Author John Hodgman's Fake Presidential Trivia
Author John Hodgman. Becky Lettenberger/NPR hide caption
John Hodgman's book, More Information Than You Require. hide caption
John Hodgman's book, More Information Than You Require.
In a little more than a week, we should know who the 44th president of the United States will be.
It got us to thinking — what makes someone presidential? Is it experience, wisdom — or the ability to turn things invisible?
To find out, we took a walk to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery to look at historical presidential paintings, and we brought along our own tour guide: author John Hodgman.
You may recognize Hodgman from his appearances on The Daily Show, or as the star of the ubiquitous Apple computer commercials, where he portrays a well-meaning but helpless PC.
He is an expert on fake trivia, and during our time at the gallery, he misinformed us about George Washington, FDR and Howard Taft — and gave us an easy-to-understand and completely wrong explanation of the mysterious Electoral College.