Skip to main content

A history of presidential naps

As history goes there are many outlandish and intriguing stories.  Some times facts stranger than fiction.  One particular theme I have noticed in reading history written by famous authors on various continents, some autobiographical is that prominent personalities too had their foibles.

Calvin Coolidge was famously known to only work four hours a day on average as the President of the United States says  Bill Bryson in his history book for the stories from 'One Summer -    America, 1927' and therefore so titled.  He liked to nap or stare out the window at passing cars on Penn Avenue.  A historian from his time penned - no President ever slept so much.  Of course we will have to wait for history to tell us what Trump's schedule is.  Some have commented that he sleeps very little and is eager to get back to Tweeting.

Winston Churchill tells George VI, his king at the time of the second war that he likes to nap at 4 pm everyday and when asked by his majesty if that was permitted Churchill ever so quick with words responded that while it may not be it was necessary.

Atal Vajpayee erstwhile Prime Minister of India at a ripe age of 77, in part due to it was also famously known to take afternoon siestas while juggling the governing of the world's largest democracy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together.  But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die.  The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS:  I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...