First Ladies of the USA Trivia Quiz

Answer: Louisa Adams

Louisa Adams was born in London and was the wife of John Quincy Adams. She displayed several talents including playing the harp, writing plays, and raising silkworms. Adams met her while on a diplomatic assignment in England. Louisa served as a charming hostess in Washington and as a buffer between her sometimes difficult husband and the political elite. A modest person, she titled her autobiography "Adventures of a Nobody".

Melania Trump was born in Slovenia and worked a model, before becoming an American citizen in 2006. She first met Donald Trump in 1999 and they were married in 2005. She stated that she hoped to use her status as First Lady to advocate for women and children. At five feet eleven inches she tied with Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt as the tallest First Lady to date.

Answer: Eliza Johnson

Eliza Johnson kept a low profile as her husband Andrew wended his way through local, state, and national offices. While living in the White House, she made few appearances, confining herself to her room due to the effects of tuberculosis and mostly leaving hostess duties to her daughter Martha Johnson Patterson. Reportedly one of her main pleasures were the cattle on the White House grounds, that reminded her of her simple rural upbringing.

Answer: Jacqueline Kennedy

On February 14, 1962, Jacqueline Kennedy and Charles Collingwood took America on a grand tour of the restored White House, in a TV program that later received an Emmy award. She said at the time, "I feel so strongly that the White House should have as fine a collection of American pictures as possible.

It's so important... the setting in which the presidency is presented to the world, to foreign visitors. The American people should be proud of it. We have such a great civilization. So many foreigners don't realize it. I think this house should be the place we see them best".

Answer: Edith Wilson

Edith Wilson, through her father, was a direct descendant of Pocahontas and her husband John Rolfe. Woodrow Wilson's first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, died in 1914 and in what might be described as 'love at first sight' he married widow Edith Bolling Galt in 1915, amid unkind rumors about their relationship. Edith proved to be a gracious hostess and set an example for wartime rationing with gasless Sundays, meatless Mondays, and wheatless Wednesdays as well as having sheep graze the White House lawn rather than lawn-mowers.

In 1919 when Wilson had a stroke, Edith screened all communications with the president. Many referred to her as the de facto president until Warren Harding took office.

Answer: Amelia Earhart

At a dinner party at the White House Eleanor Roosevelt met Amelia Earhart for the first time and became interested in the experience of flight. She and Amelia left the party and Earhart treated her to a flight over Washington and Baltimore. Later during World War Two she flew many flights as an unofficial ambassador.

Earhart is believed to have died on a flight in 1937. Several research efforts have been made to trace her but the results have been inconclusive.

Answer: Frances Cleveland

Grover Cleveland first met Frances Folsom at age 27 while she was the infant daughter of his friend Oscar Folsom. As a child she was the apple of his eye and he purchased many gifts for her including a baby carriage. When her father died, Cleveland was executor of his estate and became her guardian The relationship became romantic and she was married to him in an intimate ceremony at the White House. They had five children together, although their first child, Ruth, died at age 12 from diphtheria.

The Curtiss Company issued the Baby Ruth candy bar in 1920, claiming it was named for Ruth Cleveland but was really a transparent ploy not to pay George Herman (Babe) Ruth royalties on use of his name.

Answer: Martha Washington

Martha Washington's image was on the one dollar bank note from 1886 to 1891. She shared the 1886 note with her husband. Martha Dandridge married at 18 to Daniel Parke Custis and bore him four children. Widowed at 25, she then married Washington, bringing with great wealth and holdings including about a hundred slaves. She opposed her husband becoming president and did not attend his inauguration, although she hosted formal affairs in New York City and Philadelphia prior to the White House being constructed.

Legend has that she was an inspiration to the soldiers of the Revolutionary War. However, historians find no solid evidence of this as she seems to have confined her relationships to officers and their wives and not to common foot soldiers.

Answer: John Tyler

Not really much is known about Letitia Christen Tyler. She bore eight children, had no interest in politics, and suffered a stroke when her husband was governor of Virginia. Her hostess duties were carried out by her daughter-in-law Priscilla Cooper Tyler, a former actress.

The only White House function she attended was the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth. She died of a second stroke on September 10, 1842.

Answer: Sahara Sarah

Far from being a shrinking violet, Sarah Polk was her husband's speech writer, advised on policy, and campaigned politically. Although her temperance views were respected, White House staff were on occasion known to ignore them. James Polk lived only three months after leaving office, although Sarah lived to the age of 87 and after his death wore only black.

Answer: Hillary Clinton

In addition to being the first US First Lady to subsequently hold political office in her own right (Senator for New York, Obama's Secretary of State, and unsuccessful presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton also won a Grammy for her 1996 best-selling book "It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us".

The focus of the book and recording is the impact individuals and groups have on a child's growth.