Bolivia holds the highest turnover of governments. Since their independence from Spain in 1825, Bolivia has had almost 200 governments. Since 1945, Italy saw more than 50 governments and more than 20 Prime Ministers.

The youngest active system of governance is communism, which was introduced in 1848 by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx.

The European Union was founded in 1957 as the European Economic Community. It then became the EC (European Community) and in 1993 the EU (European Union).

Funds raised by the US Presidential candidates 2000:
Ralph Nader – $5,989,559
Al Gore – $133,113,452
George W. Bush – $187,202,363

William Henry Harrison had the shortest term of office as president. He served from for 32 days, from 4 March to 4 April 1841.

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948 to promote peace, security and the economical development of the western hemisphere.

John Quincy Adams is the only president to serve in the House of Representatives after his presidency, which was for 17 years.

Electric lights were installed in the White House during Benjamin Harrison’s term. His wife never used them because she was frightened of the switches. Due to their tremendous fear, a servant had to turn on or off the light switches for them.

On election night in 1876, Rutherford Birchard Hayes went to his bed believing he had lost the presidential election. The next day, however, his Republican campaign manager boldly proclaimed him the winner. It was discovered that three Republican states in the South (Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana) had sent in double returns. The Democrats screamed foul, until it was revealed they too, had committed election return fraud. Congress debated the election results for weeks. The year ended with no U.S. president-elect. In January 1877, Congress appointed an electoral commission to laboriously re-count the entire vote and settle the dispute. On March 2, the commission announced that Hayes had 185 electoral votes and Samuel Tilden 184. If only one of the 20 disputed electoral votes had gone to him, Tilden would have been elected. His popular vote was 4,284,020, and Hayes at 4,036,572.

A collection of highly romantic love letters from Ronald Reagan to actress Nancy Davis, whom he married in 1952, was published in September 2000 and became a best-seller.

Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital.

John Tyler was the first president to marry while in office.

U.S. President George Washington, the first president, was the first person to breed roses in the United States. George Washington laid out his own garden at Mount Vernon and filled it with his own selections of roses. He named one of his varieties after his mother and it is still being grown today.

The White House purchased 12 tons of jelly beans during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

One Native American has served as vice president of the United States. Charles Curtis of Kansas was President Herbert Hoover’s vice president. Curtis’s mother was a full-blooded member of the Kaw tribe.

The word “sneaker” was coined by Henry McKinney, an advertising agent for N.W. Ayer & Son.

Air-filled tyres were used on bicycles before they were used on motorcars.

Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.

The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced.

In 1895 French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere demonstrated a projector system in Paris. In 1907 they screened the first public movie.

The first president to have been chosen by the House of Representatives was Thomas Jefferson (ties between him and Aaron Burr).

The last president to not attend college was Harry Truman. Regardless, there is a college named after him, in Chicago, Illinois.

The Star-Spangled Banner was chosen as the U.S.’s national anthem while Herbert Hoover was president.

Andrew Johnson was also the only former president elected to the U.S. Senate.

Millard Fillmore’s wife Abigail was the first one to set up the White House Library.