J.Q. ADAMS, 6th, 1825-29

The icy-veined John Quincy Adams led a Spartan life in the White House. He rose at five, read the bible, and took a nude swim in the Potomac. To anyone walking past, the sight of the nude, pink-domed president would have been startling. One morning, "the Dreaded" editor and journalist, Anne Royall, sat on his clothes until he agreed to answer her questions earning her the first presidential interview ever granted to a woman.

His wife, Louisa, confided that the Adams men were peculiarly harsh and severe with their women. Few presidential relationships deteriorated as much during their White House tenure. Louisa began writing poetry and a series of bitter, sardonic plays, often skewering her husband.

J.Q. Adams served his presidential term courageously despite familial tremor, depression, stroke, and alcoholism. Watery of eye, tremulous of hand, he grew fat and flatulent.

Toilets, a novelty during his term, were given the nickname "Quincy." He was the first to have such a convenience installed in the White House.

The first daguerreotype of a president was made in 1847 when J.Q. Adams was seventy-nine.

After his term, J.Q. Adams returned to public life as a congressman. While protesting the Mexican War, he suddenly collapsed on the floor of the House and was carried to a bed set up for him in the Speaker's office. In his final hours, an enterprising artist named Arthur Stansbury sketched a last portrait, the first first-hand image ever made of a dying president.

d. February 23, 1848 (Capitol Building, Washington, DC), at 80, from a stroke.