler and drinker, and there were numerous scandals and corrupt activities that occurred while he was in office, including the Teapot Dome scandal.

Surprisingly, despite each president’s efforts, Polk was very unpopular during his presidency, while Harding was very popular.