Alternate Presidents 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

During his first term as president, he introduced several very important pieces of legislation. He introduced a federal income tax, the Federal Reserve Act and Antitrust legislation. All are still important today. When campaigning for his second term in 1916, the slogan "He kept us out of the war" was used.

This is a reference to the fact that America had not got involved in the First World War. He was re-elected by a small majority and then found himself believing that America could no longer stay neutral in this struggle and declared war on Germany in 1917.

After the war had ended, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote a new organisation called The League of Nations whose objective was to maintain world peace.

Answer: William McKinley

When he took office in 1897, the island of Cuba was fighting for independence from Spain. He sent a battleship to Cuba in February 1898 to protect American lives and property but it was sunk by a Spanish underwater mine with the loss of 266 American lives. War was declared on Spain.

In a matter of months, the Spanish fleet had been destroyed and Cuba was under American control along with Puerto Rico. Under the terms of the resulting Treaty of Paris, the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the island of Guam, and bought Cuba for $20 million.

He was re-elected in 1900 and following his inauguration in 1901, went on a tour of the nation. Due to his wife's illness, he postponed a trip to New York until September 1901. On 5th September 1901 Leon Czolgosz waited inline to see him and when he got to the front, took out a hidden gun and shot McKinley twice. Local doctors failed to find the second bullet and closed the wound which turned gangrenous and he died on 14th September 1901. Theodore Roosevelt became president.

Answer: James Buchanan

Buchanan had already had a distinguished career before being elected to the presidency in 1856. He had been both a U.S. Representative and a Senator for many years, and he had an easy victory against two other candidates. At that time, the differences between the northern and southern states were starting to become apparent and he had a very hard time trying to find a path between the two.

He decided not to run again in 1860.

Answer: Benjamin Harrison

He was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, the 9th President. An Indianapolis lawyer, he volunteered to help raise a regiment of men to help the Union cause in the Civil War. He joined up himself, starting as a second lieutenant and finished as brevet brigadier general of volunteers, given that title by Lincoln himself.

After the war, he went on to be a senator and in 1888 won the presidency by defeating the incumbent, President Grover Cleveland. He lost the presidency in 1892 in a rematch against Cleveland.

Answer: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

He was the first president born in the 20th century. His service in the navy during WW2 was the subject of a 1963 film ("PT 109"). His presidency was marked by the Cuban Missile Crisis where the world stood on the edge of nuclear war when he demanded the Soviet Union remove their missiles from the island of Cuba. Kennedy also propelled America into the space race in 1962, promising to put a man on the moon and bring him home safely before the end of the decade.

He became the fourth president to die at the hands of an assassin, in 1963.

Answer: William Howard Taft

He became president immediately after his friend, President Theodore Roosevelt, had served his second term. He had previously been Solicitor General of the United States and an appeal judge. After suffering a heavy defeat by President Wilson in 1912, he spent years trying to promote world peace.

In 1921 he was made Chief Justice of the United States by President Harding, becoming the first person ever to have held that post and that of President of the United States.

Answer: John Tyler

He was a U.S. Representative, the governor of Virginia and a senator before being picked as the running mate for William Henry Harrison in the 1840 presidential election in order to attract southern voters. Just a month into his presidency, Harrison died.

At that time there was no automatic mechanism for a succession but Tyler quickly took the Oath of Office and assumed the presidency. At first, the Whig party (of which Tyler was a member) weren't concerned, thinking he would do what they wanted but he soon made it clear he was his own man.

He vetoed some Whig Bills and was expelled from the party as a consequence. His first wife died in 1842 having had 8 of his children. In 1844, at the age of 54 he married a 24 year old lady with whom he had another 7 children.

Answer: James Monroe

Monroe was the 5th President of the USA and although he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, he is regarded as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. In 1823 he made a speech which went down in history when he announced what became to be known as the Monroe Doctrine.

It set out guidelines for future foreign policy. America would not get involved in European conflicts but would consider European interference with American colonies or other independent countries in the Americas as a hostile act against the United States itself.

In essence it was a case of "you leave us alone and we will leave you alone". Monroe advocated creating a colony in Africa where free African Americans could live. This eventually became the nation of Liberia and its capital is Monrovia, named in his honour.

Answer: Rutherford Hayes

In 1876, he was selected to run against Samuel J. Tilden in the presidential election. It turned out to be one of the most famous elections in American history. When the votes were counted, Tilden had just over half of the popular vote. There was, however, a dispute about the voting results of four states.

The number of electoral votes for each candidate was 184 to Tilden and 165 to Hayes with twenty votes undecided. A deal was struck, known as the Compromise of 1877, by which the twenty outstanding votes would be given to Hayes in return for him withdrawing Federal troops from the south when he took office.

This was agreed. The downside of the agreement was that it enabled the southern political leaders to recreate the pre-war conditions of their respective states as far as was possible, including disenfranchisement of black voters.

Answer: Warren Harding

Harding's administration will be remembered for a major scandal. He became president in 1921 and installed friends and supporters in important government positions. In 1922/23, it was discovered that the Secretary of the Interior appointed by Harding, Albert Fall, had taken bribes from oil companies to lease petroleum reserves to them at low rates without seeking offers from other companies.

It was known as the Teapot Dome scandal after the location of one of the reserves in question. Harding himself had transferred control of those oil fields from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. Harding died suddenly in August 1923, becoming the third president to die of natural causes while in office.