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Quiz about Famous United States Senators
Quiz about Famous United States Senators

Famous United States Senators Trivia Quiz


Here are descriptions of ten senators who have served with distinction in the United States Senate.

A multiple-choice quiz by chessart. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
chessart
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
99,733
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
2106
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. This Kentucky Senator was known as "The Great Compromiser" for keeping the union together in pre-Civil War days by fashioning such compromises as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. He twice ran for President as the candidate of the Whig Party, losing to Andrew Jackson in 1832 and to James K. Polk in 1844.

Answer: (a kind of soil (two words))
Question 2 of 10
2. This Massachusetts Senator aspired in vain to the Presidency as a Whig candidate, but had to settle for the Secretary of State job in 1841 under William Henry Harrison, and again in 1850 under Millard Fillmore. In between these stints in the executive branch, he returned to the Senate and was known for opposing the annexation of Texas and the resulting war with Mexico, and for supporting the Compromise of 1850 as the best chance to preserve the union. Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. In response to high tariffs, this famous pre-Civil War Senator from South Carolina devised the so-called nullification doctrine, which held that a state was entitled to nullify (refuse to obey) an act of Congress which it believed to be unconsitutional. Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. This Massachusetts Senator was a leading antislavery voice and in 1854, was one of the founders of the Republican Party. After the Civil War, he was one of the leaders of the movement to impeach and remove Predident Andrew Johnson. He continued to fight for civil rights for African-Americans until his death in 1874. Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Moving ahead to the 20th century, this Wisconsin Senator was a founder of the progressive movement, and persistently fought for regulation of industry and against high tariffs. In 1924 he mounted a third-party campaign for President, winning 17 percent of the vote as an independent candidate. Exhausted by the effort, he died the following year. Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This Ohio Senator was known as "Mr. Republican" for his steadfast advocacy of the conservative cause. He was known for opposing FDR's New Deal policies and for sponsoring the Labor Relations Act of 1947. He ran unsuccessfully three times for his party's Presidential nomination, losing the nomination to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 after he had been considered the frontrunner. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In 1948, this Maine Congresswoman made history when she became the first woman to be elected to the Senate in her own right. Two years later she achieved national prominence when she made an eloquent appeal on the Senate floor against the evils of McCarthyism. In 1964, she became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the Presidency at a major party's national convention. Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. This Arizona Senator became a strong advocate for the conservative cause after his election to the Senate in 1952. His book, "The Conscience of a Conservative," set out his conservative principles and paved the way for his nomination for President in 1964. After losing that election in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson, he re-entered the Senate and became an elder statesman in his later years.

Answer: (H2O (two words))
Question 9 of 10
9. This Minnesota Senator ran against incumbent President Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1968 motivated by his opposition to the Vietnam War. His strong showing in the New Hampshire primary caused Robert F. Kennedy to enter the race and Johnson to drop out. Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. And finally moving into the 21st century, which Senator made history in 2001 when he changed his party affiliation, giving control of the Senate to the Democrats? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Oct 01 2024 : Guest 108: 10/10
Sep 19 2024 : jonathanw55: 3/10

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. This Kentucky Senator was known as "The Great Compromiser" for keeping the union together in pre-Civil War days by fashioning such compromises as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. He twice ran for President as the candidate of the Whig Party, losing to Andrew Jackson in 1832 and to James K. Polk in 1844.

Answer: Henry Clay

Oddly, the only elections won by the Whig Party were in years when Clay was denied the nomination in favor of (relatively apolitical) military men (Harrison in 1840 and Taylor in 1848). In 1957, a Senate committee named Clay the greatest Senator in the country's history.
2. This Massachusetts Senator aspired in vain to the Presidency as a Whig candidate, but had to settle for the Secretary of State job in 1841 under William Henry Harrison, and again in 1850 under Millard Fillmore. In between these stints in the executive branch, he returned to the Senate and was known for opposing the annexation of Texas and the resulting war with Mexico, and for supporting the Compromise of 1850 as the best chance to preserve the union.

Answer: Daniel Webster

The winner of several major constitutional cases in the Supreme Court, Webster was known as the nation's leading lawyer and an outstanding orator.
3. In response to high tariffs, this famous pre-Civil War Senator from South Carolina devised the so-called nullification doctrine, which held that a state was entitled to nullify (refuse to obey) an act of Congress which it believed to be unconsitutional.

Answer: John Calhoun

Calhoun spent his later years defending the institution of slavery and, in fact, one of his last political acts was to denounce the Compromise of 1850.
4. This Massachusetts Senator was a leading antislavery voice and in 1854, was one of the founders of the Republican Party. After the Civil War, he was one of the leaders of the movement to impeach and remove Predident Andrew Johnson. He continued to fight for civil rights for African-Americans until his death in 1874.

Answer: Charles Sumner

In 1856, Sumner delivered an anti-slavery speech called, "The Crime Against Kansas," which was particularly vitriolic, calling Senator Butler of South Carolina a "mistress" to the "harlot slavery." In retaliation, Butler's nephew beat Sumner senseless with a cane on the Senate floor. Sumner was gone from the Senate for over three years after that, but returned in 1859 and continued his anti-slavery crusade with a four-hour speech called "The Barbarism of Slavery."
5. Moving ahead to the 20th century, this Wisconsin Senator was a founder of the progressive movement, and persistently fought for regulation of industry and against high tariffs. In 1924 he mounted a third-party campaign for President, winning 17 percent of the vote as an independent candidate. Exhausted by the effort, he died the following year.

Answer: Robert M. LaFollette

In 1957, the Senate voted LaFollette one of the five most outstanding senators of all time, ironic because it had tried to expel him forty years earlier for criticizing U.S. involvement in World War I.
6. This Ohio Senator was known as "Mr. Republican" for his steadfast advocacy of the conservative cause. He was known for opposing FDR's New Deal policies and for sponsoring the Labor Relations Act of 1947. He ran unsuccessfully three times for his party's Presidential nomination, losing the nomination to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 after he had been considered the frontrunner.

Answer: Robert A. Taft

Historian Samuel Eliot Morison writes that no Republican in 1952 "more deserved to be President, for Taft had integrity, a deep knowledge of the governmental structure, and political courage. As in the case of Henry Clay, courage cost Taft the nomination; he had made too many enemies."
7. In 1948, this Maine Congresswoman made history when she became the first woman to be elected to the Senate in her own right. Two years later she achieved national prominence when she made an eloquent appeal on the Senate floor against the evils of McCarthyism. In 1964, she became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the Presidency at a major party's national convention.

Answer: Margaret Chase Smith

After retiring from political life in 1972, Senator Smith launched a second career as a college professor. She died in 1995 at the age of 97.
8. This Arizona Senator became a strong advocate for the conservative cause after his election to the Senate in 1952. His book, "The Conscience of a Conservative," set out his conservative principles and paved the way for his nomination for President in 1964. After losing that election in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson, he re-entered the Senate and became an elder statesman in his later years.

Answer: Barry Goldwater

Goldwater's book sold 3.5 million copies and served to revitalize the conservative movement. His "elder statesman" status served the country well during the Watergate crisis of the 1970's, because it was Goldwater's visit to President Nixon which convinced Nixon that things were hopeless and that he should therefore resign.
9. This Minnesota Senator ran against incumbent President Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1968 motivated by his opposition to the Vietnam War. His strong showing in the New Hampshire primary caused Robert F. Kennedy to enter the race and Johnson to drop out.

Answer: Eugene McCarthy

Since retiring from the Senate in 1970, McCarthy has given many lectures and has written 14 books on a variety of topics. In 1976 he ran for President as an Independent, and even though he received less than one percent of the vote, his run was noteworthy for successfully challenging many states' ballot access laws.
10. And finally moving into the 21st century, which Senator made history in 2001 when he changed his party affiliation, giving control of the Senate to the Democrats?

Answer: Jim Jeffords

The election of 2000 left the Senate evenly divided, mirroring the results of the Presidential election that year which was about 50-50 between Gore and Bush. The selection of Bush as President by the Courts also gave control of the Senate to the Republicans, as incoming Vice President Dick Cheney was then able to cast the tie-breaking vote.

The moderate Jeffords, who had become increasingly at odds with the national Republican party over its conservative direction, finally could stand it no longer and in May of 2001 he announced he was leaving the party, thereby giving control of the Senate to the Democrats. Jeffords argues rather persuasively that he did not leave the party, but rather the party left him.

The old New England brand of Republicanism has increasingly been supplanted by a different kind of Republicanism, one dominated by the "religious right" of the Bible belt.

As a result, Vermont, which had voted Republican in every Presidential election but one from 1856 through 1988, has now voted Democratic in the last three Presidential elections.

Although the Republicans took back control of the Senate in the 2002 election, three other moderate New England Republicans, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, also show signs of the same discontent with the national Republican party that afflicted Jeffords. Stay tuned!
Source: Author chessart

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