When Jack Met Marilyn

Image credit: President Bush with Ricky Martin: Rick Bowmer/AP

15 Dubya Lives la Vida Loca January 18, 2001
''There's a lot of excitement in the air,'' George W. Bush shouted to Dick Cheney at his pre-inauguration festivities. ''And I'm not sure if it's because people came to see you or Ricky Martin!'' During his eight-minute performance, Martin pulled Bush on stage and persuaded him to shake his bon-bon. ''La Presidente Loca!'' jokesters ungrammatically proclaimed.

14 Truman Gets Bacall-ed February 10, 1945
Vice president for less than a month, Harry Truman was asked to play piano in a show for servicemen at Washington's National Press Club. As he began, the sultry, leggy, 20-year-old Lauren Bacall was hoisted atop the piano. ''I was just a kid,'' Bacall said later. ''My press agent made me do it.'' The grinning Truman, ridiculed for the photo op, became president two months later.

13 DiCaprio Quizzes Clinton April 22, 2000
It seemed like a good idea: ABC sent heartthrob/environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio to interview President Clinton for its Earth Day broadcast. The plan annoyed ABC stalwarts who thought the segment frivolous -- but all, as it turned out, for nothing. So few viewers ended up tuning in that the program trailed in the ratings, earning less than a third of the audience DiCaprio once attracted on ''Growing Pains.''

12 LBJ Isn't the Cat's Meow January 18, 1968
She may be best known as Catwoman, but it was Eartha Kitt's work in the black community that earned her an invitation to lunch at the White House with a group of similarly active women. After dessert, LBJ dropped by and offered some perfunctory remarks, whereupon the feisty Kitt asked him a pointed question about working parents and child care. ''But what are we going to do?'' Kitt insisted. ''That's something for you women to discuss here,'' Johnson snapped and left. The media portrayed Kitt as insolent, and nightclubs canceled her appearances.

11 Ford Shows His Commoner's Touch July 7, 1976
At a White House dinner for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, President Ford's entertainers proved surprisingly maladroit. First, Bob Hope made a bad joke about using a stovepipe hat that he had found in the Lincoln bedroom as a bedpan, then the Captain & Tennille performed ''Muskrat Love,'' their hit ballad about mating rodents. Finally, as Ford and the queen started dancing, the band infelicitously struck up ''The Lady Is a Tramp.''