How many presidents felt earthquakes in the White House?
| Washington
Has any US president experienced an earthquake? Of the seismic variety, we mean, as opposed to political upheaval?
We ask because President Obama has (so far) missed his chance. The magnitude-5.8 temblor that rolled from Virginia through the nation鈥檚 capital on Aug. 23 was one of the strongest ever to hit the region, but Mr. Obama didn鈥檛 feel it. He was on Martha鈥檚 Vineyard playing golf.
He has also said he didn鈥檛 detect the magnitude-3.4 earthquake that hit Washington in the early hours of July 16, 2010. He was asleep in the White House at the time.
Obama鈥檚 not alone, of course. Most Washingtonians have never been through an earthquake, given that the mid-Atlantic isn鈥檛 a tectonically unstable part of the world. But as near as we can determine, at least two presidents got all shook up to the point that they wrote down what happened.
The first instance involves a series of massive quakes 鈥� the largest to ever strike the eastern US and possibly the largest to affect North America since its settlement by Europeans. These were tremors in 1811 and 1812 centered on New Madrid, in what is now Missouri.
James Madison was the nation鈥檚 chief executive at the time. 鈥淭he re-iterations of the Earthquakes continue to be reported from various quarters.... There was one here [Washington, D.C.] this morning at 5 or 6 minutes after 4 OC. It was rather stronger than any preceding one, & lasted several minutes,鈥� Madison wrote Thomas Jefferson on Feb. 7, 1812.
The second president to feel the earth move was John Quincy Adams. He was in Washington on March 9, 1828, when one of the most violent earthquakes ever to originate in the region struck. 鈥淭he window shutters rattled as if shaken by the wind, and there was a momentary sensation as of the heaving of a ship on the waves,鈥� wrote Adams that evening.
Interestingly, the Aug. 23 earthquake originated in Virginia about 30 miles from Montpelier, Madison鈥檚 home, which is now a museum. Books tumbled and plaster cracked. According to museum staffers, those cracks almost certainly follow the exact pattern of damage done by the 1811 and 1812 temblors.
