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Quiz
Quiz: How much do you know about these obscure US presidents?
Test your knowledge.
THE PRESIDENT OF the United States of America. It has become arguably the most powerful elected position in the world.
Imagine you reached that role. It’s the most significant achievement of your entire life, and one that just a few dozen other people managed.
However, also imagine that, over time, you fade from most popular pages of the history books, and before you know it, the first time some people read your name is in a Saturday night quiz on TheJournal.ie.
Let’s meet those very men!
Let's start with Millard Fillmore. Was he a real president, or am I having a laugh?
Sure, he's real.
Millard Fillmore? Yeah right, you're having a laugh.
And what about Hopscotch Montgomery? Was he a real president?
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Yep he's real too. He's often called The Forgotten Lincoln for laying the groundwork for abolishing slavery.
Okay now you're taking the you-know-what.
Chester A. Arthur was a member of which of these groups?
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The Irish Republican Brotherhood
Fenian Brotherhood
Young Ireland
None of the above
None of the above because, like Hopscotch Montgomery, he's not real.
What was unique about Martin Van Buren?
Sorry now, but this lad was definitely not president of the United States.
He's the only president to not swear on the Bible during his inauguration.
He's the only president to have served on both sides of the Civil War.
He's the only president to have spoken English as a second language.
He's the only president to have fallen in love.
Helen St. Freelander, *technically* the first woman elected President of the United States, was born in which state?
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Delaware
Georgia
New Hampshire
Territory of Orleans (later known as Louisiana)
A state of non-existence because you've made her up.
What did memorable president Theodore Roosevelt, at the time serving as assistant secretary of the US Navy, say about the very forgettable William McKinley?
"He has no more backbone than a chocolate éclair."
"He has a bottom and a face that you look up and down twice and left to right no more than three times."
"The march of time has been cruel to McKinley, and you can see its footprints all over his face."
"If his morals sank any lower I would be duty-bound to mobilise the Coast Guard."
Which president is pictured here?
Richard Nixon
William Howard Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Zachary Taylor
Handsome Tucker The Horse (one of the four Novelty Presidents of 1823)
How many Whig presidents were there?
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0
4
8
None - they all have their own hair.
What did this guy, Rutherford B. Hayes, oversee the ending of?
The Marshall Plan
The US policy of non-interventionism
The Reconstruction
The world
Finally, what's the connection between James Garfield, president for just six months, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the first working telephone?
Garfield was a skilled metal worker and was the only person Bell would use to make his prototypes. This relationship continued while Garfield was in office.
After Garfield was shot, Bell used a metal detector to try to find where the bullet was lodged.
Bell and Garfield were in university together. Bell, too busy crafting inventions to attend lectures, relied on Garfield's notes to pass his exams.
Garfield was the first person Bell called after inventing the telephone, however Garfield did not answer (because he didn't have a telephone, obviously).
Nothing because you made up James Garfield.
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You scored out of !
You are JFK
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You scored out of !
You are Abraham Lincoln
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You are George Washington
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You are FDR
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You scored out of !
You are Ronald Reagan
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You scored out of !
You are Richard Nixon
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You scored out of !
You are George W Bush
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You scored out of !
You are Bill Clinton
You scored out of !
You are Lyndon B Johnson
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You scored out of !
You are Lyndon B Johnson
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