The Name Game Trivia Quiz

Answer: "The Wall"

Maya Lin was student studying architecture at Yale in 1981 when she entered a national contest to build a memorial to honor Vietnam veterans. The black granite wall in Washington DC had 57,939 names when it was dedicated in November 1982.

Answer: Spy

Richard Sorge was a spy for the Soviet Union both before and during WWII in Japan. While in Japan he posed as a Russian journalist. He provided Stalin with intelligence in June 1941 that the Japanese would not attack the Soviet Union which allowed Stalin to pull troops from his eastern front to his western front to oppose the German invasion.

Answer: Bounty

Fletcher Christian was Master's Mate aboard the HMS Bounty in 1789. Friction between himself and the Captain William Bligh led Christian and a band of sailors to mutiny. Bligh and his followers were set adrift. Christian and his followers sailed to Pitcairn Island, destroyed the ship and never returned to England. Christian's fate remains unknown.

Answer: Traitor

Aldridge Ames was Chief of the Counterintelligence Branch at CIA headquarters. He spent over 30 years at the CIA. In 1985 he began spying for the KGB (Soviet/Russian Intelligence) until he was caught in 1994. His treachery resulted in the deaths or imprisonment of dozens of CIA assets inside Russia.

His treasonable actions netted him almost 2 million dollars. He is serving life imprisonment at the Federal Corrections Center in Allenwood, PA.

Answer: Senaca Falls

Lucretia Mott was an early woman's right advocate. She played an important in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first national convention for women's rights. Mott was also involved in the anti-slavery movement.

Answer: Cannons

In 1775 Boston, MA was occupied by British General Thomas Gage with his troops and ships. General George Washington had just been appointed by Congress to lead the Continental Army. When Washington arrived in Boston he spread his ragtag "army" around the heights overlooking Boston harbor, but he had no artillery.

Henry Knox knew there were cannons at Fort Ticonderoga, about 200 miles to the northwest. During that winter of 1775-1776 Knox and his men transported over 60 tons of equipment to Washington, an extraordinary feat. Rumor has it that Gage is said to have exclaimed that the rebels had done more in one night than his troops could accomplish in a month. Within weeks Gage evacuated Boston.

Not a shot was fired.

Answer: Fox

Erwin Rommel was a German General during WWII known as the "Desert Fox". He was a tank commander and led his tanks to many victories over the British in North Africa. He was also the commander of the German troops when the D-Day invasion began.

Answer: Lewis & Clark

Sacagawea (1788-1812) was hired as a guide by the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1804 in what is now North Dakota. Sacagawea went along because she was of the Shoshone tribe and spoke the language. She procured horses for the expedition and was essential as a guide.

Answer: Fallingwaters

Fallingwaters is a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The house was commissioned by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., owner of Kaufmann Department stores in Pittsburgh. Fallingwaters was built not near a waterfall, but over it.

In 1963 Kaufmann, Jr. donated the home to a conservatory. It is open to the public and is considered one of the great works of architecture of the 20th Century.

Answer: Bank

Alexander Hamilton was one of the most influential founding fathers. He served in George Washington's first cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury. He believed strongly that the new country should have a national bank. In 1791 the First Bank of the United States was established in Philadelphia.

Answer: Jenny the Elephant

Harry Houdini was born in Hungary in 1874. He was known as a great illusionist and entertainer. In 1918 he made Jenny the Elephant disappear from the stage of the Hippodrome Theater in New York. He was particularly known as an escape artist.

Answer: Elephants

Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general who defeated Roman General Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama in 202BCE. He is widely known for his use of war elephants when crossing the Alps. He was victorious at the Battle of Cannae, when he defeated a larger Roman force by using superior strategy. His tactics are still studied today.

Answer: Candelabra

Liberace (1919-1987) was a piano player, and at one time was the highest paid performer in the world. His trademark was a candelabra on his piano to promote his image as a luxurious and flamboyant entertainer.

Answer: Goose

Rich "Goose" Gossage was a dominant relief pitcher in major league baseball from 1972-1994. He won a World Series ring with the New York Yankees in 1978. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. The nickname "Goose" came from his putting goose eggs (0s) on the other team's scoreboard.

Answer: Glasnost

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) was the last leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 to 1991. He oversaw its eventual dissolution in 1991. He began a policy of "glasnost" or "openness" which gave the Russian people more freedoms, such as those in the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.