A short note … about long underwear

Bare-knuckle boxers 🥊

I’m flying by the seat of my pants here, but I finally named my Substack newseltter — Presidential Briefs. This is a repurposed name from something I abandoned a few years ago.¹

Presidential Briefs won’t necessarily be brief. Or about briefs, per se. But it isn’t necessarily not not about briefs. Like this one. If it gets your knickers in a knot, let me know.

As a nod to my Presidential Briefs precursor, I’m repurposing my original content.

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This “eat my shorts” doodle is from when I read Candice Millard’s The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey. It’s fabulous. Read it.

After his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt explored the Amazon. Two different animals dined on his underpants:

1. pack oxen

2. termites

If you’re curious what kind of underwear Theodore Roosevelt wore — you’re not alone! Lucky for you, I checked with Friends of Sagamore Hill. They confirmed that Roosevelt wore long flannels, which later became known as “long johns.” There are a few different theories on the etymology of “long johns,” but they may have gotten their name from the country’s most famous athlete at the time — bare-knuckle boxer and (coincidentally!) good friend of Roosevelt John L. Sullivan.

Sullivan made an appearance in my sketchbooks back when I read about Benjamin Harrison. Years before Amazonian animals feasted on Theodore Roosevelt’s underpants, the combination of cholera and a much-anticipated boxing match between Sullivan and Corbett completely overshadowed Harrison’s announcement that he was running for reelection.

Harrison lost his reelection, then married his niece (25 years his junior). They had a baby and lived happily ever after. Until he died. She outlived him by 47 years.

The end.

1. I thought I should have a different name than I use for my other email newsletter, The POTUS Notice? But maybe not. This is all a big giant experiment.