Our 10 least fit presidents

The 10 least fit presidents:

1. William Howard Taft (1909-1913): He became stuck in the White House bathtub several times. By some accounts, he weighed 370 pounds. He did exercise occasionally -- horseback riding. Poor horse.

2. Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897): A 260-pound smoker, he refused to walk or do any exercise because it increased his appetite. He underwent two operations for cancer of the jaw.

3. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877): He smoked and chewed tobacco and died of tongue cancer at age 63. He drank heavily, too.

4. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945): He used a wheelchair because of polio. He also suffered from congestive heart failure and hypertension -- not that the American people knew anything about it.

5. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857): Years of heavy drinking resulted in his death from cirrhosis of the liver at age 64.

6. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921): A major stroke in 1919 left him virtually incapacitated for 17 months. He suffered from hypertension and was reported to have had his first stroke at 39.

7. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929): He suffered from clinical depression after his son's death in 1924. He slept 14 to 16 hours a day, worked four.

8. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961): He had a series of heart attacks, tuberculosis, Crohn's disease and malaria. It didn't keep him off the golf course, though.

9. Chester Arthur (1881-1885): A heavy smoker and drinker, he suffered in office from Bright's disease, a fatal kidney ailment. He died a year after leaving office.

10. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963): He suffered from Addison's disease (decreased production of adrenal hormones) and back pain, and took many prescription drugs. Media reports, though, show him sailing and playing touch football.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)