US Presidents

40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which taciturn president was nicknamed "Silent Cal"?
- A. Warren Harding
- B. Calvin Coolidge
- C. Herbert Hoover
- D. Benjamin Harrison
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Calvin Coolidge
Did you know? Coolidge's wit was famously economical: a visitor bet she could get three words from him; he said "You lose".
2.Which first lady redefined the role with her press conferences and travels during the Depression?
- A. Jacqueline Kennedy
- B. Eleanor Roosevelt
- C. Dolley Madison
- D. Lady Bird Johnson
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Eleanor Roosevelt
Did you know? Eleanor Roosevelt held 348 press conferences as first lady.
3.Who was the youngest person ever elected US president, at age 43?
- A. John F. Kennedy
- B. Bill Clinton
- C. Ulysses S. Grant
- D. Theodore Roosevelt
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John F. Kennedy
Did you know? Kennedy was 43 when elected in 1960; Roosevelt, 42, reached office by succession.
4.Which president coined the foreign-policy proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick"?
- A. Theodore Roosevelt
- B. Harry Truman
- C. William Howard Taft
- D. Woodrow Wilson
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Theodore Roosevelt
Did you know? Roosevelt used the maxim to describe his Caribbean policy.
5.Which president kept the famous sign "The buck stops here" on his desk in the Oval Office?
- A. Calvin Coolidge
- B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- C. Harry Truman
- D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Harry Truman
Did you know? Truman's desk sign, from a Kentucky distiller, became his motto.
6.Which president won the 1940 election while leading a war-prepared nation to an unprecedented third term?
- A. Harry Truman
- B. Herbert Hoover
- C. Woodrow Wilson
- D. Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
Did you know? Roosevelt defeated Wendell Willkie in 1940 for his third term.
7.Which radio addresses of the 1930s were nicknamed "fireside chats"?
- A. Truman's whistle-stop speeches
- B. Roosevelt's fireside chats
- C. Eisenhower's television talks
- D. Harding's front porch speeches
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Roosevelt's fireside chats
Did you know? Roosevelt delivered about 30 fireside chats between 1933 and 1944.
8.Which president served two non-consecutive terms, both numbered 22 and 24?
- A. Benjamin Harrison
- B. Grover Cleveland
- C. Theodore Roosevelt
- D. Richard Nixon
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Grover Cleveland
Did you know? Cleveland is counted as both the 22nd and 24th president.
9.Which 1913 law created America's central banking system?
- A. the Banking Act of 1933
- B. the Federal Reserve Act
- C. the Sherman Antitrust Act
- D. the National Banking Act
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the Federal Reserve Act
Did you know? Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act in December 1913.
10.Which president's 1902 bear-hunt cartoon gave "teddy bear" to the world?
- A. Herbert Hoover
- B. Theodore Roosevelt
- C. Calvin Coolidge
- D. Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt
Did you know? Toys named "teddy bears" swept stores within a year of the cartoon.
11.Which five-star general commanded the D-Day invasion before winning the 1952 election?
- A. Omar Bradley
- B. Douglas MacArthur
- C. George Marshall
- D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
Did you know? Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, 1943-1945.
12.Which president brokered the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel?
- A. Ronald Reagan
- B. Richard Nixon
- C. Jimmy Carter
- D. Bill Clinton
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Jimmy Carter
Did you know? Carter hosted Begin and Sadat for thirteen days at Camp David.
13.Which president's first inaugural of 1961 urged, "ask not what your country can do for you"?
- A. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- B. Lyndon B. Johnson
- C. John F. Kennedy
- D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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John F. Kennedy
Did you know? Kennedy's inaugural drew on his speechwriter Ted Sorensen's drafting.
14.Which president bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803?
- A. Thomas Jefferson
- B. James Monroe
- C. John Adams
- D. James Madison
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Thomas Jefferson
Did you know? The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 roughly doubled the nation's size.
15.Which president presented the Fourteen Points as a peace framework in 1918?
- A. Woodrow Wilson
- B. Herbert Hoover
- C. Theodore Roosevelt
- D. Warren Harding
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Woodrow Wilson
Did you know? Wilson's Fourteen Points shaped the Versailles negotiations.
16.Which president proclaimed the doctrine that told Europe to stay out of the Americas?
- A. Thomas Jefferson
- B. John Quincy Adams
- C. James Monroe
- D. Andrew Jackson
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James Monroe
Did you know? The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 framed hemispheric policy for a century.
17.Which president launched the Great Society programs of the mid-1960s?
- A. John F. Kennedy
- B. Gerald Ford
- C. Richard Nixon
- D. Lyndon B. Johnson
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Did you know? Johnson's Great Society included Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
18.Which president urged, in a 1987 Berlin speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"?
- A. John F. Kennedy
- B. George H. W. Bush
- C. Jimmy Carter
- D. Ronald Reagan
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Ronald Reagan
Did you know? Reagan's speech at the Brandenburg Gate marked the Cold War's late years.
19.Which president was the only one to resign from office, in August 1974?
- A. Richard Nixon
- B. Herbert Hoover
- C. Warren Harding
- D. Andrew Johnson
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Richard Nixon
Did you know? Nixon resigned facing impeachment over the Watergate cover-up.
20.Which president opened his 1933 inaugural with "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"?
- A. Harry Truman
- B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- C. Woodrow Wilson
- D. Calvin Coolidge
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
Did you know? Roosevelt spoke those words in his first inaugural, March 4, 1933.
21.Which president is the only one to have also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
- A. Benjamin Harrison
- B. Dwight D. Eisenhower
- C. William Howard Taft
- D. Herbert Hoover
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William Howard Taft
Did you know? Taft led the Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930.
22.Which 1890 law was the first major federal statute against monopolies?
- A. the Clayton Antitrust Act
- B. the Interstate Commerce Act
- C. the Federal Trade Commission Act
- D. the Sherman Antitrust Act
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the Sherman Antitrust Act
Did you know? Ohio Senator John Sherman gave the 1890 act his name.
23.Which 1935 act created the American old-age pension system?
- A. the G.I. Bill
- B. the Social Security Act
- C. the Fair Labor Standards Act
- D. the Wagner Act
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the Social Security Act
Did you know? The Social Security Act of 1935 also set unemployment insurance.
24.Which New Deal program built dams across the Tennessee Valley?
- A. the Rural Electrification Administration
- B. the Works Progress Administration
- C. the Civilian Conservation Corps
- D. the Tennessee Valley Authority
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the Tennessee Valley Authority
Did you know? The TVA, created in 1933, brought flood control and power to seven states.
25.Which president launched the Peace Corps in 1961?
- A. John F. Kennedy
- B. Dwight D. Eisenhower
- C. Lyndon B. Johnson
- D. Jimmy Carter
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John F. Kennedy
Did you know? Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into law in September 1961.
26.Whose 1804 duel with Aaron Burr ended the life of a founding Treasury secretary?
- A. John Jay
- B. Thomas Jefferson
- C. Alexander Hamilton
- D. James Monroe
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Alexander Hamilton
Did you know? Hamilton was mortally wounded at Weehawken, New Jersey, in July 1804.
27.Whose 1901 assassination prompted the Secret Service to begin guarding presidents?
- A. William McKinley
- B. James A. Garfield
- C. Abraham Lincoln
- D. John F. Kennedy
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William McKinley
Did you know? McKinley was shot at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition in September 1901.
28.Which president founded the Democratic Party's ancestor, the Democratic-Republicans, in opposition to Hamilton?
- A. John Adams
- B. Thomas Jefferson
- C. James Monroe
- D. Andrew Jackson
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Thomas Jefferson
Did you know? Jefferson's faction became today's Democratic Party ancestor.
29.Which president nominated Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, in 1981?
- A. Jimmy Carter
- B. Gerald Ford
- C. Ronald Reagan
- D. George H. W. Bush
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Ronald Reagan
Did you know? O'Connor was confirmed 99-0 in September 1981.
30.Which president signed the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906?
- A. William Howard Taft
- B. Theodore Roosevelt
- C. Grover Cleveland
- D. Benjamin Harrison
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Theodore Roosevelt
Did you know? Roosevelt pushed the law after The Jungle exposed Chicago's meatpacking.
31.Which president was never elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency?
- A. Lyndon B. Johnson
- B. Chester Arthur
- C. Gerald Ford
- D. Harry Truman
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Gerald Ford
Did you know? Ford was confirmed as vice president under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1973.
32.Which president was the first born outside the original thirteen states?
- A. Zachary Taylor
- B. Andrew Jackson
- C. Abraham Lincoln
- D. Millard Fillmore
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Abraham Lincoln
Did you know? Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809.
33.Which president commanded a PT boat in the Pacific during World War II?
- A. Richard Nixon
- B. Jimmy Carter
- C. John F. Kennedy
- D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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John F. Kennedy
Did you know? Kennedy's PT-109 was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer in 1943.
34.Which 1853 purchase added southern Arizona to the United States?
- A. the Florida Purchase
- B. the Louisiana Purchase
- C. the Gadsden Purchase
- D. the Alaska Purchase
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the Gadsden Purchase
Did you know? The 1853 Gadsden Purchase finalized the border with Mexico.
35.Which president, a former Union general, published his memoirs through Mark Twain's firm?
- A. William T. Sherman
- B. Ulysses S. Grant
- C. Rutherford B. Hayes
- D. Chester Arthur
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Ulysses S. Grant
Did you know? Grant wrote his memoirs racing throat cancer; Twain's firm paid his widow record royalties.
36.Which amendment, ratified in 1967, set procedures for presidential disability and succession?
- A. the Twenty-Second Amendment
- B. the Twentieth Amendment
- C. the Twelfth Amendment
- D. the Twenty-Fifth Amendment
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the Twenty-Fifth Amendment
Did you know? The Twenty-Fifth Amendment followed the Kennedy assassination.
37.Which party did Theodore Roosevelt lead in the 1912 election?
- A. the Republican Party
- B. the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party
- C. the Democratic Party
- D. the Prohibition Party
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the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party
Did you know? Roosevelt's Bull Moose campaign split the Republican vote in 1912.
38.Which president, elected in 1920, died in San Francisco in August 1923?
- A. Calvin Coolidge
- B. Herbert Hoover
- C. Warren G. Harding
- D. William McKinley
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Warren G. Harding
Did you know? Coolidge was sworn in by his father, a notary, at the family homestead.
39.Which secretary of state negotiated the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia?
- A. Hamilton Fish
- B. John Hay
- C. William Seward
- D. Daniel Webster
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William Seward
Did you know? Seward's "$7.2 million folly" was praised after gold strikes.
40.Which president established Yellowstone as the first national park, in 1872?
- A. Ulysses S. Grant
- B. Rutherford B. Hayes
- C. Theodore Roosevelt
- D. Chester Arthur
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Ulysses S. Grant
Did you know? The Yellowstone Act of 1872 withdrew over two million acres from sale.

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