Honest Abe
Who ran for President with the campaign slogan "Vote Yourself a Farm?"
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) George Washington
C) Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln ran for President with the campaign slogan, "Vote Yourself a Farm," referring to the Republican party's promise to support legislation granting free homesteads to settlers of the Western frontier. Four years later, during the Civil War, he ran for re-election with the slogan "Don't swap horses in the middle of the stream."
Who was the first U.S. President to be born an American citizen?
A) Andrew Jackson
B) Martin Van Buren
C) John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren
Unlike the seven men who preceded him in the White House, Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York, in 1782) was the first president to be born a citizen of the United States and not a British subject.
Which U. S. President purchased Alaska from Russia?
A) William McKinley
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson's deal to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million was initially mocked, but has since proven to be a monumental bargain for the nation.
What presidential candidate played a saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show during his campaign?
A) George W. Bush
B) Ronald Reagan
C) Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
During the 1992 Presidential Campaign, Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show -- wearing dark sunglasses, he played, "Heartbreak Hotel," on his saxophone. At the time, he was trailing in the polls, and some critics have suggested that this appearance captured the imagination of the American people and turned the race around. In the end, Clinton carried 43 percent of the vote, easily defeating George Bush and Ross Perot and making him the forty-second President of the United States of America.
What did Rutherford B. Hayes have to agree to do in order to win the 1876 presidential election?
A) Reverse the 15th Amendment
B) Remove troops from the south
C) Take silver out of circulation
Remove troops from the south
In 1876, Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, but won an intensely disputed electoral-college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes. In the Compromise of 1877, Democrats acquiesced to Hayes' election on the condition that he withdraw remaining U.S. troops protecting Republican officeholders in the South, thus officially ending the Reconstruction era.
How many future U. S. Presidents signed the Declaration of Independence?
A) Zero
B) Two
C) Four
Two
Only two future U.S. Presidents signed the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
Walt Whitman's poem, "Oh Captain, My Captain," was written about which President?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
"O Captain! My Captain!" was written in 1865 in response to the death of Abraham Lincoln. It was the only one of Whitman's poem to appear in anthologies during his lifetime.
Who was the first President to appear on TV?
A) Dwight D. Eisenhower
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) John F. Kennedy
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The first President to appear on black and white television was Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 30, 1939 at the opening ceremonies for the World's Fair.
Who ran for President with the campaign slogan, "In your heart you know he's right?"
A) Richard Nixon
B) Barry Goldwater
C) Franklin D. Roosevelt
Barry Goldwater
In the 1964 Presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater used the slogan, "In your heart you know he's right." Goldwater had taken a lot of heat from his opponent and the media who labeled him an extremist. This slogan was intended to convince voters that the, "Extremist," label was unwarranted and that his views were not that different from their own. It was, apparently, unsuccessful as Goldwater carried only 38.5 percent of the vote, losing to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide.
What rumor did Chester A. Arthur's political enemies start?
A) He wasn't born in the United States
B) He committed tax fraud
C) He was a foreign spy
He wasn't born in the United States
Barack Obama wasn't the first president to face accusations that he wasn't a natural-born citizen. When Arthur was nominated for vice president in 1880, a New York attorney and political opponent, Arthur P. Hinman, suggested that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to the United States until he was fourteen years old. When Hinman's original story didn't take root, he spread another rumor that Arthur had been born in Canada. This claim, too, failed to gain credence.
Who was the only U. S. President to also serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
A) William Howard Taft
B) Rutherford B. Hayes
C) William McKinley
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft never really wanted to be President. He preferred law to politics and always aspired to serve on the Supreme Court. But his wife -- who wanted to be first lady -- had other ambitions for him. After four uncomfortable years as President, Taft left the White House and became a Professor of Law at Yale. In 1920, Taft finally realized his true dream when President Harding made him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position which he held until just before his death in 1930.
How many Presidents have died on the Fourth of July?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 3
3
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within a few hours of each other on July 4, 1826 and James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.
Who was the first president to use the telegraph?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Grover Cleveland
C) Ulysses S. Grant
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln used the telegraph extensively during the Civil War, and was known to spend many hours in a small telegraph office set up in the War Department building near the White House.
What U.S. President won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002?
A) George W. Bush
B) Jimmy Carter
C) Barack Obama
Jimmy Carter
In 2002, Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize for, "Decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." Carter was the third U.S. President to win the Nobel Peace Prize after Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.
What was John Adams' political party?
A) Democratic-Republicans
B) Anti-Federalists
C) Federalists
Federalists
He was the first, and only, president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party, which called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain in opposition to Revolutionary France.
Who was the first U.S. President to be married in the White House?
A) Martin Van Buren
B) Grover Cleveland
C) Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
In June 1886, Grover Cleveland took 21-year-old Frances Folsom as his wife, making him the first President to be married in the White House. He was also the first President to have a child born there.
Who was the first President to have a state car custom built to Secret Service standards.
A) Franklin D. Roosevelt
B) Harry Truman
C) Lyndon B. Johnson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidents rode in stock, unmodified cars until President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration had a state car custom built with armor plating for the doors, bullet-proof tires, inch-thick windows and storage compartments for pistols and sub-machine guns. Initially called, "Old 99," in reference to a number on its first license plate, it was later nicknamed the "Sunshine Special."
Which of the following Presidents vetoed the least number of bills during his time in office?
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) Grover Cleveland
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson did not veto any bills during his 8 years in office.
Who was the only President to serve more than two terms?
A) George Washington
B) Warren G. Harding
C) Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only President of the United States to serve more than two terms in office. In response to this unprecedented achievement, the 22nd Amendment limiting Presidential terms was passed by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951.
What does the "S" in Ulysses S. Grant stand for?
A) Samuel
B) Nothing
C) Sawyer
Nothing
Grant began his life as Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he was accepted to military school, the Congressman who approved the appointment mistakenly identified him as Ulysses S. Grant on the official papers. After a mild protest by Grant upon his arrival at West Point, an Army colonel responded in no uncertain terms that Grant would remain Ulysses S. Grant as far as the Army was concerned, and that was that. The, "S," in Grant's name stands for nothing.
What U.S. President had a nervous breakdown at the age of 24 and spent time in a sanitarium?
A) John Tyler
B) Harry Truman
C) Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
In 1889, at the age of 24, Warren G. Harding had a nervous breakdown and spent several weeks in a sanitarium.
Who was the first President to live in the White House?
A) George Washington
B) John Adams
C) Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
Although George Washington oversaw the construction of the house, he never lived in it. It was not until 1800, when the White House was nearly completed, that its first residents, President John Adams and his wife Abigail, moved in.
What U.S. President won a Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage?
A) Theodore Roosevelt
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for his book Profiles in Courage, a biography highlighting eight instances in which U.S. Senators risked their careers and stood alone against tremendous political and social pressure for what they felt was right.
What Act did Andrew Jackson sign in 1830?
A) Indian Removal Act
B) Fugitive Slave Act
C) National Banking Act
Indian Removal Act
Jackson's presidency marked a new era in Indian-Anglo American relations initiating a policy of Indian removal. On May 26, 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory in order to allow white settlement of their ancestral lands. Although many tribes resisted, they were forcibly removed by the United States government in a march to the west that later became known as the Trail of Tears. This legislation has been referred to as an act of genocide as the relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their newly-designated reserve, and approximately 4,000 died before reaching their destinations or shortly after from disease.
What was Benjamin Harrison's presidential nickname?
A) "The Human Iceberg"
B) "Uncle Jumbo"
C) "Gentleman Boss"
"The Human Iceberg"
Harrison was a gifted public speaker, but he hated small-talk. He developed a stiff and formal personality as president and was so cold on a personal level that his own staff privately referred to him as, "The human iceberg."