1940s All American History: 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: No one - there was no vice-president until after the 1948 election

The office of vice-president remained unfilled until the 1948 election. President Harry Truman's vice-president was Kentucky Congressman Alben Barkley. They were sworn into office in January, 1949. Barkley has the distinction of being the first vice-president to marry while in office.

Answer: Meet the Press

Martha Rountree was the "Meet the Press" moderator when in debuted November 6, 1947. Tim Russert had the longest tenure of moderators with 17 years on the show. A native of Buffalo, New York, Russert often ended the show by saying "Go Bills!", a reference to Buffalo's football team. He died on June 13, 2008.

Answer: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

In addition to meat, other foods that were rationed in America during the war were coffee, sugar, oils, and dairy products. Even whiskey became in short supply as distilleries were converted to industrial use. I think Spam actually is meat.

Answer: Drew a dark line up the back of their leg to look like a stocking seam

Silk stockings were the forerunner of nylons but were out of fashion by the 1940s. Additionally, nylon was designated for war purposes like parachutes; and the fighting in the Far East reduced the availability of silk.

Answer: Address a joint session of the US Congress

In this speech, Churchill stressed to Americans how hard it would be for the Allies to win WWII by comparing the cost and hardship of future battles to the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. And while he may have flown with the RAF, this quiz is about American history.

Answer: The Glass Menagerie

"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1948) and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1951) both earned Williams the Pulitzer Prize. He was featured on a postage stamp in 1994.

Answer: Be canonized a saint

Known as Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, America's first saint came to New York in 1889 by the order of Pope Leo XIII. She and her fellow nuns cared for the thousands of Italian immigrants arriving in the city. She became a US citizen in 1909 and died in Chicago in 1917 from a recurring bout of malaria.

Answer: Wild Bill

In 1946 President Harry Truman authorized the formation of the CIA. Admiral Sidney Souers was named the first DCI, Director of Central Intelligence. Other CIA directors have included Allen Dulles and future US President George H.W. Bush. In the 2006 film "The Good Shepherd" Robert De Niro portrayed "General Bill Sullivan", the director of a the US's WWII spy organization.

Answer: Roy Campanella

Roy Campanella's career ended in 1958 when a car accident left him paralyzed. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Answer: Bruce Springsteen

"The Boss" is one of New Jersey's favorite sons. His first album "Welcome to Asbury Park" refers to one of the shore towns where his career started. Springsteen made history in the fall of 1975 when he appeared on the covers of both "Time" and "Newsweek" in the same week.

He won an Oscar for Best Song for the movie "Philadelphia." Brian Wilson is the founder of the Beach Boys who are famously from California. John Mellencamp is known for singing about his American mid-west/Indiana roots. Phil Collins is also an Oscar-winning rocker but he is, of course, a Brit.