Presidential Firsts Among Equals Quiz

Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1882 to 1945 was the 32nd President and served from March 1933 to April 1945. In April 1939, his television appearance from the World's Fair in New York City was seen by the select number of people who had the new-fangled television sets.

Answer: John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy, 1917 to 1963, was the 35th President and served from January 1961 until his assassination in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963.

Although Catholicism was for many years the largest Christian denomination in the United States - making up around a quarter of the population - of the first 45 Presidents, Kennedy was the only Catholic.

Answer: Submarine

Theodore Roosevelt, 1858 to 1919, was the 26th President and served from September 1901 until March 1909. In 1905, he dived in USS Plunger, America's second submarine, and is reported to have said "Never in my life have I had such a diverting day... nor so much excitement in so few hours". [Quoted in "Submarine stories: recollections from the diesel boats" by Paul Stillwell].

Answer: Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland, 1837 to 1908, was the 22nd and 24th President and served from March 1885 to March 1889 and again from March 1893 to March 1897. Cleveland was a bachelor when he took office, but married Frances Folsom in The Blue Room in 1886.

Answer: In hospital

Jimmy Carter, the 39th President, was born in Plains, Georgia in 1924 and served from January 1977 to January 1981. Seven of the previous US presidents had been born in log cabins.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson, 1767 to 1855, was the seventh President and served from March 1829 to March 1837. Sources vary but it is estimated that 'Old Hickory' was involved in more than 100 duels. In 1805, a certain Charles Dickinson called Jackson a "coward and an equivocator" and a year later "worthless scoundrel, ... a poltroon and a coward". Jackson took umbrage and challenged him to a duel (as you do - or rather, did, in those days). Dickinson, as the challenged party, chose pistols as weapons and fired first, hitting Jackson in the ribs.

He then had to stand and wait as Jackson took aim and shot him dead. Duelling was once considered acceptable in many countries. In the USA, 20 states expressly prohibit it - and it's regarded as murder everywhere else.

Answer: James Buchanan

James Buchanan, 1791 to 1868, was the 15th President and served from March 1857 to March 1861. Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor, though was engaged to be married in 1819. His fiancée, Anne Caroline Coleman, broke off the engagement and died a week later. On departing from the White House, he left his successor, Abraham Lincoln, a note saying: "My dear sir, if you are as happy on entering the White House as I on leaving, you are a happy man indeed."

Answer: He was left-handed

James A. Garfield, 1831 to 1881, was the 20th President and served from March 1881 to September 1881, when he was shot and killed. He was the second President to be assassinated in office. When he took office, Barack Obama, the 44th President, was the eighth southpaw to be President.

Answer: John Adams

John Adams, 1735 to 1826, was the second US President and served from March 1797 to March 1801. Adams was a Federalist, but by 1801 elections the Federalists were in disarray and lost out to better organised rivals.

Answer: William Taft

William Howard Taft, 1857 to 1930, was the 27th President, serving from March 1909 to March 1913. While William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt both used cars, theirs were borrowed. In January 1909 Congress legislated for the purchase of official White House automobiles.Taft chose a Pierce-Arrow limousine to travel to his inauguration. [Source: "William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909-1913" by Michael L. Bromley".