The 10 Most Techie Presidents

Written by Eric Lundquist; illustrated by Brian Moore

The first president to not only own a radio, but also speak over the airwaves. He liked to play poker, which is a techie trait, and also was the president with the largest foot size (size 14)—which has nothing to do with techiness.

While it is known that he was the first president to use the telephone, we dont know if he was the first president to also tap the phone. He was the first president to visit the West Coast while in office, which gives him techie bragging rights.

Do you need academic credentials to be a techie? He was the first president to earn a Ph.D. He also invented the League of Nations, an ambitious attempt to tie the world together.

The only president to hold a patent (for a device that lifted boats over shoals), he was fascinated by inventions and all things mechanical.

Before his presidency he was an engineer, and was assigned to nuclear submarines in the Navy. He pushed for renewable energy at a time when few understood the concept.

Sometimes wars drive technology, and FDR made sure no funding was spared to beat the enemy in the technological realm as well as on the battlefield.

The space race championed by JFK gave birth to minicomputers, microprocessors and the high-tech economy.

You have to like Ike. He was the driving force behind the interstate highway system from which all Internet metaphors sprung.

If a techie needs brains, John Quincy Adams had plenty. According to Wikipedia (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiometry), one study claims he was the cleverest U.S. president, with

He spoke six languages and invented the cryptographic wheel cipher, the portable press and a macaroni machine—all the essentials a techie could want.