Here’s what happened. It’s been many years since I had visited the Hall of Presidents, so during a recent visit to the Magic Kingdom I decided to take a break between the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean (two of my all-time favorites) and pay it a visit.
I’d forgotten about the display of historic mementoes in the exhibit area outside the theater. There was a wine glass from the James K. Polk Administration — sort of strange when you think of it, since Polk was an ardent teetotaler who refused to serve wine at White House dinners. There was a high-school essay by George Bush. And there was a golf club belonging to the President “who played more rounds of golf than any other while serving in office.” Can you guess who it was?
If you, like me and my friend Chris, said Ike, you’d be wrong. According to the experts at Disney, the answer is Woodrow Wilson.
Chris isn’t sure they got that one right. But he’s absolutely certain he knows the answers to the following 25 questions. Let’s see how you do on this Presidents’ Day Quiz he prepared for us.
1. Which President never married?
a. James K. Polk
b. Benjamin Harrison
c. James Buchanan
d. Martin Van Buren
2. Name the first President born west of the Mississippi River.
a. Ronald Reagan
b. Nixon
c. William Howard Taft
d. Herbert Hoover
3. Which man was both the 22nd and 24th President?
a. Benjamin Harrison
b. Grover Cleveland
c. Wilson
d. Rutherford B. Hayes
4. In which movie did Nancy Reagan play opposite her husband Ronald?
a. Bedtime for Bonzo
b. The African Queen
c. Rockne, All American
d. Hellcats of the Navy
5. Who was the first President to leave the Continental United States?
a. William McKinley
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Roosevelt
d. Chester Arthur
6. Which State has provided the most native-born sons as Presidents?
a. Massachusetts
b. Virginia
c. Ohio
d. New York
7. How many men have become President because their predecessors were assassinated?
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6
8. Which President won the Nobel Peace Prize for his assistance in ending the Russian-Japanese War?
a. Grover Cleveland
b. Wilson
c. Harry Truman
d. Theodore Roosevelt
9.Theodore Roosevelt insisted upon proceeding with a scheduled speech in Milwaukee despite which incident?
a. His train arrived 2 hours late
b. had been sick with a flu for several days
c. He was shot outside the arena
d. His wife Edith was rushed to the hospital
10. Name the only President to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy.
a. Franklin Roosevelt
b. Dwight Eisenhower
c. Richard Nixon
d. Jimmy Carter
11. Name the only President born in California.
a. Herbert Hoover
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Richard Nixon
d. James Garfield
12. Name the first Vice President to succeed to the Presidency due to the death of the President.
a. Martin Van Buren
b. John Tyler
c. Zachary Taylor
d. Millard Fillmore
13. Name the first President to appear on television.
a. Harry Truman
b. Dwight Eisenhower
c. John F. Kennedy
d. Franklin Roosevelt
14. Name the man who was present as each of three Presidents lay mortally wounded by assassins’ bullets.
a. Roscoe Conkling
b. James Blaine
c. Robert Lincoln
d. Upton Sinclair
15. Which incumbent Vice President did not win election to the Presidency?
a. Martin Van Buren
b. George H. W. Bush
c. Al Gore
d. Thomas Jefferson
16. Which member of the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy later became President himself?
a. Lyndon Johnson
b. Jimmy Carter
c. Gerald Ford
d. Richard Nixon
17. Name the only man who has been both President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
a. John Marshall
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Herbert Hoover
d. William Howard Taft
18. Name the only President to have been a Rhodes Scholar.
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Dwight Eisenhower
c. Bill Clinton
d. John F. Kennedy
19. Name the dog made famous in Richard Nixon’s 1952 campaign speech.
a. Fala
b. Liberty
c. Checkers
d. Laddie Boy
20. Name the only President buried in Washington, D.C.
a. Franklin Roosevelt
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. John F. Kennedy
d. William Howard Taft
21. While dying from cancer, he worked feverishly to complete his memoirs, so the royalties it would earn would provide for his family.
a. Harry Truman
b. Dwight Eisenhower
c. James Monroe
d. U. S. Grant
22. Which President started the tradition of tossing out the first ball on baseball’s Opening Day?
a. Theodore Roosevelt
b. William Howard Taft
c. William McKinley
d. Warren G. Harding
23. Which President received a ticket for speeding in Washington, D.C.?
a. U. S. Grant
b. Lyndon Johnson
c. Andrew Johnson
d. Calvin Coolidge
24. Which President’s wife was nicknamed Lemonade Lucy for her refusal to serve liquor in the White House?
a. U.S. Grant
b. Abraham Lincoln
c. Rutherford Hayes
d. James Garfield
25. Name the only President born on the 4th of July.
a. James Madison
b. Calvin Coolidge
c. Franklin Pierce
d. Andrew Jackson
Think you got them all correct? Here are the answers: 1 = c, 2 = d, 3 = b, 4 = d, 5 = c, 6 = b, 7 = b, 8 = d, 9 = c, 10 = d, 11 = c, 12 = b, 13 = d, 14 = c, 15 = c, 16 = c, 17 = d, 18 = c, 19 = c, 20 = b, 21 = d, 22 = b, 23 = a, 24 = c, 25 = b.
Thanks, Chris, for helping to educate us about our Presidents. And to everyone reading this, be sure to visit the Hall of Presidents next time you’re at Disney World. This audio-animatronic presentation is almost as good as The American Adventure at Epcot. Morgan Freeman’s narration is simply magnificent.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest, where his Straight Talk column appears twice a month. This article first appeared in PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
