Political Families Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Kennedys

Both Huey and Earl Long served as Governor of Louisiana. Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York while his brother Winthrop was governor of Arkansas, and George W. Bush was governor of Texas while brother Jeb was governor of Florida. The three Kennedy brothers were all U.S. senators, but none were governors.

Answer: John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams, popularly known as the first son of a president to be elected president was also the first son of a vice-president to be elected president.
DeWitt Clinton, who ran for president in 1812, was the nephew of vice-president George Clinton. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., who ran for vice-president in 1960 and briefly ran for president in 1964, was the scion of a political family, but none of his relatives served as vice-president. George W. Bush is son of Vice-President and President George H.W. Bush.

Answer: Elizabeth Dole

Kansas Senator Bob Dole took three shots at the highest office, 1980, 1988 and 1996 when he won the GOP nomination. In 2000, Liddy Dole ran in the Republican presidential primary. She did not receive the nomination, but two years later she was elected to the U.S. senate.

Answer: Yes

In 2003, Lucy Sanchez (D-CA) joined sister Loretta (D-CA) to become the first sister act in congress.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Taft's son and grandson were both U.S. senators and his great-grandson served as Governor of Ohio. Two of FDR's sons, Franklin Jr. and James, served in congress. John Quincy Adams' son Charles Francis Adams represented Massachussetts for two terms. Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln served as secretary of war but not in congress.

Answer: Ohio

Aside from amassing great quantities of wealth, John D. Rockefeller produced several generations of politicians. His grandson Nelson served as governor of New York as well as U.S. vice-president. Nelson's brother Winthrop was governor of Arkansas, and their nephew John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV was governor of West Virginia. Jay was later elected to the U.S senate and is also the son-in-law of former Illinois senator Charles Percy.

Answer: Adlai Stevenson

Adlai Stevenson I served as vice-president under Grover Cleveland. His grandson, Adlai Stevenson II, was the Governor of Illinois and a two time Democratic nominee for president (1952 and 1956), and his son, Adlai III, was a U.S. senator from Illinois. Vice-president Al Gore's father, Al Gore, was a U.S. senator and President Benjamin Harrison's grandfather, William Henry Harrison, also served as president.

Answer: John Sununu

Many members of the senate have had parents who were also members. Evan Bayh (D-IN) had father Birch (D-IN), Chris Dodd (D-CT) had father Thomas (D-CT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) had father Frank (R-AK). John Sununu's (R-NH) father, John, was governor, not U.S. senator of New Hampshire.

Other legacies in the 21st century senate have included Mark Pryor (D-AR), son of David (D-AR); Ted Kennedy (naturally); Jay Rockefeller, nephew of two governors; Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), husband of Bob (R-KN); Hillary Clinton (D-NY); Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI), son of John (R-RI); and Jean Carnahan (D-MO), wife of governor Mel (D-MO).

In many cases, politics is, indeed, a family business.

Answer: True

Her first marriage was to Senator John Heinz (R-PA). When he died in a plane crash in 1991, many asked her to run for her husband's seat, but she declined. In 1995, she married Senator John Kerry.

Answer: False

Robb was Johnson's son-in-law; he married LBJ's daughter Lynda Bird Johnson.