Presidents Quiz
(Scroll down for answers)

1. Before they became president, each man held several jobs earlier in the lives. What was the most common pre-presidential occupation?

2. How many cases did lawyer Abe Lincoln handle in his career?
a. 500
b. Less than 500
c. More than 500
d. 5,000  

3. What president liked to hit chip shots on the White House lawn, and occasionally hit them too long into midtown traffic?  

4. There have been two Quaker presidents. Who were they?

5. In the 1860 Presidential Election, Southern Democratic candidate John Breckinridge finished second behind Abraham Lincoln. What was Breckinridge’s profession at the time of the election?

6. John Tyler is buried in what cemetery? Under what flag?

7. John F. Kennedy was shot in what kind of car?

8. Lincoln’s eldest son Robert Todd was Secretary of War for which presidents?

Answers

1. Military officer
In all, there have been 29 military officers who went on to become president. Second most common job was that of lawyer, with 26 men who were attorneys before taking on the highest office in the land.

2. d. 5,000
In a career than spanned nearly three decades, Lincoln worked cases that ranged from fraud, assault, and defaults to divorce, extortion, and murder. Most never went to trial, because Lincoln preferred to have his clients settle out of court.

3. Dwight Eisenhower
Famously fond of golf, Ike had a putting green installed on the White House lawn, where chipping practice sometimes got a little eager. He usually played on full courses though, up to 150 times a year.

4. Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon
Neither man was strictly devout, but neither left their denomination. The most common religion among presidents has been Episcopalian, with Presbyterian next. Oddly there have been no Lutheran presidents yet, despite Lutheranism being the largest Protestant sect in the US.     

5. Vice President of the United States                                                                           Breckinridge was VP under Democrat James Buchanan. After losing the election, Breckinridge went on to serve in the Confederate Army as a field commander. He fought in the battles of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Stones River, Chattanooga, and Cold Harbor among others. Later he served as the Confederate Secretary of War. When defeat came, he left the country for several years, fearing he would be tried and sentenced for treason.

6. Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia under the Confederate flag.
Tenth President of the US John Tyler died in 1861, but not before the Virginian was elected to the Confederate Congress. He passed away before he could serve. He was buried with honors, under the “Stars and Bars” of the Confederacy, in the same cemetery that held the body of former president James Monroe. The grounds would also soon be the final resting place of thousands of Confederate veterans, including Jeb Stuart and George Pickett, as well as CSA president Jefferson Davis.  
           

7. A 1961 dark blue Lincoln convertible

8. James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur                                                                           Eventually becoming a statesman in his own right, Robert Todd Lincoln served as the Secretary of War under Garfield, and was present at Garfield’s assassination by Charles Guiteau in Washington DC on July 2, 1881. Lincoln went on to serve as War Secretary for Chest A. Arthur, as well as US Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Benjamin Harrison administration. 

SCORE:   7-8      Chief of Staff. All the power and no press conferences.  
                  5-6       Communications Director. TV time and good pay.         
                  3-4       Deputy Secretary of Commerce. A few nice lunches and one photo op.
                  1-2       Volunteer fund raiser   
                    0        Human wheel chocks for Marine One