How to Become the Average U.S. President Quiz

Answer: Virginia

Virginia was the birth state of 8 of the first 44 U.S. presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson. Ohio comes next with 7, followed by Massachusetts and New York with 4 and Illinois with 1.
However, interestingly, only one president from after the 19th century was born in Virginia. So you will probably want to be born in Virginia in the late 1700s - good luck with that!

Answer: James

James Madison, James Monroe, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, James Garfield, and Jimmy Carter were all born with the name James. Carter's birth name was James Earl Carter, Jr.

Girls, the good news is that James does register within the top 1000 baby names for girls for most years of the past 2 centuries, although it was at its peak of popularity in 1928.

Answer: Harvard University

Harvard is the alma mater of John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams (Note that Barack Obama attended Columbia University for his undergraduate degree and Harvard for Law School). Princeton hosted 3 future president (including Kennedy who transferred to Harvard), and Yale also hosted 3 future presidents. While The College of William and Mary saw three future presidents matriculate plus George Washington who got his surveyor's certificate there.

Harvard University is the oldest institution of education in the United States and The College of William and Mary (located in Virginia) is the second-oldest.

Answer: Law School

A lot of presidents do go on to law school - even if they don't graduate. Of the first 13 presidents who went to law school, only 7 eventually graduated.

Harvard Law School and Yale Law School prove to be the most popular choices. Rutherford B. Hayes and Barack Obama attended and graduated from the former, Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton attended and graduated from the latter. Both Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew from Columbia Law School.

Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Calvin Coolidge became lawyers through their own independent study without actually attending law school. In this day and age, that route is probably even harder!

Answer: Soldier or General in the U.S. Army

At least 15 presidents were enlisted as a soldier or higher rank in the U.S. Army, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, James Garfield and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Writer is one of the least common professions before presidency, but one of the most common after presidency - 16 of the first 42 former presidents have at least one published book to their name after leaving the Oval Office.

Answer: Episcopalian

Most presidents have been formal members of a church or religious body even if they will downplay it while in office. 10 different presidents have been associated with the Episcopalian church at some point in their lifetime, including: George H.W. Bush, Gerald R. Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and James Madison.

One reason for such a high number of presidential Episcopalians compared to the general U.S. population is because the Episcopal Church had been the Church of England before the American Revolution and was the state religion of several states including common presidential birth states Virginia and New York.

Answer: Governor

Starting with Thomas Jefferson who was Governor of Virginia and continuing through to George W. Bush who was Governor of Texas, 18 of the first 43 presidents were once the Governor of a state. Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt were all Governor of New York.

14 of the first 43 presidents were Vice President at one time, while 8 served as a U.S. Ambassador and 8 as a Cabinet Secretary - Secretary of State being the most common position, but interestingly, Herbert Hoover was the only one to serve as Secretary of Commerce and he held that position under two different presidents.

Answer: Republican

The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists from the Northern States but has become known for their conservative politics. The first Republican president was Abraham Lincoln and the party dominated the late 1800s through 1930s with 11 presidents, broken up by only two different Democratic presidents (Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland).

The Democratic Party evolved out of the Democratic-Republican party which split into the Democratic Party and the National Republican Party, which shortly thereafter became the Whig Party. And after that it was mostly Whig followers who founded the Republican Party.

Answer: 50 - 54

13 presidents were between the ages of 50 and 54 at their first inauguration which equates to 30%. The next most popular age group is 55 - 59, representing 26% of the first 43 presidents.

Benefits to the first age group mean longer retirement after presidency. Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover were first inaugurated at 52 and 54 years of age respectively, both survived 4 years as president, and both got to enjoy over 30 years of retirement. Most presidents only get around 5 years of "relaxation" after leaving the post.

Answer: This doesn't describe any president

That's the thing about averages - they can be useful to describe a whole group of people, but rarely can they be applied to individuals.
The closest president to this hypothetical average president just created is Franklin D. Roosevelt who was a Governor, went to Harvard University and Columbia Law School, was Episcopalian and was first inaugurated at age 51.