Alternate Presidential "Firsts"

' I heard some sources claim that George W. actually WANTED to go to Vietnam as a fighter pilot, but that his father, who WAS a torpedo bomber pilot in WWII talked him out of it.

W. flew the F-106 "Delta Dart". About the time his initial tour of duty in Texas ended, the Air Force considered deploying F-106s in SE Asia. However, the war was already winding down at that time. The Air Force didn't need a lot more fighters in SE Asia. Also they didn't want the extra overhead of deploying an entirely new aircraft type in the theater. So there was no deployment.

Had the deployment been made, W's squadron was IIRC likely to go.
 
Sad first that could still happen:
- First president to commit suicide.
R. Budd Dwyer?
- First to die on foreign soil.
There's a lot of them.
Papa Bush after "sushi affair" in Japan, Bill Clinton's assassination plot in the Phillipines, Dubya shoe' throw and assassination attempt in Tbilisi that came in my mind now.
- First to be assassinated abroad.
The second and fourth I talked above.
- First to be killed in a mass terrorist attack.
GWB in 9/11?
 
R. Budd Dwyer?
That would have been an interesting address to the union. Could an alcohol induced suicide be plausible for Nixon in a worse 73 scenario?

There's a lot of them.
Papa Bush after "sushi affair" in Japan, Bill Clinton's assassination plot in the Phillipines, Dubya shoe' throw and assassination attempt in Tbilisi that came in my mind now.
The second and fourth I talked above.
Didn’t Taft nearly get killed during a visit to Mexico?

What if a German anarchist shot Woodrow (first president to visit Europe during his term) during the Treaty of Versailles?

GWB in 9/11?
Exactly. Would that president become a martyr.
Barack Obama and family by white supremacist.
 
If John Wilkes Boothe's first plan had worked, Lincoln could have been the first president to be kidnapped.
Although its unlikely, Alexander Hamilton or Charles Lee could have been America's first foreign born president.
If the Confederacy had won, John Tyler would have been the first president to die in a foreign country.
 
James Madison could have become the first president to be killed or captured by enemy forces had he delayed his departure from the Executive Mansion (i.e. White House) in 1814.
 
Taking a more humourous approach, presidents' such as Kenedy or Clinton who's sexual activities are well remembered (and I am sure there are others that we know of or are unaware of). You could have something like first and or only President to host an orgy (or anything of that naughty nature) in the White House. Maybe we could have Obama who seems like the sort of fella who would be open to doing a lot of things become the POTUS remembered for running the beer mile (for a charity of course).
Maybe a more eccentric figure could set the precedent for being the first to change the colour of the White House. Perhaps the Yellow House?
Lincoln being famous for his wrestling prowess could be remembered for the first POTUS to host a wrestling tournament on aforementioned grounds.
 
OTL, both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were of age to be drafted to serve in Vietnam. Clinton escaped the draft by studying in Ireland. 'Dubja' Bush famously served with the Texas Air National Guard so he could help his father George Herbert Bush in his election campaigns over the weekends. I heard some sources claim that George W. actually WANTED to go to Vietnam as a fighter pilot, but that his father, who WAS a torpedo bomber pilot in WWII talked him out of it.

And of course, there is John McCaine who famously got shot down over Vietnam. He won the Republican nomination in 2008, but lost out against Barack Obama in the general election.

So there we have it, four possible Vietnam veterans, two not drafted, two not elected. So the presidential 'first' might as well be:
"Vietnam, the first major US military campaign that did NOT bring forth a president"
Donald Trump was also of age to be drafted to serve in Vietnam.
 
The most significant first I know of is the "Anderw Jackson becomes the first president to be assassinated", but is he also the first President to continuously engage in duels?

I mean, did Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison and Q-Adams engage in duels?
 
Nixon was the only person to be the only living president (from LBJ's death on January 22, 1973 to his resignation on August 9, 1974)
Well aside from the obvious George Washington, Herbert Hoover also achieved this (From the death of Calvin Coolidge on January 5th, 1933 to FDR's inauguration on March 4th of that same year).
 

kernals12

Banned
Well aside from the obvious George Washington, Herbert Hoover also achieved this (From the death of Calvin Coolidge on January 5th, 1933 to FDR's inauguration on March 4th of that same year).
You didn't read the rest of my comment. Nixon was the only person to be the only living president AND one of 6 living presidents at different times.
 

Driftless

Donor
The most significant first I know of is the "Anderw Jackson becomes the first president to be assassinated", but is he also the first President to continuously engage in duels?

I mean, did Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison and Q-Adams engage in duels?

A might-have-been: Aaron Burr....(VP to Thomas Jefferson)
 
1872: Charles Francis Adams (Liberal Republican/Democrat) becomes the first president to be both the son and grandson of past presidents...
 
First woman president: VP Anne Armstrong becomes president after President Gerald Ford's death in a 1979 helicopter crash. (She had helped Ford carry Texas in 1976, and hadn't hurt him in other states as Bob Dole arguably did in OTL with his talk about "Democrat wars.")
 
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