Alternate Presidents 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chester Arthur

Early in his career, while Collector of the Port of New York, he had retained more staff than necessary to administer the Custom House as they were useful party workers and his reputation became a little suspect. However, when he became president following the assassination of President Garfield by Charles Guiteau, he threw himself into civil service reform, signing into law the requirement that certain jobs had to be won through competitive tests rather than political support.

It also protected employees from being sacked for political reasons.

He introduced immigration controls to stop undesirable characters such as criminals getting into the country. By the time he left office, his reputation as an honourable and respected man was complete.

Answer: William Clinton

He defeated a sitting president (George H. W. Bush) when first elected to the presidency and was succeeded by that president's son (George W. Bush) after his second term. He was a very popular president and his reputation remains very high despite a serious sex scandal in 1998 bringing about charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, for which he was impeached but acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

Answer: Richard Nixon

He first found his way to the White House as President Eisenhower's vice-president in 1953. He was beaten to the presidency by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election but came back to win it in the 1968 election. His presidency saw a lessening of tension with the Soviet Union following the signing of an anti-ballistic missile treaty.

He also visited China and opened a line of communication with this rising super power. He will, however, always be remembered as the first President of the United States to resign in the face of probable removal from office following the Watergate scandal.

Answer: Millard Fillmore

Fillmore was elected as Zachary Taylor's vice-president and became President Fillmore when Taylor died in 1850. He was a member of the Whig party which was dissolved in 1860 over the issue of slavery and he was the last of the four Whig presidents. The others were Zachary Taylor, John Tyler and William Harrison.

He sought re-election in 1852 but failed to win the nomination of his party, who preferred Winfield Scott instead. Scott was soundly beaten by Franklin Pierce.

Answer: Barack Obama

Obama was a lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago. Almost everything he has done made history from being the first black president of the Harvard Law Review to the first black President of the USA. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, and in 2004 decided to run for the U.S. Senate.

He came to national attention when he made the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, and in November of that year he crushed his opponent to become a U.S. Senator. Only 4 years later, he was elected to be the next tenant of The White House.

His mother, by the way, was named Stanley Ann Dunham but went by the name Ann.

Answer: James Carter

He grew up on a Farm in the state of Georgia, and joined the U.S. Navy where he served as an officer on a submarine. When his father died, he gave up the Navy life and returned to run the family farm. He entered local politics eight years later and ten years after that he was elected Governor of Georgia.

He defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. In the years since leaving office he has used his name and connections to promote the fight against hunger and poverty and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work.

Answer: Ulysses Grant

Hiram Ulysses Grant (note that he had no name starting with an 'S'), was the commanding general of the Union army during the American Civil War. He was obviously at the time a very popular man. After the war, he was involved with the reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson, but was often in disagreement with him while publicly supporting him. Things came to a head when Johnson broke the terms of the Tenure of Office Act.

He had illegally sacked the Secretary of War and expected Grant to refuse him entry to his office even though the Senate had demanded he be admitted. Grant refused to do so and soon after, Johnson tried to discredit him publicly. Grant's rebuttals made him even more popular. Johnson was later impeached, but was acquitted by a single vote in the Senate. Grant went on to win the next presidential election.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

Harrison has the honour, or perhaps misfortune, of being the shortest serving president in American history. He died of pneumonia on his 31st day as president (4th March 1841 - 4th April 1841). His death caused a constitutional argument about the presidential succession.

It revolved around whether the vice-president became president or just acting president, and whether he would serve out the remaining term of the president or whether a new election was needed. It was resolved by agreeing that when the vice-president took the Oath of Office, he became president and that he should serve the remaining term of the presidency.

Answer: George Washington

He was the son of a Virginian tobacco plantation owner and became a surveyor and soldier, being quickly promoted through the ranks. In 1775 he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and given the task of defeating the British in the War of Independence.

He somehow managed to do this even though the British had bigger armies. In 1783 after the war had concluded, he resigned rather than take control of the country. The Continental Congress which governed the country was weak and Washington presided over a convention that came up with a new, stronger form of government in 1787.

He was unanimously elected the country's first president in 1789.

Answer: Franklin Roosevelt

FDR as he was known, first became president in 1933 when the country was struggling to recover from the great depression. He came up with the "New Deal", a package of public works and reforms that created jobs and promoted economic recovery. It worked very well for a few years but recession returned.

He remained extremely popular however. He was elected to the presidency on four occasions, dying in office a few months into his 4th term. He is therefore the longest serving president (4th March 1933 until his death on 12th April 1945). An amendment to the Constitution restricting a president to two terms was later passed.