Easier Said Than Done Trivia Quiz

Answer: George Bush

"Read my lips, no new taxes!" was the famous campaign slogan of George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018), who used it during the presidential campaign of 1988. George Bush unfortunately was unable to completely keep his promise as several new taxes were implemented during his only term as the 41st President (1989-1993), most notably the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.

This slogan seems like it would be a tough promise to keep even for the most honest of politicians. It seems almost inevitable that at some point the government will have to raise taxes against the wishes of the public, especially if the country becomes engaged in international conflicts such as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait which occurred during Bush's tenure in office.

Answer: Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was the leader of the Union forces during the American Civil War. Several years after the war ended, Grant ran for President of the United States in 1868 with one of his campaign slogans being "Let us have peace!". Grant won the presidency and served as the 18th President (1869-1877), having won a second term four years later.

Ulysses S. Grant faced the daunting task of helping to restore peace to a war torn America. While his predecessor Andrew Johnson had already begun the reconstruction process, it fell to Grant to see it completed. Maintaining peace internally and externally became a challenge to Grant who had to deal with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist factions, attacks from Native American tribes, and international issues such as Cuba's rebellion against Spain.

Answer: Herbert Hoover

"A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage!" was the campaign slogan of Herbert Hoover (1874-1964). Herbert Hoover won the election of 1928 and became the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933).

Unfortunately for President Hoover, the stock market would crash in October of his inaugural year of 1929, which made his campaign promise a lost cause. President Hoover spent the remainder of his term trying to make sure unemployed Americans were able to eat at all, let alone earn enough money to buy a car.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

While this slogan (minus the word Let's) has gained recent popularity with President Donald Trump, he was not the first to use it. The slogan was first used by fellow Republican Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989), who used the slogan during the 1980 presidential election. Reagan's policies contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and helped jump start the American economy.

Reagan was re-elected in 1984, almost sweeping all 50 states in the electoral college, losing only Minnesota to his opponent Walter Mondale. However, Reagan's second term was a bit rockier than his first. His administration's involvement in international scandals such as the bombing of Libya in 1986 and the Iran-Contra Affair in 1987 left a few blemishes on his administration.

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the 28th President of the United States. During his first term (1913-1917), Wilson had been able to keep the United States out of the brewing conflict over in Europe. World War I had officially been sparked following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914. In his first term, Wilson felt that America needed to remain neutral and provide assistance to both sides of the conflict.

Wilson won his second term (1917-1923) using the campaign slogan "He has kept us out of war!". Approximately a month into his second term, following civilian American casualties at the hands of the Germans, Wilson changed his stance and lobbied for Congress to declare war against Germany in April 1917 which officially brought the United States into World War I.

Answer: Joe Biden

"Restore the soul of the nation!" was a campaign slogan used by Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. This slogan helped Biden become the 46th President of the United States following a controversial election, the results of which have been a hot topic of debate during much of Biden's term. Joe Biden became President at a time when America seemed to be at its most divisive since the Civil War era.

Internal conflicts regarding issues such as racism, abortion, health issues, immigration and the economy have plagued Joe Biden's presidency just as much as his predecessor Donald Trump. In addition, international conflicts between Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Palestine have also made restoring some sort of national unity a monumental task for both Republicans and Democrats.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is often seen as the most honest president that the United States has ever had. However, even "Honest Abe" needed to play politics in order to win over voters. Abraham Lincoln used the slogan "Vote yourself a farm and horses!" to help him secure victory in the 1860 election. The phrase attempted to promise Americans that Lincoln would work to ensure that citizens would be given increased access to assets such as land and livestock, especially in the western frontier.

Despite winning the election overall, he was unable to win any of the southern states in the electoral college. Around a month and a half after the presidency was decided, South Carolina seceded from the Union and soon after other southern states followed forming the Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln did not have much of an opportunity to make good on his promise as his attention shifted in simply keeping the United States united.

Answer: William McKinley

"Let well enough alone!" was a campaign slogan used by William McKinley (1843-1901) during his re-election campaign in 1900. William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States. After a fairly successful first term (1897-1901), William McKinley was able to win a second term on the premise that if things are going well, why make any change, at least with the president.

Sadly for William McKinley there was one person who very much wanted things to change and that man was an anarchist from Michigan by the name of Leon Czolgosz (1873-1901). On September 6, 1901, Leon shot William McKinley while the President was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. William McKinley died from infection several days later.

Answer: Warren G. Harding

"Return to normalcy!" was the campaign slogan for Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), the 29th President of the United States (1921-1923), who used it during the presidential election of 1920. The United States had just finished fighting World War I and dealing with the Spanish Flu during Woodrow Wilson's administration. The slogan seemed to promise a return to a normal peaceful life for Americans.

Warren G. Harding seemed to be making good on his promise as "the Roaring Twenties" were one of the most prosperous decades in American history. The same could not be said of President Harding himself however, as several scandals involving his administration caused his term to be anything but normal. Whether or not these scandals would have ruined the normalcy of the nation as a whole would become irrelevant as President Harding passed away from a heart attack in 1923, a little more than halfway into his term.

Answer: Grover Cleveland

"Unnecessary taxation oppresses industry!" was used by Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States (1885-1889 / 1893-1897). He used the slogan during his re-election campaign in 1888, which he lost to Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), who served as the 23rd President (1889-1893).

During his first term, Grover Cleveland fought to try and lower tariffs that he felt were negatively impacting American industries. However, in his second term, Grover Cleveland abstained from using his veto power against the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which basically imposed a federal income tax on the top one percent of American households. Despite neither signing or vetoing the bill, it became law due to wording in the Tariff Act of 1887, which allowed the bill to automatically become law after 10 days if the President had failed to sign it or veto it.