A Presidents' Day quizBy Valerie Strauss
Here are a dozen questions to test your presidential knowledge on this Presidents' Day, with answers and explanations below.
1. How many presidents have served the United States?
a) 42
b) 44
c) 45
d) 49
2. Who was the oldest President?
a) George Herbert Walker Bush
b) John Adams
c) Harry Truman
d) Ronald Reagan
3) Who was the youngest President?
a) Theodore Roosevelt
b) George W. Bush
c) John F. Kennedy
d) Bill Clinton
4) What is the president’s annual salary?
a) $200,000
b) $250,000
c) $400,000
d) $500,000
5) What was the salary of the first president, George Washington?
a) $10,000
b) $18,000
c) $22,000
d) $25,000
6) What is the birth state of the most presidents?
a) Virginia
b) Massachusetts
c) New York
d) Illinois
7) How many presidents died in office (by assassination or natural causes)?
a) 4
b) 6
c) 8
d) 9
8) How many former presidents are still living?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
9) Who was the first President to live in the current White House?
a) George Washington
b) John Adams
c) Thomas Jefferson
d) James Madison
10) Which president had a pet cow named Pauline Wayne who lived on the White House lawn?
a) Thomas Jefferson
b) Abraham Lincoln
c) William Taft
d) Theodore Roosevelt
11) Who was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms?
a) John Quincy Adams
b) Theodore Roosevelt
c) Grover Cleveland
d) Abraham Lincoln
12) Who was the first president born in a hospital?
a) George Washington
b) Jimmy Carter
d) John Quincy Adams
c) Theodore Roosevelt
Answers:
1) a. 44, but 43 men have served. Grover Cleveland is counted twice because he was the 22nd president, 1885-1889, and the 24th president, 1893-1897.
2) d. Ronald Reagan, who nearly 70 when he took office.
3) a. Theodore Roosevelt, was only 42 when he assumed office after his predecessor died. Kennedy was 43, the youngest to be elected president. Clinton was elected at 46.
4) c. $400,000. In 2001 the president’s salary was doubled from $200,000 to $400,000. It was the fifth time the salary had been raised.
5) d. $25,000. George Washington, already a wealthy man, declined his salary.
6) a. Virginia
7) c. 8. Four were assassinated: Lincoln, Kennedy, Garfield, and McKinley. Four died of natural causes: Harrison of pneumonia, Taylor of acute indigestion, Harding of a heart attack, and Roosevelt from a cerebral hemorrhage.
8) c. 4. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter.
9) b. John Adams. He and his wife, Abigail, moved into the White House in 1800.
10) c. Taft kept pet Holstein cows.
11) c. Cleveland was the country’s 22nd and 24th president.
12) b. Carter, the 39th president, was born in a hospital in Plains, Ga. on October 1, 1924, the first president born in a hospital.
b) 44
c) 45
d) 49
2. Who was the oldest President?
a) George Herbert Walker Bush
b) John Adams
c) Harry Truman
d) Ronald Reagan
3) Who was the youngest President?
a) Theodore Roosevelt
b) George W. Bush
c) John F. Kennedy
d) Bill Clinton
4) What is the president’s annual salary?
a) $200,000
b) $250,000
c) $400,000
d) $500,000
5) What was the salary of the first president, George Washington?
a) $10,000
b) $18,000
c) $22,000
d) $25,000
6) What is the birth state of the most presidents?
a) Virginia
b) Massachusetts
c) New York
d) Illinois
7) How many presidents died in office (by assassination or natural causes)?
a) 4
b) 6
c) 8
d) 9
8) How many former presidents are still living?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
9) Who was the first President to live in the current White House?
a) George Washington
b) John Adams
c) Thomas Jefferson
d) James Madison
10) Which president had a pet cow named Pauline Wayne who lived on the White House lawn?
a) Thomas Jefferson
b) Abraham Lincoln
c) William Taft
d) Theodore Roosevelt
11) Who was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms?
a) John Quincy Adams
b) Theodore Roosevelt
c) Grover Cleveland
d) Abraham Lincoln
12) Who was the first president born in a hospital?
a) George Washington
b) Jimmy Carter
d) John Quincy Adams
c) Theodore Roosevelt
Answers:
1) a. 44, but 43 men have served. Grover Cleveland is counted twice because he was the 22nd president, 1885-1889, and the 24th president, 1893-1897.
2) d. Ronald Reagan, who nearly 70 when he took office.
3) a. Theodore Roosevelt, was only 42 when he assumed office after his predecessor died. Kennedy was 43, the youngest to be elected president. Clinton was elected at 46.
4) c. $400,000. In 2001 the president’s salary was doubled from $200,000 to $400,000. It was the fifth time the salary had been raised.
5) d. $25,000. George Washington, already a wealthy man, declined his salary.
6) a. Virginia
7) c. 8. Four were assassinated: Lincoln, Kennedy, Garfield, and McKinley. Four died of natural causes: Harrison of pneumonia, Taylor of acute indigestion, Harding of a heart attack, and Roosevelt from a cerebral hemorrhage.
8) c. 4. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter.
9) b. John Adams. He and his wife, Abigail, moved into the White House in 1800.
10) c. Taft kept pet Holstein cows.
11) c. Cleveland was the country’s 22nd and 24th president.
12) b. Carter, the 39th president, was born in a hospital in Plains, Ga. on October 1, 1924, the first president born in a hospital.
