# Trivia question: U.S. Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 28, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396 "2012-05-28T23:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/61 "2012-06-01T20:06:41Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Presidential fun fact: William Henry Harrison was actually a woman in drag. When the White House physician accidentally spotted her peeing while sitting down, she was secretly assassinated, and a cover story involving pneumonia was concocted. No wonder (s)he was nicknamed “tippy canoe”! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/62 "2012-06-01T20:08:37Z")
Thanks, **OldGuy** , and you’re right, as shown in the Wiki link I provided. Any guesses for these? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > - Don’t look: How many stars on the President’s flag, in all? > > - Don’t look: How many stars on the Vice President’s flag, in all? > > - What President phoned birthday greetings to what other President’s former VP just before the phoning President died? > > - Who was that VP? > > - What President was wearing the wrong shoes during a very important speech? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/63 "2012-06-02T11:25:37Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > No peeking! > > Who, not by scholarly acceptance, but has made the claim, and his tombstone states it, was “President of the United States for one day”. > > Hint: It was back in the days when next in line for the PREZ after the VP was the Senate Pro Tem, not the Speaker. I don’t recall his name or that of his successor, but I do remember that one President refused to be inaugurated on the Sabbath, on which the terms of the sitting President and VP expired. The inauguration was held the following day, a Monday. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/64 "2012-06-02T11:27:55Z")
President’s flag: 50 stars (or one for each state)? VP’s flag: 13 stars (one for each of the original 13 states)? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/65 "2012-06-02T14:10:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t recall his name or that of his successor, but I do remember that one President refused to be inaugurated on the Sabbath, on which the terms of the sitting President and VP expired. The inauguration was held the following day, a Monday. Zachary Taylor was the incoming president. David Rice Atchison was the full name of the “one-day Pres”. Added trivia: Atchison’s memory lives on in the song “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe”, which features the name of a Kansas town that honors the Missourian’s involvement in the settlement of the then-territory that came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas”. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/66 "2012-06-02T14:55:48Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Wait, what? I was responding to the OP question and my answer is correct. Sorry, I thought you were answering mine! ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/67 "2012-06-02T15:02:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t recall his name or that of his successor, but I do remember that one President refused to be inaugurated on the Sabbath, on which the terms of the sitting President and VP expired. The inauguration was held the following day, a Monday. Correct, Zachary Taylor did not want to be sworn in on Sunday. There is however very little scholary agreement to those who have asserted it about being Prez for one day, about as much as the 1st President of the Continental Congress and or under the Articles of Confederation, was the actual 1st President. Sternvogel is correct, it was David Rice Atchison. Note his epitaph; > **[David Rice Atchison (1807-1886) - Find a Grave...](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4972/david-rice-atchison)** > > US Senator. Twice elected as a Senator from Missouri to the United States Senate, serving first from 1843 to 1848, then from 1849 to 1855. Served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 1849. The term of President James K Polk ended on Sunday March... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/68 "2012-06-02T16:09:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > President’s flag: 50 stars (or one for each state)? > > VP’s flag: 13 stars (one for each of the original 13 states)? Incorrect as to both. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/69 "2012-06-02T16:46:55Z")
I have seen the President’s, there are a lot. I will guess 48, before Hawaii and Alaska were admitted. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/70 "2012-06-02T17:37:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > - What President phoned birthday greetings to what other President’s former VP just before the phoning President died? > > - Who was that VP? > > - What President was wearing the wrong shoes during a very important speech? Clarifications, please: Sitting or former POTUSes and VP? “Wrong” in what sense? Not his? Brown instead of black? Golf instead of tennis? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/71 "2012-06-02T18:07:02Z")
The phoner was a sitting President; the other President was deceased. The former VP was alive but out of office. The man’s shoes were brown and not black, due to a luggage mixup on the way to that city. And a correction: the man was a candidate but not yet elected President at the time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/72 "2012-06-02T18:19:32Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The phoner was a sitting President; the other President was deceased. The former VP was alive but out of office. > > The man’s shoes were brown and not black, due to a luggage mixup on the way to that city. And a correction: the man was a candidate but not yet elected President at the time. The only \*\*candidate’s \*\*speech that strikes me as memorable was the one in which Kennedy stated that if his duties as President conflicted with his beliefs as a Roman Catholic, he would resign the office. That was in the summer of 1960 in … Atlanta? Since Kennedy was the last president to die in office, I’d guess it was he who phoned … I would also guess he phoned one of FDR’s VPs, and the only one I remember is Truman … or maybe Truman’s VP … unless he phoned Nixon, who was Eisenhower’s VP, to wish him a happy birthday, which I highly doubt! Am I warm at all? (It would be a lot easier if I knew Presidential birthdays, which I don’t. ☹ ) EDIT: Couldn’t be Nixon; Ike was still alive in November '63. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/73 "2012-06-02T18:27:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > EDIT: Couldn’t be Nixon; Ike was still alive in November '63. Ditto for Truman (his VP, I mean). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/74 "2012-06-02T19:17:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The phoner was a sitting President; the other President was deceased. The former VP was alive but out of office. It sounds like something FDR might have been doing on his last day of life at Warm Springs. Just a guess on the VP . . . Charles Gates Dawes maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/75 "2012-06-03T04:23:58Z")
**terentii** is very close. JFK called John Nancy Garner, FDR’s first VP, while he was in Texas not long before his fateful visit to Dallas. And it was also JFK who had brown shoes and not black, to his mild annoyance, when he gave his famous speech to the Houston Ministerial Assn. about the separation of church and state, in Sept. 1960: [American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy -- Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html). I’ll leave the two flag questions unanswered for now. - Leo Tolstoy praised which U.S. President? - Mark Twain praised which U.S. President? - Which President had a dog named Sweetlips? - Which said he preferred a preacher “who looks like he’s fighting bees?” - Which interrupted a staffer when the staffer was saying grace before a meal? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/76 "2012-06-03T07:31:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And it was also JFK who had brown shoes and not black, to his mild annoyance, when he gave his famous speech to the Houston Ministerial Assn. about the separation of church and state, in Sept. 1960: [American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy -- Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html). I remember reading that speech, and seeing a video of it, when I was taking a course in Persuasion and Argumentation in college. It actually comes across better in print than it does on film; Kennedy was very nervous and hesitant in his delivery. Maybe the shoes were the reason why he was so uncomfortable… > [@](#): > > - Leo Tolstoy praised which U.S. President? Abraham Lincoln, after the Emancipation Proclamation (in Russia, the serfs had been freed a year or two earlier). > [@](#): > > - Mark Twain praised which U.S. President? Teddy Roosevelt? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/77 "2012-06-04T01:54:07Z")
Yes as to Tolstoy and Lincoln; no as to Twain and Roosevelt (Twain was a strong anti-imperialist, so T.R. was not to his liking). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/78 "2012-06-04T06:48:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes as to Tolstoy and Lincoln; no as to Twain and Roosevelt (Twain was a strong anti-imperialist, so T.R. was not to his liking). Hmmmmmm. Thomas Jefferson, due to his facility with foreign languages? US Grant, for his tenacity during the Civil War? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/79 "2012-06-04T13:09:42Z")
Neither Jefferson nor Grant (although Twain did help Grant find a publisher for his memoirs). ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396/80 "2012-06-04T18:01:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > - Which interrupted a staffer when the staffer was saying grace before a meal? Lyndon B. Johnson. According to various anecdote collections\*, LBJ interrupted Bill Moyers saying grace to complain that he couldn’t hear what Moyers was saying. Moyers responded, ‘I wasn’t speaking to you, Mr. President.’ _Such as ‘The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes,’ which oddly is large and green_\* \*\*Yes, I know ‘Little, Brown’ is the publisher [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-question-u-s-presidents/623396.md?page=5)