Presidents Day Trivia

Next week is the Academy Awards, I think, so this is as good a day as any to think about presidents. By presidents we're talking about U.S. presidents here. Sorry, I mean no offense to my readers in Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Zambia or Laos who were not required to memorize U.S. president-trivia in their schools while growing up. For the rest of you, here's a quiz to help keep your brain cells from atrophying. You can check your answers against my guesses at the end of this quiz. Be sure to keep score.

Disclaimer: This quiz is for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as having any usefulness for passing your U.S. citizenship exam.

1. Which president was nicknamed His Accidency?
a. Harrold Wilson
b. John Tyler
c. Chester Arthur
d. Grover Cleveland Alexander

2. Which President was called The Do-Nothing President?
a. Pat Buchanan
b. William Buckley
c. William Howard Taft
d. James Buchanan

3. Which president was sometimes called The Big Lub?
a. Gordon Lightfoot
b. William Howard Taft
c. Teddy Roosevelt
d. Herbert Hoover

4. Who was the only president with a Ph.D.?
a. Smedley
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Calvin Coolidge
d. Benjamin Harrison

5. Who was the first president to actually dine with a black man in the White House?
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. Ulysses S. Grant
c. Teddy Roosevelt
d. John F. Kennedy

6. Teddy Roosevelt was evidently into pets. Match the the following pets to their names.
a. Guinea Pig
b. Snake
c. Bull Dog
d. Chesapeake Retriever
Their names were: Pete, Father O'Grady, Emily Spinach, and Sailor Boy... but in which order?

7. Who was the first president's wife to be called the First Lady of the Land?
a. Letitia Tyler
b. Lucy Hayes
c. Eliza Johnson
d. Frances Clara Cleveland

8. Who was the first president to fly in a helicopter?
a. Silent Cal
b. FDR
c. Ike
d. Harry S. Truman

9. Who was the first president to fly in an airplane?
a. Herbert Hoover
b. Teddy Roosevelt
c. FDR
d. Calvin College

10. This president raised 11 children, none of whom were his own. (He is one of three presidents to have had adopted children.)
a. Chester Arthur
b. Andrew Johnson
c. Andrew Jackson
d. James Polk

11. When he was vice president, he presided over the Senate wearing a pair of pistols, as a precaution against the frequent outbursts of violence. (See, contentiousness in the congress is nothing new.)
a. Hebert Hoover
b. Andrew Johnson
c. Martin Van Buren
d. Lyndon Johnson

12. Which president was the first to see a baseball game and saw the Cincinnati Reds beat the Washington Senators 7-4?
a. Benjamin Harrison
b. Teddy Roosevelt
c. William McKinley
d. Woodrow Wilson

13. How many presidents did not win the popular vote yet won the election?
a. 5
b. 8
c. 15
d. 11

14. How many Americans understand how the Electoral College works?
a. 5
b. 8
c. 15
d. 11

15. Who was the first president not born on the continental United States?
a. George Washington
b. John D. Rockefeller
c. Andrew Johnson
d. Barack Obama

Bonus: Which website did I borrow all this information from
a. ClassroomHelp.com
b. NationalGeographic.com
c. Infoplease.com
d. None of the above. I took good notes in school and remembered all this stuff.

ANSWERS
1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (b) 4. (b) 5. (c) TR dined with Booker T. Washington. 6. Some of the pets TR had in the White House for his family included a Bull Dog named Pete, a Guinea Pig named Father O'Grady, a snake named Emily Spinach and a Chesapeake Retriever named Sailor Boy. 7. I think it was Lucy. 8. (c) 9. There is a dispute here as my sources conflict. One source says it was Teddy, the other says FDR. 10. (c) Yes, Jackson had 11 adopted children. 11. (c) 12. (a) 13. (c) 14. Trick question. Nobody knows how it works. 15. (d) He was born in Sasketchewan. No, wait, Rio. It was Hawaii, which was not a state until I was in elementary school. Bonus Question: a, b and c.

Score five points for having read this all the way through, and one point for each correct answer. If you did better than 18, you're pretty sharp. Take a bow.