Question:
George W. Bush is our 43rd President, but there have only been 42 Presidents.
(One President served 2 non-consecutive terms, can you name him?)
Answer:
It was Grover Cleveland. He was our 22nd President (1885-1888), and our 24th President (1893-1896). It was Benjamin Harrison who interrupted his White House reign, as our 23rd President.
Question:
Ronald Reagan was our oldest President (69).
(Who was our youngest President?)
Answer:
John F. Kennedy, our 35th President (1961-1963), was the youngest ELECTED Chief Executive at 43. However, Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley at age 42, making him the youngest President.
Question:
Abraham Lincoln was the tallest President, at a towering 6’4”.
(Who was our shortest President?)
Answer:
At 5’4”, James Madison cast the shortest shadow. (He weighed 100 pounds.)
Question:
George Washington’s presidential salary was $25,000/year.
(What’s the current salary for U.S. President today?)
Answer:
Current “congressionally approved” salary for the President is $400,000. (Whew, inflation!)
Question:
Only 2 U.S. Presidents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. One is JFK.
(Name the other.)
Answer:
The only other President buried there is William Howard Taft, 27th U.S. President.
Question:
Before the U.S. Mint Presidential Golden Dollar Coin Program was launched, there have only been 7 Presidents portrayed on circulating U.S. coins. (Can you name them all?)
Answer:
(Did this one drive you crazy?) Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy . . . plus one more . . . it’s Teddy Roosevelt (26th President). He’s pictured on the 2006 South Dakota State Quarter, on Mt. Rushmore.
Question:
Two Presidents died the same day, July 4th, 1826. Name them both. (HINT: They were the last surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence.)
Answer:
Amazing, but true. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4th, 1826. James Monroe also died July 4th, but in 1831.
Question:
One President served only one month. (Name him.)
Answer:
William Henry Harrison, our 9th President, served only one month. He died in office after catching a cold during his inaugral address, which developed into pneumonia.
Question:
One of our Presidents was extra large, requiring special furniture and chairs in the White House. He topped the scales at 323 pounds. Whoah. (Name this big boy.)
Answer:
It was William Howard Taft, 27th President, who had custom furniture designed to “hold him” throughout the White House.
Question:
According to census figures, there are approximately 32-million “lefties” in the U.S.
(How many Presidents were left-handed?)
Answer:
Just seven – James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Question:
One ambidextrous President could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.
(Can you name him?)
Answer:
James Garfield . . . and he could do it at the same time!
Question:
26 Presidents were lawyers. 12 were generals. (Name two who were neither.)
Answer:
Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
Question:
It’s become a famous tradition – to have our Chief Executive throw out the first ball to start the baseball season. (Which President started the tradition?)
Answer:
William H. Taft threw the first pitch in 1910 in Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. on opening day for the Washington Senators.
Question:
Pennsylvania Hospital is the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin. (Can you name the first President to be born in a hospital?)
Answer:
Believe it or not . . . it was Jimmy Carter who was born on October 1, 1924.
Question:
The “first President to fly” rode in an early Wright biplane at the International Air Show in St. Louis, Missouri. The flight lasted 4 minutes. (Can you name him?)
Answer:
Teddy Roosevelt, reluctantly, in 1909. He had to be coaxed into taking that flight.
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