I was wondering if this presidential tale was confirmed, so I thought I'd check. One of the great (or bad, depending) things about the Net is that you can bet if you thought of something, somebody else did before you. So I found this piece ready made on CNN's political blogs.
Anyway, William Howard Taft, the nation's girthiest president, checked in at a shade under 6 feet tall and weighed about 340 pounds when he took office in 1909. So he was a very large man by any standards, but even more so considering that was over 100 years ago. From pics I've seen of him, I'd say he's pretty similar in stature to current heavyweight Chris Christie.
One of the urban myths about Taft is that he got stuck in the White House bathtub. The CNN writer was not able to actually confirm that he was really stuck. But I have a couple of ideas.
1. If one wants to assume the tale is true, remember that he would not have been stuck in a contemporary-sized fixture. Americans as a whole are a lot bigger people now than we were then, not just in terms of weight, but significantly taller and just bigger in stature overall. And a tub in the White House might have been quite old. And to be honest, by today's standards, 340 pounds is quite large but it's not HUGE by any means. So if he really did get stuck it was probably in a small tub built for a much smaller person.
2. I think this is more likely. Taft, apparently did have some health issues associated with his weight. So my guess is that what really happened is that he just wasn't able to get out of the tub. Maybe he couldnt get his feet under him to stand up, or didn't have the strength to pull himself up, or couldn't get a good grip. The story is it took four men to get him out, so this version is more likely.
But anyway, I think we can guarantee that if elected, Christie would not be getting stuck in a White House tub. Americans will have to grow one helluva lot more before something like that could happen.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/06/f … -in-a-tub/
Did Taft really get stuck in the White House bathtub?
Man those Navy ships used to be made for SMALL sailors. I'm 6-2 1/2 and it would have been extremely difficult for me to get around in the WWll era ships. How'd you get loose Dave?:-)
i stuck my finger in a dyke once.
When I was in the Navy, I got my head caught in a porthole and made twenty bucks before I got it out.....
Actually, it is purported to be an "Urban Myth". Especially as Pres. Taft had a custom built bathtub, that exceeded the standard sizes of the time, installed. The alleged incident also says that the staff used butter to help release him from the purported entanglement.