Prince Frederick, MD – Presidents’ Day is a holiday for many readers. But how should you spend this day off? Take some time to figure the answers to these brain-teasing presidential factoids, that’s how. It’s not un-American if you don’t know ALL the answers.
1. President whose occupation was “tailor.”
2. President who memorized an eye chart in order to be inducted into the Army National Guard.
3. President who was elected sheriff of Erie County, NY in 1870.
4. President whose youngest son was killed in a train accident shortly before his inauguration.
5. President who spoke only Dutch when he was growing up.
6. President who married his third cousin and was thousands of dollars in debt when he died in his early 80s.
7. President who served for nearly two years as solicitor general of the U.S. during the late 19th century.
8. President who moved to California after graduating from high school and supported himself by picking grapes.
9. President who has high schools named after him in Washington, DC and Honolulu, Hawaii.
10. President who led a student revolt against his college’s president.
BONUS….TEN U.S. presidents had careers in education. Name as many of them as you can.
Answers to the “Impossible” U.S. Presidents quiz.
1. Andrew Johnson was a tailor.
2. Fearing that his poor eyesight would disqualify him, young Harry S Truman memorized the eye chart in order to be allowed to enlist in the military during World War I.
3. Grover Cleveland was elected Erie County sheriff in 1870.
4. Franklin Pierce’s son was the victim of a grisly railroad accident.
5. Martin Van Buren, the only U.S. president who spoke English as a second language.
6. Thomas Jefferson
7. William Howard Taft, who really wanted to be appointed to the Supreme Court, which he later was.
8. Lyndon B. Johnson. He subsequently returned to Texas.
9. William McKinley. The DC school is McKinley Tech.
10. When the president of Eureka College tried to cut back faculty, student body president Ronald Reagan led a student revolt in protest.
The 10 U.S. presidents who had careers in education were John Adams (teacher), Thomas Jefferson (founded University of Virginia), James Garfield (teacher), Chester A. Arthur (teacher), William Howard Taft (law school dean), Woodrow Wilson (university professor and president), Dwight Eisenhower (university president), Lyndon Johnson (teacher), Bill Clinton (law professor) and Barack Obama (law professor).
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com