A Presidential Insight Trivia Quiz

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

On 14th February 1884, Theodore Roosevelt was summoned home from his work place. He returned home to find his mother, Mittie, dead. She had been suffering from typhoid fever. A few hours later his wife, Alice Lee, died of Bright's Disease, a serious ailment of the kidney. These events devastated him so much that he withdrew from public life for two years.

Later in his life while he was running for president in 1912, he was struck in the chest by a 'stray' bullet. The bullet did not cause him much harm as they had passed through his fifty page speech. His thick chest muscles also helped to stop the bullet, which he carried in his chest for the rest of his life.

Teddy Bears are named after him. This is because he spared the life of a bear cub during a hunting trip.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Born on April 13th 1743, Thomas Jefferson was one of the founding fathers of the United States. He was once a member of the Continental Congress, Virginia state legislature, governor of Virginia, US Secretary of State, vice president and president.

When British soldiers burnt the capitol building (which contains the library of congress) during the War of 1812, he sold his 6700 volume personal library to congress for $23,950, a big sacrifice for a bibliophile like Jefferson.

While he was drafting the Declaration of Independence, he discovered that his windsor chair did not allow him to make enough movement. He added an iron spindle between the top and bottom of the chair to make it rotate on rollers which he had gotten from window sash pulleys, thereby inventing the swivel chair.

Answer: Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th president of the United States and took office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

When he was 33, he volunteered to join the military (this was a day after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor). He was assigned to the Navy.
In 1942, he was about to see action for the first time. He was to join the Wabash Cannonball, a B-26 twin-powered medium bomber on a mission to Papua New Guinea. Their mission was to raid a Japanese base and Johnson would serve as observer. At the last minute, he decided to ease himself. When he returned, his seat on the Wabash Cannonball had been occupied and he had to join another plane, The Heckling Hare. The Wabash Cannonball was eventually fired down by the Japanese and none of their crew survived.
Johnson was controversially awarded a Silver Star by Gen. Douglas MacArthur after the event.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

Tough, temperamental and an enthusiastic dueler, it is no wonder that he earned the nickname 'Old Hickory'. Born in 1767, he gained fame as a general in the US army. He soon ascended to the presidency amidst much popularity.

On January 30 1835, Richard Lawrence, a jobless house painter, shot at Jackson who was returning from a funeral but misfired. Infuriated, Jackson delivered several blows to Lawrence with his cane. While being clubbed, Lawrence brought out another loaded pistol and shot at Jackson again. It also misfired. Jackson's guards had to wrestle Lawrence away. The assassin spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum (he was deemed insane).

Jackson had an African Grey parrot, Poll. The parrot managed to learn few swearwords, cool right? Well not until he had to be removed from Jackson's funeral since it wouldn't stop cursing.
A report on the issue states that the guests were "horrified and awed at the bird's lack of reverence".

Answer: William Henry Harrison

W. H. Harrison served as the 9th president of the United States for only 31 days. On his inauguration day, he gave an address that lasted for nearly two hours on a wet and cold morning without wearing a hat, overcoat or gloves. This was thought to be the cause of his death (it was presumed that he was suffering from pneumonia), but that was not the case.

Until 1850, there was not any sewer system in Washington, D.C. Sewage spilled onto grounds near the White House. It stagnated and formed a terrible marsh, the ideal breeding ground from harmful bacteria like Salmonella typhi and S. paratyphi (they cause typhoid and paratyphoid respectively). These harmful pathogens found their way into the White House water supply (the water supply was close to the marsh).
Harrison was already suffering from indigestion, making it easier for the pathogens to cause him harm. Harrison took ill soon after his speech and died 31 days into his tenure due to enteric fever. He was the first president to die in office.

Answer: Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the US, may not have been the most popular of presidents. For one thing, he was the first person that was neither elected US president nor vice president. When Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 due to a tax scandal, Ford was named vice president. Eight months later, he took the oath of office as US president following Richard Nixon's resignation.

On September 5th 1975, while he was in Sacramento to see the governor of California, Jerry Brown, a woman shot at him from arm's length, but the gun misfired. She was Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme. She was eventually overpowered and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment (although she was released in the 2000s after Ford's natural death). 17 days later, on 22nd September, while Ford was in San Francisco, a bullet whizzed past his head as he came out of his limo. The culprit this time was Sara Jane Moore. She was also given a life sentence.
Both women claimed to be acting independently.

Answer: Zachary Taylor

The exact cause of his death is debated. During the Independence Day celebrations of 1850, Taylor joined the festivities taking place on the Capitol grounds. He is then said to have had a bowl of cherries and some iced milk. The day was hot and he went back to the White House to quench his thirst. He drank several glasses of water.

Remember that there was not a working sewage system at that time and White House water was probably contaminated with deadly bacteria. The water had caused William H. Harrison's untimely demise and would also cause ill health for James K. Polk (who eventually recovered only to die three months after his tenure as president). Taylor started experiencing severe symptoms like cramps, diarrhea, nausea and dehydration. He died five days later on 9th July.
Some sources claim that bacteria was present either in the water or iced milk while others say that the high acidic content of the cherries caused his illness.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

One of the most loved presidents, Abraham Lincoln enjoyed wrestling in his youth. Having grown up in fairly humble background, Lincoln had to learn some coping skills which would be of use in future early in his life since he was not well to do. Not least amongst those skills was his wrestling prowess. Due to his long limbs, he could easily grapple opponents and perform tricky maneuvers. Out of an estimated 300 wrestling matches, Lincoln lost just one. He even has an "Outstanding American" honor in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Abraham Lincoln is credited with founding the Secret Service, ironically that was on the same day he was asassinated.

Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes

The 1876 presidential election was riddled with allegations of voter fraud and intimidation. The nation had not yet been completely healed of the scars inflicted by the civil war and was going through the reconstruction. The freed slaves were mainly republican leaning since Lincoln had been a republican. Through the 1870s, the image of the republicans faded away and the southern democrats saw a chance in the forthcoming election. Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes of the republicans and New York governor Samuel Tilden of the democrats were the main contenders. On the election day, republicans stuffed ballot boxes and allowed repeated voting while democrats intimidated black republican voters. In the end, Tilden was declared winner by over 200 thousand votes. Some electoral votes were undecided in three states.

The republicans made an informal agreement with the democrats over the elections and Rutherford (who ended the reconstruction as a favor to democrats) was declared winner by a single electoral vote.

Answer: Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st US president and the fourth vice president to succeed to the presidency following the death of a president.

He was the son of a priest from Northern Ireland and was used to moving from place to place in his childhood. A schoolmate recalls that Arthur was a natural born leader "When Chester was a boy, you might see him in the village street after a shower, watching boys building a mud dam across the rivulet in the roadway...ordering this one to bring stones, another sticks and others sods and mud to finish the dam".

He thought the White House needed redecoration and ordered it renovated. He stayed in the home of a senator till the White House was redecorated. His wife, Ellen Lewis Arthur died a year before he took office so Mary McElroy, his sister, served as first lady.