Presidential Trivia

[winston-smoker]

Today's Presidents Day in the U.S.A. I thought a little presidential history trivia quiz might be a fun idea.

1. Who was the first president?

2. Who was the only president to hold more than two terms?

3. Who was the first Republican Party nominee elected president?

4. Who was the only president elected by the House of Representatives (because nobody got a majority in the electoral college)?

5. Who was the only president who was not elected (neither president nor vice-president)?

6. Who was the oldest person elected president?

7. Who was the youngest person to become president?

8. Who was the youngest person elected president (hint: not the same answer as #7)?

9. Who was the only president to hold two non-consecutive terms?

10. Who was the first president to live in the White House in Washington, D.C.?

11. Who was the only president who had a Ph.D.?

12. Two presidents were impeached (though neither were removed from office): who was the first?

13. Who was the only Catholic to be president?

14. Which president had the shortest presidency?

15. The territory of the United States of America doubled in size under which president?

16. Who was the only president to resign from office?

17. Who was the only president censured by Congress?

18. The only president who was a lifelong bachelor?

19. The president who is considered the "father of the Constitution"?

20. Who was the only president to have a foreign capital named in his honor?

I'll post the answers later.

 

[winston-smoker]

Given the lack of comments, evidently there wasn't much interest in presidential history after all. But I'll post the answers, as I said I would, to close out this thread.

1. George Washington

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt

3. Abraham Lincoln

4. John Quincy Adams

5. Gerald Ford

6. Ronald Reagan

7. Theodore Roosevelt

8. John F. Kennedy

9. Grover Cleveland

10. John Adams

11. Woodrow Wilson

12. Andrew Johnson

13. John F. Kennedy

14. William Henry Harrison

15. Thomas Jefferson

16. Richard M. Nixon

17. Andrew Jackson

18. James Buchanan

19. James Madison

20. James Monroe

 

[Knucklehead]

I was pitiful. I got 11 out of 20 right.

 

[winston-smoker]

Another piece of trivia: President Franklin Pierce substituted the word "affirm" for "swear" in taking the oath of office.

Presidents who died in office: William Henry Harrison (1841), Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), Warren G. Harding (1923), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945), John F. Kennedy (1963).

 

[Michibacy]

Winston, I was stuck at home sicker than a dog yesterday, if any consolation I was interested and was waiting for responses

 

[winston-smoker]

Knuckle,
Just out of curiosity, which 11? Also, don't feel as though you did pitiful; I doubt many Americans, except for history buffs, would do much better. I imagine many wouldn't have done as well, in fact.

 

[Knucklehead]

Knuckle,
Just out of curiosity, which 11? Also, don't feel as though you did pitiful; I doubt many Americans, except for history buffs, would do much better. I imagine many wouldn't have done as well, in fact.

1,2,3,8,9,10,11,13,14,15,16 I answered wrong on five and didn't answer four. I didn't watch any of the history this week so it was all from memory. (which is getting worse)

 

[winston-smoker]

Knuckle,
You got a few tough ones! For example, like knowing about Grover Cleveland and William Henry Harrison.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The last thing I want to do here is start a political discussion.. This is just an observation.. I think there is a good argument for Lincoln being the President that doubled the size of the U.S. Think about it, all of the Southern States left the Union and formed a new country. Lincoln conquered them and admitted them in to the Union. No politics... just an observation.

 

[winston-smoker]

Not withstanding the technicalities, I don't think so. The size of the United States (including territories) before the Louisiana Purchase was roughly about the same size as the territory gained by the Louisiana Purchase. The size of the United States, excluding the Confederacy but including territories, was still significantly larger than the Confederacy (even including the Confederacy's claims to the then Indian and New Mexico Territories).

 

[jojjas]

Given the lack of comments, evidently there wasn't much interest in presidential history after all. But I'll post the answers, as I said I would, to close out this thread

Au contraire my dear winston-smo.....
I know what tricky-dicky was doing and J F Kennedy of course and Abe Lincoln , but it take an embarrasing stop on the rest , never the less its always intteressting read and solve this of kind trivia , and most certenly learn somthing new and history is important and fun

 

[winston-smoker]

Jojjas,
Thank You! I sometimes wonder whether most people think that history is a bore, and by the same token, whether that makes me a bore. The way I look at it, a society whose citizens have lost interest in history would be like a person who has lost his memory. And just as someone suffering from amnesia would be disoriented, confused and maybe even dysfunctional, so would a society which ignores, or has forgotten, its history.

 

[deluxestogie]

History is everything. Nice thread.

It's a pity that most of the history taught in elementary and high schools is sanitized, idealized pablum. And the "required" history courses for non-history majors in college are usually just surveys of the dates of major events.

Most of us invent a past that feels consistent with our present. Real history is a hoot!

Bob

 

[winston-smoker]

Deluxe,
Thanks, too! Though I wouldn't entirely dismiss survey courses, they at least offer a starting point. It's then up to the student to decide whether to use his precious few electives to take more advanced courses. Sadly, few do ... but you can learn much by reading on your own, if you have the interest. There are so many good history books out there, and admittedly, more than a few "not-so-good" ones too. For example, in my personal library I have two books on the history of Puerto Rico. One is splendid, authored by a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, which chronicles Puerto Rican history from pre-Columbian times up to the U.S. conquest in 1898. What makes it so good is the space devoted to various social phenomena, so that the reader would get a comprehensive handle on the culture as well as the people, places, and events. Afterward, I looked for a book that would pick up where that one left off, and so I got a book written by two co-authors. That book had such a heavy ideological slant that I came to consider it just a lot of crap.

 

[deluxestogie]

Which President was a Golden Glove boxing champ?
Which President was an amateur archeologist?
Which President became famous for a military victory at a battle that happened after the war was already over?
Which President belonged to no political party?
Which President made his living delivering cut firewood? (not Abe)
Which President was accused by his immediate successor of having "no more backbone than a chocolate eclair?"
Which President said of the morality of using atomic weapons, "It will all come out in the wash."

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

1.I'm pretty sure Ford was a boxer, but not sure about being a Golden glove.
2. Jefferson would be my guess
3. no clue...probably a civil war battle since news traveled slow...so I'll guess Grant.
4. Washington
5. Abe
6. Sounds like something Reagan would say
7 Truman

 

[winston-smoker]

I'm pretty sure I know a few of deluxestogie's questions, and they're tough ones!
No political party: George Washington
Amateur archaeologist: Thomas Jefferson
Won battle after war was over: Andrew Jackson ("War of 1812," Battle of New Orleans won by Andrew Jackson in 1815, the treaty ending the war between Great Britain and U.S. was signed in late 1814).
Morality of atomic weapons: I would also guess Harry Truman.
No backbone: I would guess Jimmy Carter. Second guess would be John Quincy Adams (because the quote sounds like something Andrew Jackson would say!).
Other two questions: No idea!

 

[Mad Oshea]

Washington was not the first pres. He was the first elected pres.

 

[deluxestogie]

• Which President was a Golden Glove boxing champ?
  This timid, near-sighted asthmatic boxed at Harvard, earning his championship. He subsequently traveled to North Dakota where, on entering a saloon, he was addressed by a local cowboy as "four-eyes." Bad idea. He later recruited many cowboy friends to join his "Rough Riders" during the Spanish American War.
• Which President was an amateur archeologist?
  Jefferson excavated an ancient Indian mound near his Monticello home.
• Which President became famous for a military victory at a battle that happened after the war was already over?
  Yep. Andy Jackson. He never let laws, treaties or the Supreme Court stand in his way.
• Which President belonged to no political party?
  Washington was appalled at the very notion of party, which he considered would lead to the destruction of the new nation.
• Which President made his living delivering cut firewood? (not Abe)
  After the Mexican war, Ulysses Grant resigned his officer's commission, and found himself unemployed. Delivering cut firewood was better than starving. But he wasn't very good at it.
• Which President was accused by his immediate successor of having "no more backbone than a chocolate eclair?"
  It was Teddy Roosevelt who spoke those harsh words about McKinley in 1898. TR served as assistant Secretary of the Navy during McKinley's first term (in which position he was a vocal advocate for American empire), but held the post of VP when McKinley was shot by an anarchist (1901) early in his second term.
• Which President said of the morality of using atomic weapons, "It will all come out in the wash."
  This was Harry Truman's response to J. Robert Oppenheimer, who told the President of his fear of blood on his hands if the atom bombs were actually used.

Bob

 

[winston-smoker]

Darn! I was thinking Theodore Roosevelt about the boxer question . . . I should have gone for it! Also on the subject of TR, the "no backbone" question was tricky ... he made that comment about McKinley in 1898, before he became McKinley's immediate successor! Reading the question more carefully, I see it didn't specify when those words were spoken.