Mr. Smith's Presidential Jeopardy

Presidential Greats

100

I doubled the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase. I love yeoman farmers, but not Barbary Pirates. I had to deal with the Federalist Supreme Court/John Marshall which gave us Marbury v. Madison and judicial review. I messed up with the Embargo Act

Thomas Jefferson

200

I signed and approved the First Bank of the U.S., Jay's Treaty, and Pinckney Treaty. My Farewell Address talked about avoiding political parties and permanent alliance/neutrality.

George Washington

300

I was initially cool with slavery, just don't expand it. I wanted to preserve the union and successfully handled the border states, especially Maryland. I was leading an epic win against the Confederacy. My Republican BFFs passed the Homestead Act and Morrill Land Grant Act. Before I could do more awesome stuff I got shot.

Abraham Lincoln

400

I’m a Progressive president, just look at my accomplishments: Square Deal, trust-busting, arbitrated coal strike, Hepburn Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, and conservation. I manhandled Latin America with Big Stick Policy

Teddy Roosevelt

500

I am President, like, almost forever. I help nation during the Great Depression with my New Deal (AAA, NIRA, FDIC, TVA, CCC, Social Security, Wagner Act). I went a bit too far with the court-packing. Got us through WWII

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Whiskers

100

I’m all about business with my Dollar Diplomacy. And I appear to like tariffs (Paine-Aldrich Tariff). Lost the support of progressives when I fired Pinchot from Forestry

William Howard Taft

200

I was a corrupt politician until I became president and realized that the office is bigger than any one man.  To many peoples' surprise, I signed legislation to help clean up the corrupt spoils system 

Chester A. Arthur

300

I barely had an opportunity to lead before I got shot by a crazed office seeker named Charles Guiteau. Hey doc, get your finger out of that bullet hole!

James Garfield

400

My term of office was most unusual. I was elected under a cloud of sexual scandal for having fathered a child out of wedlock. I tried to solve corruption, but many of my proposals were shot down. I did get married while in office and had a candy bar named after my child, Ruth. 

Grover Cleveland

500

I was something of an icy cold fish as president. Some people said I was nothing like my grandfather. I spent the surplus left to me by my predecessor and lost to my predecessor when I ran for re-election.  The Sherman Anti-Trust Act got passed on y watch, but we used it to go after unions instead of monopolies

Benjamin Harrison

Presidents in "General"

100

I liberated Europe. Then I promoted pro-business policies and the Interstate Highway Act as president. I had to deal with fallout from Brown v. Board of Education, but I handled it, even if it was a "little rocky".

Dwight Eisenhower

200

Old Rough and Ready was my nickname and I showed Santa Anna a thing or two when I was in Mexico.  My term wasn't too long though (thank God) because I probably would have started the Civil War due to my opposition to compromise over California statehood...it's so hot out here on the National Mall....milk and cherries was a bad choice!

Zachary Taylor

300

Old Tippecanoe may seem like a terrible nickname, but I did beat Tecumseh's forces at that Tippecanoe Creek. 30 years later I out Jacksoned the Jacksonians and won a campaign full of hard cider and log cabins! 30 days was not enough to accomplish anything.  Should have worn an overcoat at inauguration

William Henry Harrison

400

I love the spoils system! I inspired the common man and universal male suffrage. I wasn't too nice to the Natives. I hated the Bank of the U.S. and through my Specie Circular and pet banks I sort of got us in the a financial Panic. I had to deal with the Tariff of Abominations and the Nullification Crisis against John C. Calhoun.

Andrew Jackson

500

Not many people realize I was a general. Well..I was. And despite the fact that I am most known for being an alcoholic and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, have some pity on me as my son died in a train wreck on the way to my inauguration and my wife blamed me for it! You'd drink too!

Franklin Pierce

Scandalous

100

I am not a crook! At least I believe that about myself, although apparently I did allow wrong-doing on my watch and broke like 48 different laws after allowing a break-in at the Watergate Hotel to get dirt on my political opponents

Richard Nixon

200

Teapot Dome is a funny name but it encompassed the scandals of my administration that ran the gamut from taking bribes for oil drilling on public land all the way to the illegitimate child I fathered with Nan Britton. Thank God I died otherwise they may have impeached me.

Warren Harding

300

Railroads were the major political and economic driver of my day, so of course they were going to be involved in a presidential scandal.  I was just too ignorant to realize that Credit Mobilier wasn't even a real company.  Everyone else knew but me.

Ulysses Grant

400

I did not have sexual relations with that woman! But I did lie about it under oath in a sexual harassment lawsuit deposition. THAT's why I got impeached...but they couldn't get rid of me! I was bullet-proof. Heck, my approval ratings went up during this scandal.

Bill Clinton

500

I tried to quiet my political opponents through the Alien and Sedition Acts.  They lied about me...called me crazy and monarchical.  But I caught the flak for this action and I only served one term 

John Adams

Presidential Potpourri

100

I thought the League of Nations was a swell idea.  Henry Cabot Lodge apparently didn't think so

Woodrow Wilson

200

I stunned everybody with my re-election campaign despite the fact that I angered a good portion of my political base with a civil rights proposal that got shot down by that "do nothing 80th Congress." The high-water mark for my presidency was that re-election campaign because my second term was mired in scandal and a stalemated war. Can I interest you in a pair of low rise briefs and some socks while you're at it?

Harry Truman

300

I love Manifest Destiny and expansion. I love it so much I lobbied for Texas annexation, I got Oregon, and defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War to get the Mexican Cession.

James K. Polk

400

I had a lenient Reconstruction plan, but I kept vetoing other awesome things (like civil rights) and then had to deal with Radical Republicans. The Republicans ruled Congress and almost got me removed from office.

Andrew Johnson

500

I like doing relatively nothing.  I like to sleep and fish.  The farmers don't need federal aid in the form of subsidies.  After all, the business of America is business.

Calvin Coolidge