The Middle Child Conspiracy: a closer look

A Smack Dab inestigative report reveals the truth about Middle Child Presidents!

          
          As happy as I was to learn that 52% of all U.S. Presidents were actually Middle Children and not firstborns, (See "The Middle Child Conspiracy"), the Middle Child in me suspected it was too good to be true. So in the spirit of this year’s Presidential elections, I did a little fact checking. It turns out that just like in real life, both sides are playing it fast and loose with the facts. Granted, it’s a little hard to label some Presidents in one category or the other. For example, George Washington’s father had four children with his first wife before the 1st President was born. Washington was the first of six children from his father’s second marriage. So does he count as the first born or the fifth born? FDR was the only child from his father’s second marriage, but had an older half-brother from his father’s first marriage. So is he the oldest or the youngest? And if we consider him an only child, does he count as both the oldest and youngest?

The Middle Child Conspiracy

     

     If you’re a Middle Child, you’ve long known there is a concentrated effort to keep us down. (If you’re not a Middle Child, you still know about it as you are probably part of the conspiracy!) Proof of this was evident again this morning on the Today Show. Psychiatrist and Today Show Contributor Dr. Gail Saltz was doing a piece about birth order. While talking about how wonderful first-borns were and what great leaders they make, she cited that over half of U.S. Presidents were first born. Well, I suppose that’s true –if you’re only counting first-born males!! When that statistic was figured, first-born females weren’t figured in as older siblings, according to Catherine Salmon and Katrin Schumann, co-authors of The Secret Power of Middle Children. The truth of the matter is 52 percent of U.S. Presidents were actually Middle Children!! Of course, we can argue whether or not that’s a good thing, but that’s not the point!! It’s just another example of how we always get the short end of the stick.