FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Tough Old Presidential Trivia Mixture
Quiz about Tough Old Presidential Trivia Mixture

Tough Old Presidential Trivia Mixture Quiz


Test your broad based knowledge of the first forty US presidents, Washington to Reagan.

A multiple-choice quiz by Nealzineatser. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. World Trivia
  6. »
  7. U.S. Government
  8. »
  9. Presidential Trivia

Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
372,022
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
624
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 24 (10/10), Guest 64 (7/10), Guest 162 (10/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Which US president could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time? (Incidentally, a well known cat was indirectly named after him.) Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Which of these US presidents was never defeated in a presidential election? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Which of the following US presidents had the most biological children? (The other three listed had NONE.) Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. How many of the first forty US presidents had the first name "James"? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Which US president of those listed served only one term? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. True or False? Grover Cleveland served as president both before and after Chester A. Arthur, making him the only president to serve non-consecutive terms.


Question 7 of 10
7. Which individual(s) who later became president signed the US Declaration of Independence in 1776? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Which president is INCORRECTLY matched with his stated religious affiliation? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. One of these pairs has two US presidents who died in office. Which one? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Which nickname was never (until now) applied to the US president it follows below? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Mar 20 2024 : Guest 24: 10/10
Mar 05 2024 : Guest 64: 7/10
Feb 17 2024 : Guest 162: 10/10
Feb 09 2024 : Guest 75: 10/10
Feb 09 2024 : Guest 66: 5/10
Feb 06 2024 : laf1024: 10/10
Feb 01 2024 : Guest 96: 1/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Which US president could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time? (Incidentally, a well known cat was indirectly named after him.)

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.
2. Which of these US presidents was never defeated in a presidential election?

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.
3. Which of the following US presidents had the most biological children? (The other three listed had NONE.)

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.
4. How many of the first forty US presidents had the first name "James"?

Answer: Six

The six are: Madison (4th president); Monroe (5th); Polk (11th); Buchanan (15th); Garfield (20th); and Carter (39th).
5. Which US president of those listed served only one term?

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.
6. True or False? Grover Cleveland served as president both before and after Chester A. Arthur, making him the only president to serve non-consecutive terms.

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.
7. Which individual(s) who later became president signed the US Declaration of Independence in 1776?

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.
8. Which president is INCORRECTLY matched with his stated religious affiliation?

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.
9. One of these pairs has two US presidents who died in office. Which one?

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.
10. Which nickname was never (until now) applied to the US president it follows below?

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.
Source: Author Nealzineatser

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us