Notes from the US elections of 2020

If you have not heard of the Curse of Tippecanoe, you can look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Tippecanoe

More details here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEqokw0gQLc&ab_channel=Mr.Beat

Also Joe Biden (born 20/11/1942) will be the oldest President (78+) at the time of his inauguration on 20/01/2021. The previous record was 70+ by Donald Trump when he was sworn in on 20/01/2017. Ronald Reagan was 73+ when he was sworn in for the second time on 20/01/1985.

Joe Biden was born before 4 of his predecessors (Clinton, Bush (Jr), Obama and Trump.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter continues his run as the longest-lived President. He crossed 97 on Oct 1, 2021

Joe Biden becomes the second Catholic President after JFK (1961-63).

He emulated Richard Nixon and George Bush (Sr) by being elected Vice-President twice and then becoming President.

He may be the first incoming President to have a railway station named after him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_station_(Delaware)

Along with POTUS and VPOTUS, there are normally FLOTUS and SLOTUS: the First Lady and Second Lady. For the first time there will be a First Gentleman. Douglas Emhoff becomes the first Jewish person to be either President, Vice-president or spouse of either.

Looking more closely as the outgoing and incoming FLOTUSs:

Melania Trump has some claims to fame: “In March 2001 she became a permanent resident of the U.S. She married the businessman, real estate developer and television personality Donald Trump in January 2005, gave birth to their son Barron in March 2006, and obtained U.S. citizenship in July 2006.After Louisa Adams, she is the second First Lady to have been born outside the country (not counting those born in U.S. territory before the country existed), the first one to be a naturalized citizen and the first whose native language is not English.”

As for her successor-she is the first First Lady with Italian ancestry and the first with a PhD. This is the second marriage for both her and her husband.

While there have been several Presidents named John (hence Jack), she is the first Jill among First Ladies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Biden

The US Presidential elections and Indian place names

As the saturation coverage of the US elections will continue for a while, we may as well try to match their leader’s names to place names in India.

While the incumbent President Barack Obama came to India more than once, he does not seem to have visited this place:

barrackpore

His predecessor Jimmy Carter did indeed have a village near Gurgaon named after him. Supposedly his mother had been there with the Peace Corps at one time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterpuri

A halt station called Carterpuri (between Bijwasan and Gurgaon) was listed in the timetable for a few years, though it seems to have closed down long ago and no trace of it can be seen now. A new station called Palam Vihar Halt was built some years later in the same general area, though no trains appear to stop there now.

When Bill Clinton was President, the combination of him and the First Lady was referred to as Billary. Therefore, a logical place for them to visit is:

bellary-map

although it has now been renamed to:

ballari-new

If (somehow) Donald Trump wins, he could visit the small town of McDonald’s Choultry in Tamil Nadu, though the station (between Salem and Erode) was long ago renamed to:

magudan-chavadi

This name change in the 1970s was perhaps the first step against the McDonaldization of India.

We close with this one currently making the rounds on social media, presumably taken in around 1970:

bill-and-hillary

Also read this one: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/present-and-past-us-presidents/