Kevin's Watch

Did you know several of our most famous and greatest Presidents were avid musicians. Under the famous category let’s start with saxophonist Bill Clinton and pianist Richard Nixon.

Then there was:

John Quincy Adams played several musical instruments, including the violin, harp, guitar and flute.

Benjamin Franklin, though never a President, was a great statesman, scientist, inventor and founding father of the United States. He also played several instruments, including guitar, violin and harp.

When it came to writing our great Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson would sometimes hit a mental block. To keep going, he would take out his violin and start to play. The music calmed his mind and energized his body. He would then walk back to his desk in a heightened state of mind and continue writing. Jefferson, our 3rd President, also played cello and clavichord – a precursor to the modern piano.

Also a violinist was the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. That was news to me too.

President Warren G. Harding organized the Citizen's Cornet Band, available for both Republican and Democratic rallies. ‘I played every instrument but the slide trombone and the E-flat cornet,’ he once boasted.

Most Americans don’t know that President Harry Truman was planning on a career as a piano soloist before he got side-tracked by politics. He never stopped playing his beloved piano.