Back to Twentieth Century USA Trivia Quiz

Answer: Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The event ran from the end of April 1904 until the beginning of December, with exhibitors from 62 countries and nearly all of the then forty-three US states. The exposition was linked to the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase, in 1803.

On display were the then new-fangled telephone, X-ray machine and automobiles.

Answer: Denmark

The islands are located in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, and have been colonised over the years by several nations. The Danish West India Company established a trading post on St Thomas, one of the main islands, in 1672. The Treaty of the Danish West Indies was signed in 1916 and ratified the following year.

Answer: Calvin Coolidge

Woodrow Wilson was president from 1913 until 1921, and was the president who took the USA forces into World War I. Harding served from 1921 until 1923, when he died in office, while Hoover was president from 1929 until 1933, with the Great Depression being the major event during his term in office.

Coolidge was the thirtieth president, taking office when Harding died, and is possibly best remembered as being a man of few words.

Answer: 1930

Buzz Aldrin was born on 20th January, Neil Armstrong on 5th August and Michael Collins on 31st October, all in 1930. The three of them were to achieve joint fame in July 1969 as the crew of Apollo 11 and the first moon landing.

Answer: Tunisia

The battle was one of the earliest fights of World War II to involve American forces, along with British support, and the inexperienced troops were unlucky enough to be faced by the Afrika Corps, led by Erwin Rommel. The failure led to changes in the command structure, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, later to be US President, responsible for improvements and eventual success for the Allies.

Answer: Espionage

Sobell was part of the same spy ring as Julius and Ether Rosenberg, although he did not admit this until 2008. The Rosenbergs were both executed in 1953, while Sobell was released from prison in 1969. He commented in a 2018 interview that he had 'bet on the wrong horse'.

Answer: Alexei Kosygin

The summit was held in New Jersey, with the Soviet leader travelling to the USA to meet his American counterpart. Kosygin had initiated contact by writing to President Johnson during the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states, with the two major nations co-operating, to an extent, over the actions they should take. The summit came to no great conclusions, but did go some way towards the thawing of relations between the countries.

In 1967, Wilson was Britain's Prime Minister, Pearson was Canada's and de Gaulle was President of France.

Answer: Pennsylvania

The Three Mile Nuclear Generating Station suffered a major incident on 28th March 1979, when a fault developed in one of the reactors. Radioactive material was released into the atmosphere and a large scale evacuation of the surrounding area took place, although somewhat delayed by the initial failure of the authorities to understand the seriousness of the situation.

Answer: Grenada

Grenada had gained independence from Britain in 1974, but the government which took over, led by Sir Eric Gairy, had to deal with much opposition. In 1979, a coup d'etat was staged by the New Jewel Movement while Gairy was abroad. In 1983, this government was in turn ousted, with the then US President, Ronald Reagan, deciding to bring matters to an end with an invasion. The invasion lasted only a few days, from 25th to 29th October 1983.

Answer: David Koresh

The Branch Davidians were an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists, led by David Koresh. Their base, the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, was suspected by law enforcement agents of being used for illegal weapons storage. An initial attempt to search the premises led to an armed stand-off and siege, which ended in the deaths of most of the inhabitants in April 1993. Koresh was among those who perished.

Jim Jones led the Peoples Temple, Marshall Applewhite was the leader of Heaven's Gate and David Berg is associated with Children of God.