Election Watch 2008

Presidential Trivia

Q 1. George Washington never did which of the following with visitors?

a) Shake hands with them
b) Speak to them
c) Dine with them

Q 2. A man of many talents, Thomas Jefferson was a master horticulturist, growing about 70 different species of vegetables in his garden at Monticello. Jefferson was among the first in the United States to grow which kind of produce, thought by many at the time to be poisonous?

a) Wolfbane
b) Tomatoes
c) Okra

Q 3. Who was the first president to have a telephone on his desk?

a) Herbert Hoover
b) Andrew Johnson
c) William McKinley

Q 4. Some presidents have tried to conceal their health problems from the public. One President even underwent a secret operation aboard a yacht to remove a cancerous portion of his jaw. Who was it?

a) Franklin D. Roosevelt
b) Grover Cleveland
c) John F. Kennedy

Q 5. True or false: Zachary Taylor voted for Martin Van Buren, his main opponent in the 1848 presidential election.

a) True
b) False

Q 6. What play was Lincoln watching when he was assassinated?

a) Our American Cousin
b) Uncle Tom's Cabin
c) Hamlet

Q 7. For many years, beginning with George Washington, the presidential salary was $25,000. Who was the first president to receive a raise in salary?

a) Franklin Pierce
b) Ulysses S. Grant
c) John Tyler

Q 8. Which President survived two assassination attempts--both by women?

a) Bill Clinton
b) Gerald Ford
c) Chester Arthur

Q 9. Who was the first president to ride to his inauguration ceremony in an automobile?

a) Warren G. Harding
b) Franklin D. Roosevelt
c) Richard Nixon

Q 10. Before he became president, George W. Bush was an owner and general manager for a professional sports team. Which team was it?

a) Houston Oilers
b) Texas Rangers
c) Dallas Cowboys

Q 11. Which President went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River before dawn in warm weather?

a) John Quincy Adams
b) Teddy Roosevelt
c) James Madison

Q 12. Which President never attended school and learned to write at the age of 17?

a) Andrew Johnson
b) James K. Polk
c) Andrew Jackson

Q 13. Which President was both ambidextrous and multilingual?

a) William H. Harrison
b) Thomas Jefferson
c) James Garfield

Q 14. Who had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House?

a) William H. Taft
b) Zachary Taylor
c) Chester Arthur

Q 15. Whose advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the President in his poker games?

a) Grover Cleveland
b) Warren G. Harding
c) Ulysses S. Grant

Q 16. Which candidate became President but lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote?

a) John Quincy Adams
b) James Madison
c) James Monroe

Q 17. Which President had more than 16 books published?

a) Thomas Jefferson
b) Herbert Hoover
c) Woodrow Wilson

Q 18. Who was related, either by blood or by marriage, to 11 former presidents?

a) Franklin D. Roosevelt
b) William H. Taft
c) George H.W. Bush

Q 19. What does the letter "S" stand for in Harry S. Truman's name?

a) Sherman
b) Schuyler
c) S

Q 20. Which President developed a recipe for vegetable soup that is 894 words long and includes the stems of nasturtium flowers as one of the ingredients?

a) Dwight D. Eisenhower
b) Thomas Jefferson
c) Lyndon B. Johnson

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Answers

Answer 1. George Washington, the first U.S. president, never shook hands with his visitors; he bowed to them instead. Washington also employed other formal customs, such as riding in a carriage pulled by six cream-colored horses and having his servants wear powder in their hair.

Answer 2. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, was a pioneer grower of tomatoes in the United States at a time when they were thought by most people to be poisonous.

Answer 3. Although the first telephone message was exchanged between Thomas Watson and Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, it wasn't until 1929 that an American president, Herbert Hoover, had a telephone on his desk. Before then, the telephone was located in a booth outside the executive office.

Answer 4. In 1893, during his second term as president, Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President, had the cancerous upper portion of his jaw removed aboard a yacht. The public did not become aware of the operation until many years after Cleveland's death.

Answer 5. Zachary Taylor, the 12th President, did not vote for Martin Van Buren, his opponent in the 1848 presidential election. But he didn't vote for himself, either--nor for anyone else, for that matter. A career military man who never established a permanent address, Zachary Taylor had never voted in his life when he won the office of the presidency.

Answer 6. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, was attending a performance of British playwright Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.

Answer 7. Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President, was the first to receive a raise in salary (the salary of the president is established by Congress). Grant's presidential salary was increased in 1873 to $50,000. Today the President receives a salary of $400,000 plus a $50,000 expense account.

Answer 8. Two attempts were made on the life of Gerald Ford, the 38th President. Both would-be assassins were women, and both attempts took place in California in the same year: 1975.

Answer 9. On March 4, 1921, Warren G. Harding, the 29th President, was the first to ride to his inauguration ceremony in an automobile. He was also the first president to speak on the radio and have a radio in the White House.

Answer 10. George W. Bush, the 43rd President, was a part owner and general manager for the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Answer 11. The 6th President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, customarily went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River before dawn.

Answer 12. 17th U.S. President Andrew Johnson never attended school. His future wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him to write at the age of 17. (Bonus fact about Andrew Johnson: He only wore suits that he custom-tailored himself.)

Answer 13. James Garfield, 20th U.S. President, could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

Answer 14. William H. Taft, 27th President of the United States, weighed more than 300 pounds and had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House.

Answer 15. Warren G. Harding, 29th U.S. President, played poker at least twice a week, and once gambled away an entire set of White House china. His advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the President in his poker games.

Answer 16. The candidate who became President but lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote was John Quincy Adams (1824). He was elected by the House of Representatives.

Answer 17. Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. president, published more than 16 books, including one called Fishing for Fun-And to Wash Your Soul.

Answer 18. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States.

Answer 19. The letter "S" comprises the full middle name of the 33rd President, Harry S. Truman. It represents two of his grandfathers, whose names both had "S" in them.

Answer 20. Military leader and 34th U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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