Tough Old Presidential Trivia Mixture Quiz

Answer: James Garfield

Garfield was the first primarily left-handed president, but considered himself ambidextrous, and could in fact write in Latin and Greek at the same time, according to the website ipl.org (internet public library). He also campaigned for the presidency by speaking German to the many German-Americans he met.

He was born in 1831 and died in 1881, eighty days after a disgruntled federal employee shot and wounded him at a train depot in New Jersey. He'd been in office only 200 days at the time of the shooting, so he really has no legacy as president. He actually died of an infection from non-sterile instruments caused by doctors unsuccessfully probing for the bullet near his spine. He was a scholar, a Williams College graduate, and was elected president of Hiram College at the callow age of twenty six before he got into politics.

Garfield the comic cat was named after creator Jim Davis' grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who was named after the president.

Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson

LBJ served only one term as president, and (facing an electorate deeply divided over the war in Vietnam) he decided not to run for a second term and face possible defeat as an incumbent. Therefore he never lost a presidential election.

Nixon lost to Kennedy in 1960 before later winning the presidency in 1968. Carter lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980. Teddy Roosevelt took office in 1901 and was elected to a full second term in 1904. However, attempting a comeback as a third party candidate (for the Bull Moose Party)in 1912, he was defeated by Woodrow Wilson.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison fathered ten children with his wife Anna, and possibly as many as six others with one of his slaves named Dilsia, a claim made by some of her relatives but not generally corroborated by other historians. He became the first president to die in office, contracting pneumonia and passing away after only 32 days, by far the briefest tenure of any president to date.

Washington, Madison and Jackson all raised step children or were guardians to children of other family members who died, as was the custom in the 1800s, but had no children of their own with their wives.

Answer: Six

The six are: Madison (4th president); Monroe (5th); Polk (11th); Buchanan (15th); Garfield (20th); and Carter (39th).

Answer: William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft. Roosevelt of course was elected four times and served into his fourth term. Monroe and Reagan both served two full terms. Taft was swept into office in 1908 largely on the popularity of his predecessor Teddy Roosevelt, and was soundly beaten by Woodrow Wilson in his bid for reelection in 1912.

Answer: False

Stephen Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president, did serve two non-consecutive terms, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897, but the 23rd president who served in between was Benjamin Harrison, not Chester A. Arthur. Totally irrelevant fact: the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Cleveland's daughter Ruth, not after the famous Yankee ball player George Hermann "Babe" Ruth.

Answer: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

George Washington, as general and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, was not involved when the second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to approve the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and thus did not sign the document. James Madison, 4th president and "Father of the Constitution", was not prominent during the time in question and also was not a signer.

Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin were three of the committee of five who were charged, by the Congress, with the responsibility of creating the document. Jefferson was the one who wrote the rough draft, then presented it to the other two for suggestions. Franklin, despite his immense contributions to the new nation, never became president. Fifty six delegates to the Congress signed the declaration, the first being John Hancock.

Answer: Woodrow Wilson - Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon)

Woodrow Wilson was the son of a Presbyterian minister and a devoted Presbyterian whose faith infused his policies and views especially in regard to international relations and global peace. None of the first forty US presidents were of the Mormon faith.

Answer: James Garfield/ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Shrewd observers will note that the first of each pair is one of the four presidents to have been assassinated while in office. The only other president listed who died in office was Franklin Roosevelt, who died of natural causes April 12, 1945 after shepherding the USA through the great depression and most of the war years.

Answer: Ulysses S. Grant - Old Iron Balls

Grant is the answer. He was the commanding general of the Union army which defeated the Confederacy in the Civil War. The only nickname I found for him was "Unconditional Surrender Grant", based on a much-ballyhooed stand at the Battle of Fort Donelson in 1862.

The other "Old" nicknames are legitimate. For example, Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook Village, New York, which was named by Dutch settlers who educated Native American (Indian) children in the area. Some sources say the American phrase "OK" arose from this nickname.