John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the 6th President of the United States of America. He served one term as President (1825–1829) and then returned to Congress where he spent the remainder of his political career pursuing abolitionist motives. He was the son U.S. President John Adams and Abigail Adams. John Quincy Adams also served as the Secretary of State under President James Monroe, helping to formulate the Monroe Doctrine. He was born on July 11,1767 in Braintree, Massachussets. He died in Washington D.C. February 23, 1848.

The French aristocrat and American hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, gave John Quincy Adams an alligator as a pet. Adams kept it in a bathroom in the White House until he left office in 1829. Adams was also responsible for the first installation in the White House of a pool table. Among his more unusual hobbies, he regularly went skinny dipping in the Potomac river. The first American female professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams' habit of taking nude swims at 5 a.m. She had frequently asked for interviews with him and been refused, so she went to the river and sat on his clothes until he answered her questions, becoming the first woman to interview a president.

Adams was the first president to have his photo taken (April 13, 1843). [1]

His wife was the only foreign First Lady America has ever had and kept silk worms in order to have gowns made from their products.