#25 William McKinley

Greetings from McKinley Park in Chicago where we were ran into Mr. McKinley himself. It's actually very fitting that we run into him on our stop-over to Spain since he was President during the Spanish-American War. Spain thought they were going to walk all over us but the American Navy emerged victorious in the Pacific while Teddy Roosevelt's rough riders rode through Cuba. The US annexed Puerto Rico, Guam, the Phillipines, and Cuba through this war and signaled the final decline of the Spanish Empire. The lighting on this picture is quite bad but we will have to fix it when we get home. I am now already 25% finished with the project. Of course, it gets more difficult as we move on since we tend to see the same Presidents over and over.

#42 Bill Clinton

It is certainly a likeness, and not a bad one I might add. I put these pics next to the ones we took at Tussauds and they hold up pretty well. Of course these are representations of the brief period where Bill was still a pig farmer in Arkansas and Hillary was a belly dancer at a hookah bar in Park Ridge. Hillary is FLOTUS #3 by the way and each one has also been at a unique location. We were out shopping when we ran into these two so I am taking chance encounter points as well. I am very glad that I found these two as well since even I am not dedicated enough to travel to the new Clinton statue in Kosovo.

#44 Barack Obama

It doesn't matter that it's a bobble-head and it doesn't matter that the bobble-head is kind of yellow, this one still counts. I had this secret fantasy that White House people might spot my blog and offer up a photo-op with the President but that is too unlikely to hold onto. This early in the game, I have to just keep putting points up on the board. I'll also score FLOTUS #2 with a much better rendition of Michelle and Barry at Madame Tussauds. My wife was officially embarrassed for the first time (won't be the last) at the souvenir shop though because I made her feel like a tourist in our new city. I don't know how you can take pictures next to Presidential likenesses without feeling like a tourist though.

#7 Andrew Jackson

Old Hickory hangs out just north of the White House on H Street in Lafayette Square. This area was supposed to be part of the White House grounds but Jefferson separated it in 1804. In 1824 it was dedicated to General Lafayette of France and several other European generals who aided in the revolution. Prior to 9/11, you could drive down H Street but now it is only accessible to the public by foot, bike, and most popularly: SEGWAYS! If you are ever in this area, you should never feed the squirrels. It appears that many people sit on the benches and do so and it makes them fearless.

#36 Lyndon B. Johnson

Oh Madame Tussauds, you give some much and yet I have restricted myself from using you to your full potential. I am somewhat comforted though by the 55% off coupons we redeemed on Groupon. The great state of Texas has honored LBJ at least 3 times in statue form and Lady Bird at least once. Unfortunately, I have never been to Texas and do not really have other cause to travel there. I do reserve the right to to swap this out if I run into with Mr. Johnson again and perhaps I will supplement other entries with some funnier pics from today. A rumor has surfaced that I might be slowing down or losing energy with respect to this project. Nothing can be farther from the truth! I do need to be a bit more strategic though because my wife will only accompany me on 1 POTUS hunt per week. All that means is that the yields will be greater on those hunts. Get ready for a good week ...

#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt

There truly are a lot of memorials in DC and many more in the works. This one was completed in 1997 on the Western edge of the tidal basin and has 4 separate spaces dedicated to each term FDR had in office. The tidal basin is all lit up at night and you can see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial reflecting in the water. The weather was great and it's a good excuse to get out of the burbs. I don't think I could finish this project if we didn't live in DC but we had actually never seen this one before so it made the trip that much better. I'm giving myself bonus points on this one for adding a picture of Carla with my first FLOTUS.

#18 Ulysses S. Grant

In case you haven't noticed already, I have been attempting to re-create the pose of the POTUS in each statue. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to do in this case without a horse. This particular Grant is at the official memorial site on the National Mall and is the largest equestrian statue in the United States (second largest in the world). I am going to make an attempt to upgrade or supplement this picture with Grant Park in Chicago or Appomattox. This will have to do for now though since there is still a long way to go and these are definitely the easy guys.

#26 Theodore Roosevelt

There's the original Teddy Bear himself in giant form on Roosevelt Island in DC. There is not a chance in the world this is a chance encounter but I wanted to see the Island anyway and this was motivation enough. I have to note that even though Roosevelt Island is open until 10PM, it's pretty useless after dark. This is a nice homage to the man who saved so much of our National Parks but we'll have to come back when we can actually see something.

#20 James Garfield

I found little and big options for James Garfield yesterday. Little Garfield was located inside the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery and was actually a model for big Garfield which is located right outside the capital. My wife and I were on our way to see the Normal Rockwell exhibit at the portrait gallery so Little Garfield was definitely a chance encounter. I had plotted to see big Garfield at the capital though and was ecstatic to grab a POTUS with a bit more obscurity. According to the plaque on little Garfield, he was only President for 200 days and was assassinated by a "religious fanatic". He served Ohio in congress for 18 years before becoming President.

#3 Thomas Jefferson

This picture was actually taken at TJ's home in Monticello. My wife will vouch for me that we had wanted to go to Monticello long before I had even conceived of my POTUS project but I can hardly call this a chance encounter. Monticello is an absolutely gorgeous location though and it was well worth the drive from DC. TJ and I also share a lot of interests including: gardening, wine & beer consumption, intellectualizing, and of course ... women of color.

#16 Abraham Lincoln

Here is the picture that started the whole idea. At the Nationals game a few weeks ago, I had a chance encounter with #16-Abraham Lincoln. You can see Mr. Washington in the background there but since I can take only one Pres per venue, I will take the thumbs-up Lincoln. My hometown cubs destroyed the Nationals at this game so it was truly a great night.

Why POTUS PICS

About 2 years ago, my sister's boyfriend started the original project POTUS. The quixotic goal of this project was to read the prevailing biography (not autobiography) of each President of the United States. I believe he had made it through Eisenhower before deciding to go back to the founding fathers and read another biography on them. His ground rules were simple: if you bought him a biography as a gift, he would write you a summary of the book after he was finished.

9/15/2010: To Date, my future BIL, has read 18,737 pages from 38 books on 34 Presidents.

Now that my sister's boyfriend has proposed and will soon be my brother-in-law I have an equally quixotic goal. I have decided to welcome him to the family by dedicating this blog to him. I pledge to take a photo with a likeness of every President of the United States with the following ground rules:

* No books, pictures, or paintings
* Only one POTUS per building, monument, or museum
* Busts & heads of Presidents will count
* Bonus points for chance encounters
* Super Bonus points for a picture with a live President

Welcome to the family!