Out Dating... (USA) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

On March 25, 1911 a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City. Because of the poor conditions, locked doors and faulty fire escapes, 146 people died in the fire. A note of irony - the name of the ten story structure was the Asch Building.

The fire exposed dangerous conditions in high-rise buildings, and led to the creation of new building, fire and safety codes across the country.

Answer: Custer's Last Stand

It has been said that history is written by the winners, but in the case of the Native Americans, not so much. The US Government had made a treaty with the Sioux Tribe. In 1874 a scientific expedition, led by non other than General George Armstrong Custer himself, discovered gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

At that point, any treaties seem to have been forgotten, except by the Sioux. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse decided to take up arms to protect their vanishing property. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was actually won by the Native Americans but, eventually, all their land seemed to have turned into casinos!

Answer: FDR dies

It was 1 p.m. on April 12, 1945. The President was spending two weeks at the "Little White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia where he planned to rest and recuperate in the healing mineral waters there. Surrounded by family and friends, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was signing paperwork, as an artist was painting his portrait. Suddenly, he complained of a sharp pain in his head and, minutes later, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage which would end his life.

The longest serving president, the man crippled by polio, who was able to bring prosperity from depression and peace from war... Now was gone!

Answer: Hawaii 50th state

It was summertime, the end of a decade and the crowning star of President Eisenhower's administration; on August 21, 1959 "Ike" signed a proclamation which admitted Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state. The new American flag, now with five six-star rows and four five-star rows became official on
July 4, 1960. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii became a permanent part of the American identity. In March 1959, the US government approved statehood; in June the Hawaiians voted by a wide majority to accept statehood, and two months later it became official.

Answer: Sale of Manhattan

Based on a letter by Dutch merchant Pieter Schage to the directors of the West India Company, he writes "They have purchased the Island of Manhattes from the savages for the value of 60 guilders". In the 1800s, historians converted the figure and came up with $24 - which has been the price taught to every generation since. Adjusting for inflation and the changing exchange rate for the US dollar, it comes to more like $1,000, but still a bargain! Unfortunately, the letter never mentioned the tribe on whose behalf it was sold (and the deed is lost), so a wandering tribe may have sold land they had no claim to.

Answer: President Washington's Inauguration

Did you think George Washington became president in 1776. Nope! With the ratification of the US Constitution in March 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States and one month later, in April 1789, President Washington was inaugurated.

The Oath of Office was administered by Robert Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, on the second floor balcony of Federal Hall. In July of that same year, Congress moved the National Capital to Philadelphia, PA for ten years before it was moved to Washington, D.C.

Answer: Kent State shootings

This was the "generation gap" in all its 'gory'. What a tragedy for this country! On May 4, 1970 the Ohio National Guard was sent to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio to help 'control' an anti-war rally. All of a sudden shots rang out and four unarmed student protesters were killed, with nine others seriously wounded.

The bloody massacre further divided a nation already split apart over the Vietnam War.

Answer: Lee surrenders

After his army was trapped, General Robert E. Lee officially surrendered his remaining troops to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia on the afternoon of April 9, 1865, thereby ending the "War Between the States". After four years of Civil War, of brother against brother, the United States was once more united and could begin the road to recovery.
As a side note, Abraham Lincoln's assassination was just six days after the surrender, i.e., on April 15, 1865.

Answer: Columbine Massacre

On April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado the unimaginable happened. Two seniors went into the cafeteria firing shotguns and killed 12 students and one teacher, and injuring 21 others. Eleven minutes later the pair committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 15, making it the deadliest high school shooting in US history in the 20th century.

Their motives remain unclear; whether they were trying to copy the violence in Oklahoma City, whether they chose the date to commemorate the birth of Adolf Hitler, we will never really know. What is very clear is what followed: from Sandy Hook to Virginia Tech to Aurora...it just goes on.

Answer: Holly's plane crashes

It was February 3, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa when a plane carrying three of Rock and Roll's biggest stars, i.e., Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper"), crashed. All three and the pilot, Roger Peterson, were killed. It was Rock and Roll's first big tragedy and, as Don McLean sang, "the day the music died".
Waylon Jennings, who was Holly's bass player at the time, was supposed to be on that flight; however, as a favor to J.P. Richardson who was ill, Jennings gave up his seat.