Unknown Trivia Facts You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents! Quiz

1.

Which president signed a law ensuring blacks were able to vote?

A.

Lyndon Johnson
B.

Abraham Lincoln
C.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
D.

Jimmy Carter

Correct Answer
C. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Explanation
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was primarily a voting rights bill; the first civil rights legislation after the Civil War. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was New York’s only black member of Congress said, “After 80 years of political slavery, this was the second emancipation.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/opinion/12nichols.html

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2.

Which president stood before congress and asked for billions of dollars for the space program?

A.

John F. Kennedy
B.

Bill Clinton
C.

Ronald Reagan
D.

Barrack Obama

Correct Answer
A. John F. Kennedy

Explanation
In 1961 President Kennedy stood before Congress to deliver a special message on "urgent national needs." He asked for an additional $7 to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Space-Program.aspx

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3.

Which president caused the “Whiskey Rebellion” by putting a tax on every gallon of alcohol made in the U.S.?

A.

John Adams
B.

George Washington
C.

Andrew Jackson
D.

Andrew Johnson

Correct Answer
B. George Washington

Explanation
Back in 1791, there was a huge deficit and President Washington came up with this idea to solve the problem. What he miscalculated on was who would have to pay the tax. It affected “poor frontier families” - people who were making money from making moonshine, and could not afford additional taxes as well. They ambushed tax collectors in the woods, tar and feathering them.

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4.

Which president initiated an invasion of Grenada – which led to the first successful overthrow of a communist dictator?

A.

John Kennedy
B.

George W. Bush
C.

Bill Clinton
D.

Ronald Reagan

Correct Answer
D. Ronald Reagan

Explanation
Between 1974 and 1980, while the United States wallowed in post-Vietnam angst, 10 countries had fallen into the Soviet orbit: South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South Yemen, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Grenada and Afghanistan. The liberation of Grenada changed that. Some credit it with the start of the end of the Cold War. http://www.historynet.com/president-ronald-reagan-winning-the-cold-war.htm

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5.

Which First Lady is said to be responsible for the fact we do not see billboards outside of towns and industrial areas?

A.

Eleanor Roosevelt
B.

Lady Bird Johnson
C.

Jackie Kennedy
D.

Betty Ford

Correct Answer
B. Lady Bird Johnson

Explanation
The Highway Beautification Act was passed in 1965. Lady Bird explains why she chose this as one of her main projects, "Getting on the subject of beautification is like picking up a tangled skein of wool. All the threads are interwoven -- recreation and pollution and mental health, and the crime rate, and rapid transit, and highway beautification, and the war on poverty, and parks -- national, state and local. http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/shattereddreams/shattereddreams_report.html

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6.

Which president was inspired to create the national parks after he noticed the damage being done to the Badlands in South Dakota?

A.

Thomas Jefferson
B.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
C.

James Buchanan
D.

Theodore Roosevelt

Correct Answer
D. Theodore Roosevelt

Explanation
Theodore Roosevelt was the nation's 26th President and is considered by many to have been our country's "Conservationist President." He was quoted as saying, "There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."
" http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-and-conservation.htm
The photo is of Roosevelt and famous landscape photographer John Muir at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.

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7.

Which president put time limits on a person’s right to welfare if they were not working?

A.

George W. Bush
B.

Herbert Hoover
C.

Bill Clinton
D.

George Bush Sr.

Correct Answer
C. Bill Clinton

Explanation
President Clinton signed into law "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The law contained strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families moving from welfare to work – including increased funding for child care and guaranteed medical coverage. http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/abbrev/prwora96.htm

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8.

Kansas State University is the oldest land grant university under the Morrill Act. What the president is responsible for this act that granted money to start colleges in the states?

A.

Abraham Lincoln
B.

Martin Van Buren
C.

Millard Fillmore
D.

Woodrow Wilson

Correct Answer
A. Abraham Lincoln

Explanation
This Act changed the course of higher education by shifting it from classical studies to practical ones such as engineering and agriculture. It gave each state 30,000 acres of public land for each Senator and Representative. The purpose was to ensure that education was available to all the social classes.
Question source: http://chronicle.com/article/Why-the-Morrill-Act-Still/132877/

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