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Hello, My Name is Resolute Trivia Quiz

I overheard the President on the phone chatting with a reporter who is planning a story about the Presidential desk. That's me! This is so exciting! I'm trying to remember some of the important bits, can you help?

A multiple-choice quiz by mlcmlc. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
mlcmlc

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
340,851

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
673

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: psnz (10/10), Guest 107 (6/10), stevroll (8/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. I actually didn't start out as a desk, you know. One of my first memories seems to be when I was still a ship, the HMS Resolute. I traveled with four other ships in 1850 to try to help find Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. After returning to England for provisions, a new fleet and new commander set out to search again. I just can't remember why I was abandoned, can you? Hint

trapped in ice

mast snapped

sank

mutiny

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. It felt like I drifted around for years, but I was finally found and sailed to America in 1855. Britain waived all claims to me, so now I was the property of the Americans. Relations weren't so good then between America and Britain, so the Congress and President decided to fix me up and present me as a gift back to Britain. Which President was in office? Hint

Abraham Lincoln

Franklin Pierce

Millard Fillmore

James Buchanan

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Well now, I was put back into service for the Royal Navy and I performed happily until it was decided that I would be decommissioned in 1879. I was broken to pieces, but I survived when Queen Victoria requested that some desks be fashioned from the ship's wood. I was formed into a partner's desk with many fine carving details and then re-gifted to America. Which American President was I given to in 1880? Hint

Ulysses S. Grant

Rutherford B. Hayes

James A. Garfield

Chester A. Arthur

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked using my large surface area to work on. However, what modification he did request? Hint

secret panel

extra drawers

veneer top

kneehole panel

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Question 5 of 10

5. What with Presidents moving in and out and re-decorations and redesigns, sometimes it feels like I've stayed in every room of the White House. Which President, also the first to be broadcast in color, had me moved to the broadcast room? Hint

Harry S. Truman

Dwight D. Eisenhower

William Howard Taft

Lyndon B. Johnson

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Question 6 of 10

6. Jackie Kennedy found me under a green cloth in the White House broadcast room. She had me restored (oh, the gloss!) and I was installed in the Oval Office for President John F. Kennedy to use every day. In October 1963, President Kennedy invited a photographer to snap pictures of himself with his son, John Jr., while he was working. The most famous of these was one with President Kennedy reading while John Jr. opened the kneehole door. Can you remember the photographer's name? Hint

Pete Souza

Yoichi Okamoto

Alan Stanley Tretick

Michael Evans

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. I remember when President Lyndon B. Johnson first came in the office and sat in the chair here. But, I can't remember why he didn't keep me in this lovely Oval Office, can you?

Hint

the desk was too large

didn't want to be associated with Kennedy

the desk was too small

desk needed refurbishment

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. A second modification was requested by President Ronald Reagan. I know nothing ever stays the same, but yeesh! What change did President Reagan request? Hint

paint it white

secret compartment

raise the desk two inches

stain a lighter color

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. In 2007 a film was released in which one of my doppelgangers played a significant role. The star of the movie, Nicholas Cage (Ben Gates), was trying to prove that this great-great-grandfather was not involved in the assassination of Lincoln. He didn't find what he was looking for in the hidden compartment, but did at least find a clue which helped him. Will you help me remember which movie? Hint

300

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Transformers

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Question 10 of 10

10. Somebody published a picture of me on the internet! In the picture, the President is sitting back in his chair with his feet propped on top. Which of these Presidents has NOT had a picture taken with his feet on my table top? Hint

Barack Obama

Gerald Ford

Ulysses S. Grant

George W. Bush

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: trapped in ice

HMS Resolute was abandoned in 1854 off Dealy Island. The men marched overland to find the remainder of the expedition ships and a berth for the trip home. The fleet, under Sir Edward Belcher, abandoned three of the five vessels.

In 1855, HMS Resolute had drifted about 1,200 miles and was found by Captain James Buddington of the George Henry, a whaler. After freeing the ship from the remaining ice, it was sailed to his home port of New London, Connecticut.

Answer: Franklin Pierce

A bill was passed to spend $40,000 for refurbishment. HMS Resolute went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for refitting. In 1856, she was sailed across the Atlantic, arriving at Spithead, but then towed to Cowes so that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could board for a tour. Commander Henry Hartstene USN presented the ship to the Queen "on behalf of the people of the United States as a token of the friendly feelings by which our country is actuated." This gift helped to lessen tensions between the nations.

Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes

The commission to design and build the desks was granted to William Evenden at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Chatham, England. There were four on record. Of the remaining three, one was to be given to the widow of Henry Grinnel, and the other two were for the Queen, herself.

There is a plaque installed on the desk with an inscription which summarizes the history of how the desk came to be given to the President of the United States.

4. President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked using my large surface area to work on. However, what modification he did request?

Answer: kneehole panel

President Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be blocked to keep his braces from view. However, he died before the part was completed. President Harry S. Truman liked the panel and had it installed in Roosevelt's memory.

The seal on the panel is rare, the design being only one of four in the White House. On the panel, the head of the eagle is turned toward the 13 arrows. The seal was carved before President Truman signed Executive Order 9646 in 1945, standardizing the design of the official Presidential Seal with the head of the eagle turned toward the olive branches.

Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower

President Eisenhower used the desk in the broadcast room for his radio and television broadcasts to the nation. I watched a few of the broadcasts on youtube.com and you can't actually see much of the desk, but it was a large, solid structure for him to sit behind.

Answer: Alan Stanley Tretick

Jackie did not like the children being photographed for the media, but she was on vacation in Greece when Tretick was invited in. The picture was snapped for "Look" magazine and it and others were already on their way to the stands when President Kennedy was assassinated in November.

The desk was loaned out to the Kennedy Library for a traveling fund raising exhibition and then transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1964. President Carter brought it back to the Oval Office in 1977.

7. I remember when President Lyndon B. Johnson first came in the office and sat in the chair here. But, I can't remember why he didn't keep me in this lovely Oval Office, can you?

Answer: the desk was too small

President Johnson could not sit at the desk because of his height. So, the desk went off with the Kennedy Library exhibition and Johnson used one from when he was in the US Senate. This is now called the Johnson desk, and as of 2010, he has been the only President to use the desk in the Oval Office.

8. A second modification was requested by President Ronald Reagan. I know nothing ever stays the same, but yeesh! What change did President Reagan request?

Answer: raise the desk two inches

A platform was built beneath the structures of the desk to raise the entire desk two inches. President Reagan's knees were knocking into the bottom of the desk when he sat in his favorite chair. When looking at pictures of the modification, it appears to have always been there.

Answer: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

The movie has spawned a lot of traffic, both yea and nay, about whether or not the President's Resolute desk has any hidden compartments. There's even a video on youtube.com that shows how to open the compartment.

Since the movie was released "The Oval Office, White House Museum" website claims that the Resolute Desk is the most popular item for folk visiting the White House Museum.

Answer: Ulysses S. Grant

I found this at snopes.com. A picture of President Obama was taken and he has his feet up on the desk, with bottoms pointed toward the other folk in the room. The claim is that he is disrespecting the office, the desk, and the people in the room. The snopes.com listing has pictures of the other presidents doing much the same, but without getting blamed for doing so.

Source: Author mlcmlc

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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