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 Adams

The 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 Cleveland

Cleveland 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 Harrison

After 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 Johnson

A 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 Taft

He 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 Ford

He 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 Washington

As 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 Taylor

He 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. Bush

He 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 Adams

He 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 Pierce

Elected 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. Bush

He 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.