President’s Day Trivia Challenge

The Presidents of the United States of America, from George Washington to Barack Obama

James K. Polk“Young Hickory”, a president who considered himself a follower of Andrew Jackson’s “common man” Democracy, was the President most responsible for securing the United States “Manifest Destiny” – controlling the North American continent from “sea to shining sea” by taking the Oregon Country and the Mexican Cession during his Presidency.

John AdamsThe second President of the United States, John Adams was a Federalist concerned with protecting American interests and securing the nation’s government. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed during his Presidency, probably violated the Constitution, and were steadfastly opposed by the emerging rival party of the day, Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans.

Grover ClevelandCleveland is the only President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. He was a devoted Anti-Imperialist. When American planters overthrew Queen Lilioukalani in Hawaii in 1893, he refused to annex the islands under their illegitimate provisional government.

The Chicago Tribune could hardly have been more wrong: Truman won his re-election campaign in 1948, and went on to serve for four more years.

Harry S Truman The Election of 1948

Harry Truman made the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

He is also the President who desegregated the United States Military by executive order in 1948

Barack Obama

2009 – the Present The Obama Presidency

President Obama is the first African-American president.

Health Care Reform, economic recession, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and gridlock in Washington, D.C have defined his Presidency so far.

James MonroeMonroe was the President of the United States during the so-called “Era of Good Feelings” – there was only one political party: The Democratic-Republican Party. During his time in office, though, politicians began to form two distinct parties: The Whigs and the Democrats. His is probably most famous for his famous “Monroe Doctrine”, a warning to European nations that the Western Hemisphere, including all of North and South America and the Caribbean, was no longer available for colonization.

William Henry HarrisonAfter giving a lengthy inaugural address in extremely cold weather, William Henry Harrison passed away of pneumonia within a month of taking office. His campaign slogan had been “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!”, since he had been a war hero at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The “Tyler, too!” part of his slogan became very important.

Andrew JohnsonA Southerner and a Democrat, Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States to be impeached – put on trial by the Radical Republicans in Congress following the Civil War for an accused crime. In fact, the charge was rather contrived, and he was never removed from office – but he was probably the President most hated by Congress during his lifetime!

William Howard TaftHe was the only President to serve on the United States Supreme Court after having been President.

During the Election of 1912, he ran against his political mentor – Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, who defeated them both.

Gerald FordHe became Vice President of the United States when Spiro Agnew was forced to resign over an income tax scandal. Richard Nixon selected him to take over the office. Then, in 1974, he became President of the United States when Richard Nixon was forced to resign! He is the only man to serve as President of the United States who was never the victor in a national election.

George WashingtonAs the first President of the United States, he established precedents for all who would follow him. During his two terms in office, he saw the Bill of Rights created, signed the Judiciary Act into law, put down the Whiskey Rebellion, and delivered his famous “Farewell Address” to shape American foreign policy for years to come.

Zachary TaylorHe was one of only a handful of Whig Presidents, and he was elected more as a war hero than as a politician. During the Mexican-American War he had risen to fame. Sadly, he passed away in the year 1850, as Congress attempting to solve the growing troubles of sectionalism and slavery by crafting the Compromise of 1850.

George H.W. BushHe was President of the United States during a dramatic moment in world history – the collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire. In the aftermath of the Cold War, attempted to establish a “new world order.” During his Presidency, the United States fought a war against Iraq in order to liberate and maintain the sovereignty of the tiny, oil-rich nation of Kuwait, which had been attacked by Saddam Hussein’s forces.

John F. KennedyKennedy was the President of the United States during the embarrassing “Bay of Pigs” Invasion and the terrifying Cuban Missile Crisis which came frighteningly close to producing a nuclear holocaust. His youth and energy, however, inspired a generation to dream big – he made it his goal to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s and return him safely to the Earth – and it happened. Kennedy was assassinate in Dallas, TX in November of 1963.

Calvin Coolidge“Silent Cal” presided over the United States during an era of enormous prosperity, and exclaimed, “The business of the American people is business!” Unfortunately, during his administration too many American were running their businesses on credit and overproducing – the Great Depression was caused in part by the laissez-faire economics of the era.

James MadisonFor a tiny, diminutive, and squeaky-voice little President, this man did all right: He was considered “The Father of the Constitution” for his contributions and note-taking at the Constitutional Convention.He was the author of many of the Federalist Papers. His efforts were largely responsible for the passage of the Bill of Rights. He was President of the United States for two terms, and during the War of 1812, also known as “Mr. Madison’s War.”

John Quincy AdamsHe was the son of a President, and earned the hatred of Andrew Jackson by conspiring with Henry Clay to win the Presidency during the Election of 1824. John Quincy Adams, though, was a devoted and patriotic American President and legislator. He is the only American President to, after having served in the White House, run for election to the House of Representatives. He continued to serve there throughout the 1830s.

Franklin PierceElected President of the United States during the troubled 1850s, this “dough-faced” President did little to solve the problems of sectionalism and slavery which would soon tear the United States apart.

James GarfieldJames Garfield was killed by an angry office seeker in 1881. He had pledged to bring an end to the so called “Spoils System” – which awarded government jobs to men and women who were the friends, families, and political supporters of victorious candidates. After Garfield’s death, Congress passed the Pendleton Act – requiring government employees to pass competency tests before they would be eligible for government jobs.

George W. BushHe was the President of the United States when Al-Queda terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and a field near Shawsville, Pennsylvania. While he was president, the US military overthrew two regimes – the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq.

William Jefferson ClintonBill Clinton was the President of the United States of America during the 1990s, a time of great prosperity and growth for the United States economy. During his time in office, the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. Interestingly, although he was elected twice, Clinton never won more than 49% of the popular vote – in both the Election of 1992 and 1996, an independent candidate, Ross Perot, split the vote three ways.