1

John F. Kennedy

JFK, called "Jack" by his family, grew up with eight siblings in a home that encouraged both physical and intellectual competition. His strict upbringing didn’t stop him from forming the "Muckers Club" at Choate School, a group known for pranks and mischief that nearly got him expelled. Still, he was a popular, athletic student, and when he graduated in 1935, his classmates voted him "most likely to succeed."

2

Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR grew up in a wealthy household, enjoying every comfort and taking frequent trips to Europe from an early age. He even visited the White House as a child, where he experienced a moment he would remember years later. When he was five, his family met President Grover Cleveland, who looked at little FDR and said, "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States," referring to the heavy burden of the office. Curious, isn’t it?

3

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Those of us with siblings know just how important they can be, and that was true for young Dwight D. Eisenhower as well. When little Ike was being picked on at school by bullies bigger than him, his older brother Edgar stepped in. One day, Edgar stood up for Ike and made sure the bullies got the message, teaching them (and Dwight) an important lesson.

4

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover was still far from becoming president when, at about six years old, he lost his father. He was sent to live with his uncle, a US government agent at the Osage Indian Reservation in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. For a year, young Bertie was surrounded by Native Americans and attended "Indian Sunday School," an experience that later shaped his policies and influenced his choice of Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw Nation, as vice president.

5

Calvin Coolidge

The story goes that in the 1880s, a mule was once found locked inside a classroom at a school in Vermont. Can you imagine the chaos that poor animal must have caused? According to the tale, the culprit was a young Calvin Coolidge, who supposedly did it to get back at a teacher he didn’t like. The story was passed down by people who knew him, and although it was never recorded in official documents, it’s a fun contrast to the quiet, reserved man he later became as president.

6

Bill Clinton

Young Bill was often described as "unbearably responsible." According to one story, when he was in high school, a classmate once turned to him and said, "Don’t you ever break any rules? You’re a teenager!" Still, even this calm, rule-following kid had a mischievous moment: with some friends, he once spent a couple of hours tossing acorns at passing cars. Harmless, right? As long as it wasn’t your car!

7

John Tyler

Apparently, young John Tyler had a rebellious, righteous spirit. There’s a story from his youth that shows it perfectly: when he was just 10 years old, he led a revolt at his one-room schoolhouse against a teacher who was cruel and despotic. According to the tale, when the teacher complained to his father, Judge John Tyler, he replied, "Sic semper tyrannis!"

8

Abraham Lincoln

Although she never attended school herself, Abraham Lincoln’s mother believed it was important for her children to get an education, so they began attending one in a nearby town. The thing is, it wasn’t very close: the future president Lincoln and his older sister walked a little over nine miles to school, and another nine back home every day. Talk about perseverance!

9

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Illinois. Although his future would be very bright, his childhood wasn’t easy. From an early age, he struggled with vision problems, which made it hard for him to see clearly and focus on activities he liked, such as sports. But everything changed at 13, when he was finally prescribed his first pair of glasses, and soon landed his first job as a lifeguard. For several summers during his youth, he dove into the water to save people, an experience that, according to Reagan himself, gave him the confidence that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

10

Ulysses S. Grant

According to historical sources, Ulysses S. Grant showed an extraordinary ability with horses from an early age. So strong was his talent that people in his town brought him their "problem horses" to train. It is said that, at just 10 years old, he led a 40-mile journey driving a team of horses carrying passengers, a remarkable feat for someone so young!

1

Let’s start with a grammar mistake

Image: Shotkitimages

2

Even the nation’s most important document wasn’t immune to typos! Article I, Section 10 writes "it’s" instead of "its," mistakenly using the contraction instead of the possessive form.

The funny part? The correct spelling of "its" appears properly in other parts of the document. This suggests it was just a careless transcription mistake rather than a misunderstanding of grammar. Since rewriting historical documents isn’t exactly encouraged, the mistake remains to this day. Even the Founding Fathers weren’t perfect proofreaders, you know?

3

A republic, not a democracy

Image: Joshua Sukoff

One of the biggest misconceptions about the Constitution is that it established an American democracy. However, the US was founded as a republic , which differs in that it relies on elected representatives and a system of checks and balances.

When asked whether the Convention had created a monarchy or a republic, Benjamin Franklin famously replied: "A republic, if you can keep it." It was a warning that democracy requires active participation to survive.

4

The Constitution’s British roots

Image: Romain Vignes

Even though the U.S. had declared independence from Britain, the Constitution still used British spellings. Words like "defence," "labour," and "controul" (instead of defense, labor, and control) can be found in the original text.

These spellings were still common in American English at the time, though they would eventually fade away in favor of more distinctly American versions.

5

A comma that shouldn't be there

Image: Anemone123

Grammar nerds, brace yourselves: the Constitution contains a strange comma mistake. In Article III, Section 1, the sentence reads: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court." That comma between "United States" and "shall" separates the subject from the verb, making it grammatically incorrect. While punctuation rules were more flexible back then, this particular comma sticks out as a clear mistake.

6

Who signed the Constitution? Not Jefferson or Adams!

Image: WikiImages

You might assume that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams signed the Constitution, but they didn’t. But that’s not because they didn’t stand by it, it was because they weren’t even in the country at the time!

In 1787, Jefferson was in France serving as the US Minister, while Adams was in Great Britain as the first US. Ambassador. Despite their absence, both men played major roles in shaping the early American government.

7

Not everyone signed both the Declaration and the Constitution

Image: sarina gr

Let’s focus on the ones who did sign both documents. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed by key American figures, but only six men signed both .

Those names? Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, Robert Morris, George Read, James Wilson, and Roger Sherman. While many Founding Fathers contributed to both documents, the actual signatures overlap far less than one might expect. How surprising is this?

8

Rhode Island wanted no part in it

Image: Michael Denning

When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft the Constitution, all 13 states were invited, but Rhode Island refused to show up . The state feared that a strong federal government would overpower them, so they boycotted the entire process.

They even rejected the Constitution’s ratification in 1788 before finally agreeing two years later, by just two votes!

9

They "chuse" some interesting spellings

Image: Brett Jordan

If you were told our Constitution reads " The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment," would you believe it?

You better do because this spelling mistake doesn’t happen only once, it appears multiple times throughout the document.

While it may seem like an error, "chuse" was actually a perfectly acceptable spelling at the time. Language evolves, and by the 19th century, "choose" had won out as the standard spelling.

10

The President cannot veto Constitutional Amendments

Image: David Everett Strickler

Presidents may have veto power over laws, but they have zero say when it comes to Constitutional amendments. Congress or a constitutional convention must propose and ratify them without requiring presidential approval.

While presidents can support or lobby for amendments, they can’t introduce or block them directly. Not many people knew this, what about you?

11

The Supreme Court’s most famous power isn’t in the Constitution

Image: Adam Michael Szuscik

Many people assume the Constitution explicitly gives the Supreme Court the power of judicial review, that is, the ability to declare laws unconstitutional. But guess what? It doesn’t.

Actually, judicial review became a standard practice after the famous Marbury v. Madison case in 1803. The Founding Fathers expected the courts to play this role, but the power isn’t actually written in the document itself. Even the Constitution has its unwritten rules!

1

The original sign read "Hollywoodland"

Imagine driving through Los Angeles and suddenly seeing a giant new word stretched across a hillside, where nothing had stood before. The sign that appeared on Mount Lee in 1923 read "Hollywoodland," with 13 enormous letters rising above Beachwood Canyon. Each letter was about 43 feet tall and 30 feet wide, making the advertisement impossible to miss.

Modern period movies sometimes restore that original view. Ruben Fleischer’s 2013 film Gangster Squad is set in 1949 and opens with a shot that moves from Griffith Observatory toward the complete "Hollywoodland" sign. The extra four letters immediately place the story in an earlier Los Angeles, before the landmark took its familiar form.

2

It advertised real estate

No one involved in putting up the sign could have imagined how iconic it would become. Before the sign was a celebration of Hollywood’s film industry, it advertised Hollywoodland, a new upscale neighborhood in the hills . A group of real estate investors, including Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, supported the project and spent about $21,000 on the giant sign.

The development itself was already a large project. A 1923 advertisement said that 200 men were working there, seven miles of roads had been built, and huge amounts of dirt had been removed. The sign was simply the biggest part of the sales campaign.

3

It was supposed to be temporary

The Hollywood sign wasn’t meant to last forever. The developers expected it to stay on the hillside for only about 18 months. But that deadline passed, and the sign was still useful for attracting buyers to Hollywoodland, so no one rushed to take it down.

As the years went by, the giant letters became a familiar part of the Los Angeles landscape, especially as the movie industry nearby continued to grow. After the development had sold its properties, the company transferred the sign and the surrounding land to the City of Los Angeles in 1944. By then, the temporary billboard had already been standing over the city for more than 20 years.

4

Thousands of bulbs lit the letters

For Los Angeles residents in the 1920s, the Hollywoodland sign must have looked more like a giant theater marquee than a roadside billboard. As it was designed to stand out after dark just as much as during the day, about 4,000 light bulbs, each rated at 20 watts, covered its metal panels. Placed only eight inches apart, they turned the hillside into an enormous electric display.

And the whole sign didn’t light up at once. First came "Holly," followed by "wood" and then "land," before the complete name appeared. There was even a 35-foot illuminated dot beneath the letters, acting like a giant period at the end of the word.

5

The "Land" section disappeared in 1949

By the late 1940s, the sign had fallen into such poor condition that city officials considered tearing it down. Residents pushed back, and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce offered to help restore it. But there was one major change: the last four letters had to disappear.

In April 1949, the city approved a plan to rebuild the missing "H," remove "LAND," and repair the remaining letters. On September 26, "Hollywoodland" officially became "Hollywood." That small change gave the sign a completely new meaning. It no longer advertised a housing development; it now represented the entire Hollywood district.

6

The original letters slowly collapsed

The 1949 repairs helped for a while, but they didn’t fix the sign’s deeper structural problems. Its metal panels and supporting framework were still exposed to years of sun, rain, wind, termites, neglect, and vandalism. By the 1960s and 1970s, the landmark looked rusty, uneven, and was close to falling apart.

In fact, parts of it did fall down the mountain. The top of the "D" collapsed, the third "O" disappeared completely, and an arsonist damaged the bottom of the second "L." Even after Los Angeles designated the sign a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1973, its condition continued to deteriorate. At that point, another coat of paint was not going to be enough.

7

The sign was rebuilt in 1978

What would Hollywood do if its most famous sign disappeared? Small repairs were no longer enough by the end of the 1970s. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decided that all nine letters had to be replaced, and workers took down the original sign in August 1978, leaving the hillside completely bare for about three months.

This time, the sign was built to last. The new letters were made of steel and enamel and secured with concrete, creating a structure of about 194 tons. The new sign imitated the original and was completed in November 1978. So, t he letters visitors see today aren’t from 1923, but a recovered version of the landmark.

8

Celebrities helped pay for new letters

The project cost about $250,000, and Hollywood raised it the only way it knew how: with famous names and a big party. Hugh Hefner held a party at the Playboy Mansion, where donors could pay about $27,700 to sponsor one of the nine new letters.

Several famous names joined the campaign. Alice Cooper paid for the third "O" in honor of comedian Groucho Marx. Singer Andy Williams sponsored the "W," while Gene Autry and television station KTLA helped pay for the second "L." Warner Bros. Records, Kelley Blue Book founder Les Kelley, and other supporters also helped rebuild the famous sign.

9

The sign has been altered several times

Those giant white letters have always attracted pranksters, students, activists, and advertisers who wanted to display their own messages above Los Angeles. Most of them didn’t remove or damage the original letters. By covering only certain parts of the sign with fabric, plastic, or curtains, they could make the sign appear to spell a completely different word . These changes were usually temporary, lasting only long enough to promote an event, support a cause, or play a public joke.

On New Year’s Day in 1976, art student Daniel Finegood used about $50 worth of curtains to change the sign to "Hollyweed." In 1987, it became "Holywood" during Pope John Paul II’s visit. The sign has also been changed for official promotions, including "FOX" for the television network and "Go Navy" for an Army-Navy football game.

10

An advertisement became an icon

Los Angeles officially named the sign Historic-Cultural Monument No. 111 in 1973, recognizing that the former advertisement had become an important part of the city’s history. Five years later, during the campaign to rebuild the damaged letters, the Hollywood Sign Trust was created to help protect the landmark for future generations.

Since then, the organization has overseen repairs, repainting, security, and other improvements needed to keep the sign standing on the hillside. The sign represented much more than a place on a map; it’s a symbol of Hollywood dreams and the hope of turning them real.