The Top 5 WEIRDEST U.S. Presidents OF ALL TIME!!

Throughout American history, some presidents have stood out not just for their policies or achievements, but for their unusual habits, strange behaviors, and outright eccentricities. From the chaotic to the quietly bizarre, these leaders each had quirks that set them apart from the rest. In today’s video, we won’t be judging any presidents by their performance as commander in chief, rather focusing primarily on their oddities. So let’s jump right into it as we count down the 5 weirdest presidents in U.S. history, complete with the quirks and anecdotes that make them truly unforgettable.

5. Lyndon B. Johnson

LBJ may not be the first president you think of when it come to weirdness, but anyone who worked closely with him knew there was nothing ordinary about his presence. Standing over six feet tall with a commanding presence and personality, he had a unique way of getting people to do exactly what he wanted – a technique that became known as “the Johnson treatment.’ This wasn’t just persuasive talk; it involved leaning in close, invading personal space, grabbing shoulder or lapels, and using sheer physical intensity to intimidate. People often described it as both overwhelming and unforgettable, a mix of charm and controlled aggression that left no room for hesitation.

But his eccentricities went beyond his powerful presence. LBJ was notorious for oversharing intimate and even graphic details about his health, bodily functions, and moods, often in the middle of meetings. He could swing from genial and charming to fiery and explosive in a matter of moments, keeping aides and visitors constantly on edge. While some of his quirks were strategic tools of influence, others simply reflected his unusual personality – a blend of intensity, emotional volatility, and an almost theatrical need to dominate any room he entered.

Johnson was known to continue conversations or even hold official meetings while using the toilet. This wasn’t just absent-mindedness – he often used it as an extension of his dominance and control. Aides and visitors felt intimidated and uncomfortable, which gave LBJ a psychological edge. He didn’t adhere to normal boundaries and would hold meetings almost anywhere – a traditional office, a porch, an airport tarmac, or even a bathroom.

4. Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was famously quiet, earning the nickname “Silent Cal.” His silence was not just a personal preference – it shaped his entire presidency, giving him an aura of mystery. It also gave more power to his words when he did speak – even minor statements felt significant. Unlike other presidents who used charisma or force, Coolidge’s weirdness game from extreme restraint and emotional distance he maintained in nearly ever social interaction.

Despite his quiet demeanor, Coolidge had a mischievous side as well and enjoyed dry practical jokes that often left people unsure whether hew as serious or joking. He had a series of buttons on his desk used to summon his staff and pranked them by pressing them all at once, watching people run from all directions.

Coolidge also had some unusual personal habits that set him apart. He was known to keep a pet raccoon at the White House, originally intended as a Thanksgiving meal that he decided to adopt instead. He and his wife named the raccoon Rebecca. Cooldige would let Rebecca just run around the oval office or White House grounds like it was completely normal. And she wasn’t his only pet. He had a a pygmy hippo named Billy, lion cubs named Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau, dogs, cats, canaries, and a black bear. He even kept a cow on the White House lawn to supply fresh milk. While eating breakfast in bed, he liked to have petroleum jelly rubbed on his head because he thought it kept his scalp healthy. He also loved his sleep and spent 10-11 hours in bed per night, in addition to midday naps.

3. Richard Nixon

Nixon was weird in a very specific, inward-turned way – less flamboyant than eccentric, more unsettling than humorous. He was deeply private yet obsessed with how he was perceived, contantly recording conversations in the White House while simultaneously mistrusting almost everyone around him. Nixon carried a lifelong sense of grievance, believing elites, the media and political enemies were always conspiring against him. This combination of paranoia and insecurity created a President who was always listening, always plotting and never quite at ease, even at the height of his power.

He also had awkward personal habits for a man in public life. Nixon talked to portraits of past presidents late at night, especially Abraham Lincoln, sometimes pacing the White House halls while delivering one-sided speeches to them. He drank heavily at times, particularly during periods of stress, and aides worried about his judgment during late-night phone calls. During the height of the Vietnam War protests, he made an impromptu, late-night visit to the Lincoln Memorial to speak with a group of anti-war demonstrators, an event often described as rambling and incoherent, which some aides blamed on the sleeping medication he was taking.

His favorite food was a rather unusual combination of cottage cheese with ketchup. Nixon maintained a formal demeanor at all times, including wearing a coat and tie even when he was relaxing alone at home or walking on the beach.  And despite being a skilled strategist, he could be painfully uncomfortable in casual human interactions, often coming across as stiff, suspicious or emotionally distant.

Perhaps the strangest thing about Nixon was the contradiction between his brilliance and his self destruction. He achieved enormous accomplishments – opening relations with China, reshaping global diplomacy and winning reelection in a landslide – yet still felt compelled to spy, sabotage, and record everything. His need for control and validation ultimately undid him. Nixon wasn’t weird because he lacked intelligence or ambition, he was weird because he couldn’t escape his own mind, and that inner turmoil followed him all the way out of the White House.

2. Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was weird in an explosive, high-voltage way – an unstoppable bundle of energy that bordered on manic. He spoke rapidly, gestured wildly, and lived at a pace that exhausted nearly everyone around him. Roosevelt read a book a day, practiced Judo, and dragged diplomats on brutal hikes where he’d deliberately set a pace too fast for them. He believed idleness was a moral failure and a had a constant need for action. He boxed, wrestled sumo wrestlers, played tennis, famously took his cabinet for skinny-dipping sessions in frigid rivers, and rode horses relentlessly, even with injuries like a broken arm.

Roosevelt was a hardcore individual, and was once shot during a campaign speech. An experienced hunter and anatomist, he correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung, so he declined to go to the hospital immediately and instead delivered his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He remarked that it took more than a bullet to kill a Bull Moose. Pain, danger, and exhaustion seemed to energize him rather than slow him down.

Aside from his insane energy, he also had some interesting personal habits. Roosevelt kept exotic animals as pets, including snakes, birds, and even a hyena. And it didn’t stop there. He had dogs, cats, a badger named Josiah, a pony named Algonquin, guinea pigs, a bear, a macaw, a pig (Maude), and even a one-legged rooster, turning the White House into something closer to a traveling zoo. He told long, booming stories at dinner, often ignore social cues and talking over guests. He had a strange mix of childlike enthusiasm and iron-willed seriousness. Roosevelt didn’t just embrace eccentricity – he weaponized it. His weirdness wasn’t hidden or apologetic; it was loud, joyful and intimating and it helped turn him into one fo the most unforgettable personalities ever to occupy the Oval Office.

1. Andrew Jackson

But coming in at #1 is the craziest and most unorthodox President in U.S. History – Andrew Jackson. His eccentricities included a volcanic temper, a love for dueling, gambling and horse racing, a deep distrust of institutions like the National Bank, and a fierce, often violent, defense of his honor all wrapped up in a persona earning him the nickname “Old Hickory.” He carried lifelong grudges with almost religious intensity, and was willing to kill or be killed to defend it. Jackson participated in multiple duels, most famously allowing Charles Dickinson to shoot him in the chest, barely moving upon getting hit, then calmly returning fire and killing his opponent. He walked around for years with bullets lodged in his body, treating them like souvenirs rather than wounds.

His temper ruled his life and his presidency. Jackson attacked people with canes, threatened political enemies openly, and once declared martial law while ignoring court orders. He viewed opposition not as disagreement but as betrayal, and often assumed conspiracies where none existed. Even as President, he behaved like a frontier brawler dropped into the White House – hosting chaotic public parties that destroyed furniture and trusting his gut over legal or institutional limits.

Jackson owned an African Grey parrot named Poll, which he taught to curse. The bird reportedly had to be removed from Jackson’s own funeral in 1845 because it would not stop screaming profanities at the mourners. And we can’t discuss Andrew Jackson’s weirdness without mention the block of cheese – he received a 1,400 pound block of cheese from a New York dairy farmer as a gift, and instead of politely declining or quietly distributing it, Jackson kept it in the White House for nearly 2 years. By the time his presidency ended, the cheese has become rancid, sinking up parts of the building. During his final days in office, he threw a huge cheese party, where the cheese was cut up and handed out. The crowd went wild, but the smell penetrated the White House and did not go away for years.

The cheese episode sums up why Jackson comes in at #1 on today’s list – who else hoards a giant block of cheese in the white house then unleashes it on the public as a farewell gesture? The same man who also regularly participated in duels, gladly took bullets, turned political disagreements into personal vendettas, and smashed norms, leaving behind a presidency that felt less like governance and more like controlled chaos barely holding together. Jackson was certainly stubborn, theatrical and most definitely completely unhinged.