All 47 US Presidents are running against each other in a 40 yard dash. Who wins?

[u/retired-tweeter]

Every U.S. President is magically cloned into their peak physical form, dropped onto a football field, and lined up for a 40-yard dash. Who ya got?

Favorites:

JFK: 2 sport college athlete, plus military training. Swam 3.5 miles towing an injured soldier with a bad back.

Gerald Ford: Another strong military background who was a two-way football player at Michigan.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Extensive military career, who played halfback at west point until his injury. Guessing he was a little fast even in segregated times

Barack Obama: Gonna get a lot of votes here probably as one of the only presidents we've seen in action playing an athletic sport, but no athletic background, so you know, can't give him too much credit

Donald Trump: In doing my 20 minutes worth of research, I came across this quote from a Ted Levine in 2015 (In an article about Trump running in 2016 so...take that as you will) "He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete," Levine said. "He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher. I think he threw 80 miles an hour.... He was physically and mentally gifted." So there's that (Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-high-school-classmates-what-he-was-like-2015-10)

All in All, I'd lean Gerald Ford. JFK had injury issues so who knows what his "prime" would have been athletically. Maybe at absolute peak and health, JFK could win, but I'm going with the 2-way football player from Michigan.

[u/SwarleymonLives]

Teddy Roosevelt. Easily. Dude was famous for his athletics.

[u/RocketDog2001 → u/SwarleymonLives]

He has that motor, IDK about the 40 but TR takes the decathlon full stop.

[u/RevWaldo → u/SwarleymonLives]

CHAAAAARRRRGGGGEEEE!!!
(⚲෴⚲)=o==[]::::::::::>

[u/psycosulu → u/RevWaldo]

Bully!

[u/eyedoc11 → u/SwarleymonLives]

Wasn't he asthmatic?

[u/Professional_Pen4628 → u/eyedoc11]

Yeah but that's what makes him a badass. some people don't believe it but he basically went full protagonist mode.

“When I was growing up I had to make my body. It was not naturally strong. I was a sickly and timid boy. One of my memories is of my father saying to me: ‘You have the mind, but you have not the body. Without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body.’ And I made it.”

From then on, young Roosevelt threw himself into what he called the strenuous life. He built a home gym, lifted weights, boxed, hiked, rode horses, swam in cold water, and pushed himself into physically demanding activities.

from his Auto, then historians

[u/ChuchiTheBest → u/Professional_Pen4628]

Real Saitama.

[u/4tran13 → u/eyedoc11]

Less of an issue for a 40m sprint.

[u/Falsus → u/eyedoc11]

Tbf, so is the Norwegian Ski team and that doesn't stop them!

[u/TrexPushupBra → u/eyedoc11]

So was my grandfather.

Didn't stop him from signing up to fight the Nazis by becoming a paratrooper and machine gunner.

After lying to get in he later was the only one in his unit mobile at the battle of the bulge. He carried the two man machine gun around and had effective fire.

He got the silver star for it.

[u/Key-Tip-7521 → u/eyedoc11]

He was. But when he was doing high energy things, it never bothered him

[u/lonesomespacecowboy → u/eyedoc11]

In his youth, yes. He outgrew it for the most part

[u/Intelligent_Fig_4852 → u/eyedoc11]

It’s a 40…

[u/siphillis → u/SwarleymonLives]

He was also not naturally athletic, unlike the other competitors on this list

[u/No-Sail-6510 → u/SwarleymonLives]

He went to great lengths to make people think this.

[u/4tran13 → u/SwarleymonLives]

Either him or Andrew Jackson. Crazy SOB won multiple pistol duels, and even beat down a would be assassin with his cane.

[u/santathecruz → u/4tran13]

Jackson is great in a bar brawl, but a straight 40 I wouldn’t bet on him.

[u/imprison_grover_furr → u/SwarleymonLives]

No the fuck he wouldn’t. He had a fucking giant beer belly.

The correct answer is Gerald Ford. He was an NCAA football player.

[u/Mulfushu → u/imprison_grover_furr]

The question specifies "peak physical form". Pretty sure Teddy wasn't born with a beer belly.