In today’s headline, note my punctuation of the federal holiday Presidents’ Day, not President’s Day. Why? Because the day salutes all the men who have served as our presidents. I also accept Presidents Day.
A number of studies indicate that History and Civics are the subjects in which American students fare worst. Here’s your chance to prove that you are not one of them. After you’ve tried your hand and mind at these posers, use the answers to win bar bets.
How many men have been president of the United States?
Although Joe Biden is listed as our 46th president, only 45 men have held that office. That’s because Grover Cleveland was nonsequentially elected as our 22nd and 24th president and, unfortunately, counted twice, irremediably messing up the math.
Who was the youngest man ever to serve as President of the United States?
If your answer is John Fitzgerald Kennedy, you’re slightly off the mark. When he took office, Kennedy was, at the age of 43 years and 7 months, the youngest man ever to have been elected president, but Theodore Roosevelt became president at 42 years and 10 months, in the wake of the assassination of President William McKinley. When TR’s second term was over, he was still only 50 years old, making him the youngest ex-president.
Now that you know the identity of our youngest president, who was our oldest president to enter the Oval Office?
Ronald Reagan became president two weeks shy of his 70th birthday, older than any other president, and left office two weeks short of his 78th. At the age of 70 years and 7 months, Donald Trump superseded Reagan as the most chronologically endowed man to ascend to the Oval Office, and was then superseded by Joe Biden, who became president at the age of 78 years and 2 months — older than Ronald Reagan when he left office!
Another way to identify our oldest president is to ask which one lived the longest?
Amazingly, for more than 150 years, the president most full of years was John Adams, who lived for 90 years and 8 months. John Adams has been superseded by Ronald Reagan (93 years and 4 months), Gerald Ford (93 years and 5 months), George H.W. Bush (94 ½ years), and, now, Jimmy Carter (98 years and 3 months).
Speaking of age, identify six U.S. presidents who are not buried in the United States.
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden..
Our third, fourth, and fifth presidents — Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe — each consecutively served two full terms as president for a total of 24 years. Name three other presidents who consecutively served two full terms.
They’re our recent presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
Five presidential candidates have won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College and hence the presidency: Andrew Jackson (1824), Samuel Tilden (1876), Grover Cleveland (1888), Al Gore (2000), and Hillary Clinton (2016). In addition to this pattern, what else do they have in common?
They are/were all Democrats.
Have any of our presidents not been born citizens of the United States?
Yes, eight of them. Martin Van Buren, our 8th president, entered the earthly stage on December 5, 1782, making him the first president born after the Declaration of Independence was signed and thus a citizen by birth. Eight presidents were born before 1776 as British subjects — George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William Henry Harrison.
Identify a columnist for the Union-Tribune whose daughter was fired on national television by an American president.
‘Tis I, Richard Lederer. Back in 2009, my daughter, Annie Duke, then the winningest woman in the history of poker, was a contestant on NBC’s reality show “Celebrity Apprentice.” On the last day of the season, when the apprentices had been winnowed from 16 to 2, then emcee Donald Trump fired Annie in favor of the late comedienne Joan Rivers.