Scatter Brained

C H A P T E R   6

---

154
S C A T T E R B R A I N E D
 Earhart was actually captured by the Japanese and later forced 
into becoming the English-fl uent radio propagandist Tokyo 
Rose.
WORST
Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan
One of the men who helped to construct 
Th
  e Spirit of St. Louis,
 
Corrigan  likewise  dreamed  of  personal  aviation  glory.  In-
stead, he would become infamous for somehow misreading 
his instruments and fl ying from New York all the way to Ire-
land, which he apparently mistook for California. In fairness, 
Corrigan, who’d been repeatedly denied a transatlantic per-
mit, probably did it on purpose, but he opted to go down in 
history as a spectacular bonehead rather than have his li-
cense revoked. Corrigan never did admit his intention, 
though he fi nally came clean with the embarrassing truth, 50 
years later, that his real name was Clyde. An embarrassing 
name  to  be  sure,  but  better  than  Ulysses  Grant’s,  as  you’ll 
soon see. . . .
08
Our Wacky Presidents
George Washington
 was a consistent disappointment to his 
mother, Mary. She complained frequently to anyone who 
would listen that he was lax in supporting her and, much to 
his embarrassment, once begged the Virginia legislature for a 
little spending money.
John Adams
 spoke with a lisp because he stubbornly refused 
to wear dentures.

---

155
Thomas Jefferson,
 despite his otherwise refi ned tastes, was a 
notoriously lousy dresser with poor posture. He once shocked 
a British minister with his slovenly appearance.
“Hail to the Chief” was written specifi cally for 
James Madi-
son,
 because he was so short that no one ever noticed when 
he entered the room.
James Monroe
 was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by his 
spendthrift wife and daughters; Monroe’s wife then com-
pounded matters by developing an expensive, and eventually 
fatal, illness.