Twentieth Century U.S. Vice-Presidents Quiz

Answer: Alben Barkley

Franklin D. Roosevelt enjoyed a lengthy career as the United States president. FDR had three vice-presidents: Garner (1933-41), Wallace (1941-45), and Truman (1945). Alben Barkley, born in 1877, served as Harry Truman's vice-president from 1949 to 1953.

Despite his advanced age, Barkley proved to be an active participant in the Truman Administration, attending Cabinet meetings and actively supporting Truman's agenda. Barkley was affectionately nicknamed "The Veep."

Answer: Thomas

Vice-President Thomas Riley Marshall worked in the Wilson Administration from 1913 to 1921. Thomas Marshall and President Woodrow Wilson did not share a very warm working relationship; Marshall was rarely consulted on important issues of the day, and he eventually stopped attending Cabinet meetings. Today most people remember Marshall for his quip, "What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar."

Answer: South Dakota

Although Hubert Humphrey is best remembered as a politician who represented Minnesota, he was born in Wallace, South Dakota, on May 27, 1911. Humphrey spent most of his boyhood years in the town of Doland, South Dakota. Humphrey worked for many years in the U.S. Senate before he became LBJ's vice-president in January 1965.

He made an unsuccessful bid to become the U.S. president in 1968, narrowly losing the election to Richard Nixon.

Answer: Spiro Agnew

Spiro T. Agnew, from Maryland, became the first vice-president since John C. Calhoun to resign his position. Agnew's reputation had become severely tainted by allegations of bribery and extortion while he was the governor of Maryland during the late 1960s; thus, he quit the vice-presidential position on October 10, 1973. Nelson Rockefeller was the U.S. vice-president from 1974 to 1977; George Romney and John Volpe never held the vice-presidential job.

Answer: Nikita Krushchev

Vice-President Richard Nixon had the "Kitchen Debate" with Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev in 1959. The informal, impromptu conversations between these two leaders took place in Moscow, USSR, at the American National Exhibition. Nixon and Khruschev discussed capitalism and communism; one of the discussions took place in a "kitchen" of a model house set up for the exhibition. Vice-President Nixon received generally favorable feedback for his ability to argue effectively with Khrushchev.

Answer: George H.W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush worked as the Director of Central Intelligence from January 1976 to January 1977. Many historians have credited Bush with improving morale at the CIA. Vice-President Bush served in the Ronald Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1989.

The two leaders enjoyed a good working relationship, and Bush generally maintained a low profile as the vice-president. Walter Mondale was the U.S. vice-president from 1977 to 1981; William Casey and Stansfield Turner never served as the "veep."

Answer: Silent

"Silent Cal" Coolidge was the U.S. Vice-President from 1921 to 1923. This native of Vermont was not exactly the life of the party. Coolidge remained cool and rather aloof at most social functions; he let his energetic wife Grace do most of the talking. Coolidge became the U.S. leader on August 3, 1923, when President Warren Harding became ill and died while on a tour of California.

Answer: Leslie King, Jr.

Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., on July 14, 1913, in Nebraska. King's biological parents separated just two weeks after his birth, and young Leslie King moved with his mother (Dorothy Ayer Gardner), eventually ending up in Michigan. In 1916, Dorothy remarried; her second husband was Gerald Rudolff Ford.

The future vice-president took his stepfather's name. Ford assumed the vice-presidency in December 1973 during the tumultuous era of President Nixon's Watergate scandal. Ford became the president after Richard Nixon resigned from the White House in August 1974.

Answer: Murphy Brown

Dan Quayle became the 44th U.S. Vice-President in 1989. This native of Indiana was ridiculed by critics for his young age (42) and his relative inexperience in foreign affairs. Quayle received considerable publicity in 1992 when he sharply criticized America's "decay in moral values." As evidence of this opinion, Quayle pointed to the popularity of a CBS series called "Murphy Brown." This show, starring Candice Bergen as a single mother, drew Quayle's ire because it seemed to downplay the role of a "caring father figure."

Answer: Charles Curtis

Charles Curtis, from Kansas, became the 31st U.S. Vice-President in 1929, serving in the Herbert Hoover Administration until 1933. Curtis had Native American ancestry on his mother's side of the family, and he spent part of his childhood on a Kaw reservation. Vice-President Curtis suppposedly did not have a good working relationship with President Hoover, and his advice was rarely sought by Hoover. Hoover and Curtis lost the 1932 presidential election to Franklin D. Roosevelt.