When I was very young, perhaps 5 or 6, I asked my dad, "Does the President(of the U.S.) own the world?"

He replied, "Well, he thinks he does."

Not having been introduced to the concept of sarcasm, I spent several years thinking that the President was this poor deluded soul whom everyone was humoring.

bbay

I used to believe that the US President (Ronald Ray-gun) lived in the magic castle at Disneyland and that his wife was called Mary Whitehouse. In fact I still do

Richard

I used to think the the whitehouse was right off the highway near my house, I live in Wisconsin;)

Paulette

We were Catholic growing up, and I thought everyone was. When I heard that Kennedy was the first and only Catholic President, I just couldn't belive that then-President Reagan was not a Catholic. It freaked me out.

Anon

My parents told me when I was little that we were going voting, I miss heard and thought they said boating. I was gravely disappointed when I figured out I miss heard.

K

for christmas when i was about 7, i was given this book that you coloured in, but the pages all had frames and subjects in. one page asked you to draw god, & i thought nelson mandela was god, so i found a picture of him and copied it. my mum was very confused, but thought it nice that i idolised him like that.

black star

I didn't fully grasp the idea of a "secret ballot":

One election year Dad mentioned that no one knows who you vote for. I took that to mean, "including yourself". So I said, "Can't you just walk in there, bang your fist on the table and demand that your vote goes to [a particular candidate] ?"

Some time later I realized the true meaning of the "secret ballot".

Tom

That george bush was a bush not a person

H. Connolly

cuz I grew up in ugoslavia whos president at that time was TITO who was like KING and GOD I USED to believe that tito do not shit at all and that was so big question for me

marko

When i was in first grade, we had " President Lincon" at our school, and when i saw the man who played lincon the next day at Chuck e. Cheese, I cried, becasue it wasnt really Lincon.

Heather

Abraham Lincoln invented all the WORDS. He wrote the dictionary by candle light in his log cabin. (Lincon Logs were so named in his honor.)

Maryk

Up until myearly teeens I used to believe that a prostitute was the P in MP. Hence all MP's were prostitutes. :@)

Patrick

When I was four, I got into an argument with my uncle. He said that the vice president was Spiro Agnew. I said it was Uncle Sam.

Matt

I thought Hitler was the name of the guy who shot lincoln.

Jonathan Franz

This is not my belief. This is one of my frends. He thought that when a Preadent dies, They go to The United Stats of Heven. He also thougt that Gorge Bush was dead. I said "He not dead. He still at the White House. Im going their soon."

He took it the wrong way and said "You Going To DIE?

Mr.GH

Until about 1982, when I was 12, I thought that Feminism had fixed everything so that there was no more sexism. I was assured by my parents that it didn't matter that I was a girl, I could do anything, because the world was feminist now.

And then when the Equal Rights Amendment didn't pass, imagine my surprise and horror. And then gradually getting to see and experience painful sexism especially after puberty! Moving to Texas sure didn't help.

I also thought some vague hippielike partner to "Feminism", which took place in "The 60s" had fixed racism as well. I don't think I ever heard of the actual civil rights movement until I was at least 12 or 13. Nor did I know of any other feminist movements until maybe late high school.

Liz Henry

I used to believe that politicians were honest; I was so naive...

T.J. Gaffney

I used to belive that the american flag was the california flag! i was in the 5th grade when i realized it wasent!

sally-jo

For some strange reason, I always get Al Gore and Ross Perot mixed up! I seriously dont know why!

Elizabeth

When I was 10, Ronald Reagan was elected president. My dad said that George Bush would take us into a war, so I was terrified that if anything happened to Reagan we would be in WW3 and the whole earth would be blown up with nuclear bombs.

Jennifer