I had read a while back that many of the US Presidents are actually related, intrigued I looked further into this and studied the family tree of both Bush and Cheney.
The Results were pretty astounding. I found that Bush ahs many many powerful cousins in his family tree - and while some of them may be rather distant cousins, the number of connections to names that are so familiar in the political circles, is very interesting.
Here is a list of the cousins of George W. Bush - based on one version of his family tree, posted by some distant relative of his located at:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~addams/presidential/bush.html
What is interesteing to note - are the presidents who were cousins of their vice presidents, includeing;
Bush/Cheney
Bush/Quale
Ford/Rockefeller
etc.. as you can see below.
Presidential cousins in the Bush Tree
- MILLARD FILLMORE (1800-1874), US President
- FRANKLIN PIERCE (1804-1869), US President
- ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865), US President
- VP = HANNIBAL HAMLIN (distant cousin)
- ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT (1822-1885), US President
- RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES (1822-1893), US President
- JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD (1821-1881), US President
- Stephen GROVER CLEVELAND (1837-1908), US President
- THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1858-1919), US President
- WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1857-1930), US President
- VP = JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN (distant cousin)
- Thomas WOODROW WILSON (1856-1924), US President
- John CALVIN COOLIDGE (1872-1933), US President
- VP = CHARLES GATES DAWES (distant cousin)
- HERBERT CLARK HOOVER (1874-1964), US President
- FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1882-1945), US President
- VP = HENRY AGARD WALLACE (distant cousin)
- RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON (1913-1994), US President
- GERALD RUDOLPH FORD (b. 1913), US President
- VP = NELSON ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER (distant cousin)
41 GEORGE H W BUSH (b. 1924), 41st U.S. President
- VP = JAMES DANFORTH QUAYLE (distant cousin)
Vice Presidents
HENRY AGARD WALLACE (1888-1965), US Vice President
JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN (1855-1912), US Vice President
NELSON ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER (1908-1979), US Vice President
HANNIBAL HAMLIN (1809-1891), US Vice-President
JAMES DANFORTH QUAYLE (b. 1947), US Vice-President
RICHARD BRUCE CHENEY (b. 1941), US Vice-President
GARRET AUGUSTUS HOBART (1844-1899), US Vice President
CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS (1852-1918), US Vice President
CHARLES GATES DAWES (1865-1951), US Vice President
Senatorial relatives
Prescott Sheldon Bush
DAVID DAVIS (1815-1886), US Senator
HAMILTON FISH (1808-1893), US Senator, governor of New York
JOHN RANDOLPH (1773-1833), US Senator
HARRY FLOOD BYRD (1887-1966), US Senator, Governor of Virginia
HAMILTON FISH KEAN (1862-1941), US Senator
JOHN KEAN (1852-1914), US Senator
ORRIN GRANT HATCH (b. 1934), US Senator
ROBERT ALPHONSO TAFT (1889-1953), US Senator (tafts son)
ROBERT ALPHONSO TAFT (1917-1993), US Senator (tafts grandson)
CLAIBORNE de BORDA PELL (b. 1918), US Senator
WILLIAM GIBBS McADOO (1863-1941), US senator, secretary of the
treasury
ISRAEL WASHBURN (1813-1883), governor of Maine
WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN (1831-1912), US Senator
WAYNE LYMAN MORSE (1900-1974), US Senator
JOHN PENDLETON KING (1799-1888), U.S. Senator (apparently not blood
related)
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS (1813-1861), senator
WILLIAM PAINE SHEFFIELD (1820-1907), US Senator
MALCOLM WALLOP (b. 1933), US Senator
ADLAI EWING STEVENSON III (b. 1930), US Senator
JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER IV (b. 1937), US Senator
JOHN GOODWIN TOWER (1925-1991), US Senator
JOHN SHERMAN (1823-1900), US Senator
JOHN FORBES KERRY (b. 1943), US Senator (wannabe president)
Not to mention good `ol "Jeb" Bush
Presidential cousins in the Cheney Tree
- JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826), US President
- JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1767-1848), US President
- MILLARD FILLMORE (1800-1874), US President
- FRANKLIN PIERCE (1804-1869), US President
- WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1857-1930), US President
- John CALVIN COOLIDGE (1872-1933), US President
- FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1882-1945), US President
- HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972), U.S. President
- GEORGE H W BUSH (b. 1924), U.S. President
- GEORGE WALKER BUSH (b. 1946), US President