I don’t believe that was a one-man show.
Some questions of my own, all related to a favorite topic of mine, urban politics:
In these cases, name the politician suggested by the clue:
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The youngest mayor in New York City history, and, arguably, the only Hispanic Mayor of the city to date.
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The last Republican mayor of Boston.
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The first mayor of Chicago since the early 1930s to not come from Bridgeport.
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The last white mayor of Detroit.
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The Mayor of Cleveland who became a Supreme Court Justice.
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The last Mayor of San Francisco to become Governor of California.
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The Mayor of Baltimore who returned to the Mayor’s office after two terms as Governor of Maryland.
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The Mayor of Albany who is believed to be the longest-served large city mayor in American history.
- The first mayor of Chicago since the early 1930s to not come from Bridgeport.
Harold Washington.
I have no idea who the mayor is for #510, but I do know we had a mayor in Honolulu, which I assume counts as a big city, who was mayor for 22 years cumulatively (his terms were interspersed with several governorships and I believe a stint in Congress). Frank Fasi.
I’ll give #491 another day or so.
One of the the carriers my Dad served on.
- Incorrect.
Fasi never served in Congress (though he did run unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1959), never became Governor (though he ran at least five times), and the guy I’m thinking of lasted longer.
Actually, I was thinking of a bid he made four years ago that I was told about. But that’s right, he lost that. And his governor bids. My foggy old memory is remembering more clearly now. At least I’m sure about the 22 years as mayor. 
Harold Burton.
Please ask no more than five questions at a time, per the OP. Thanks!
Whaddya know about Secretaries of State?
- He took a trip with an equally-famous friend to Vermont not long after it joined the Union.
- Early on, he wrote a long memo to the President, essentially offering to run the administration, but in time came to respect and even love his boss.
- A pacifist and former presidential candidate himself, he resigned after the U.S. entered a war.
- He joined the Cabinet of his good friend and former colleague, and during his career also served as governor of a Southern state and as a Supreme Court justice.
- This Georgian served as Secretary of State longer than any other since WW2.
- I believe this is Seward, but I thought he ended up as Lincoln’s SecNav, so I’m not 100% sure.
- Early on, he wrote a long memo to the President, essentially offering to run the administration, but in time came to respect and even love his boss.
Seward
- A pacifist and former presidential candidate himself, he resigned after the U.S. entered a war.
Bryan
- Correct
- This Georgian served as Secretary of State longer than any other since WW2.
Dean Rusk
Okay, time’s up on #491. The last president to be born in a log cabin, and during whose administration the first elevator was installed in the White Houe, was James Garfield.
I think I remember reading that his mother used to have fun riding up andd own in the elevataor.
Both correct. And 5 time champ is correct about question 515, Dean Rusk.
Still unanswered…
Now that we’ve broken the 500-question ceiling, here are the questions which, I believe, either haven’t been answered or for which we have no confirmation of the correct answer. If I’m wrong about any of these, or if I left any off the list, please let us know.
Here goes:
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Who was the first African American to fight for the Colonies in the Revolutionary War?
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Teddy’s mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, is believed by many literary experts to have been one of the inspirations for what iconic fictional character? (I guessed Scarlett O’Hara).
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What major league baseball player was taken on an All-Star team (which included Babe Ruth) tour of Japan prior to WWII because he was conversant in Japanese and was assigned to take pictures of various Japanese sites in Tokyo which were later used in bombing raids?
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What contemporary statesman did Lincoln quote and respond to in his famous 1860 Cooper Union speech?
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At its opening, the lights of the Empire State Building were ceremonially turned on remotely by what individual?
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What did Thomas Edison call his mobile film studio?
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The most famous portrait of [Chief Justice] John Jay has him in robes of these two colors.
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This Copperhead leader was arrested, sent through the Confederate lines, and eventually ended up in Canada and running (unsuccessfully) for governor of Ohio.
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George Washington inherited his Mount Vernon estate from whom?
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When was the last time there were no living ex-Presidents?
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Who was the first President featured on a coin? (Incorrect guess: Washington).
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Why is Cawker City, Kansas famous?
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What’s the name of the most famous animal in Margate, NJ?
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What did the US buy from Santa Anna, and how much was the price?
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What was the station name and location of the oldest educational television network in the country?
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Those who supported the Continental Congress in the mid-to-late 1770s were called patriots or _____?
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Before the Civil War, Northern politicians who were pro-Southern in their views and/or policies were called _____?
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In the same time period, the Southerners who were most ardently pro-slavery and pro-secession were called _____?
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In the 1870s, reform-minded Republicans fed up with the Grant Administration’s cronyism and corruption were called _____?
Middle names:
203. Hay, McKinley’s Secretary of State
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Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War
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Rehnquist, the Chief Justice
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This destroyer was sunk by a U-boat before the U.S. was technically at war with Germany in WW2.
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This battleship made a famous dash around South America to reach the Pacific during the Spanish-American War.
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What was the name of the radioactive “health” drink that caused a scandal which provided some of the impetus to get the original legislation forming the FDA passed?
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Who was the first Episcopal bishop in the U.S.? Hint: A seminary was later named after him.
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The U.S. Naval Academy wasn’t established until the year ____; before that, midshipmen were trained entirely at sea.
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The Air Force Academy’s mascot is this animal.
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The plane which, in various incarnations, flew 24/7/365 throughout the Cold War to conduct the U.S. retaliatory response to any overwhelming first strike, was codenamed __________ ________.
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When this irascible former champion golfer saw his age misprinted in the paper he accosted the author of the article and complained. The author responded that it was a typographical error. The golfer then said “typographical my a** it was a perfect 5 and a perfect 9.” Who was he?
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Besides protecting the President and other VIPs, what are the Secret Service’s two other major responsibilities? (Anti-counterfeiting was one correct answer already given; what’s the other?)
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Name the star, his character’s name and the name of the 1950’s series about an FBI agent who infiltrated the Communist party.
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How many proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress? (A correct round number will be accepted).
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What first name did the first two soldiers buried in Arlington National Cemetery share?
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What were George Washington’s last words?
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Who was JFK’s White House chief of staff? (Incorrect answers already given: Kenneth O’Donnell and Ted Sorenson).
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This one-armed Civil War veteran explored the Grand Canyon.
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The Vatican did not have a papal nuncio (ambassador) accredited to the United States until the administration of this President. (Incorrect guesses: JFK and Nixon).
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Which President, by executive order, first standardized the arrangement of stars and stripes on the U.S. flag?
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Other than stars, what did the original pre-Civil War “Old Glory” have in its blue canton?
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Flags of the Irish Brigade during the Civil War were distinctive because…?
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How many official “national” flags did the Confederate Congress approve between 1861-65?
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Lincoln appointed this key supporter and Illinois state judge to the Supreme Court.
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This tiny burg in New England is famous for voting first in national elections? (Incorrect guess: Hart’s Location, NH).
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What year was the first polio vaccine announced?
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This iron-willed and highly effective governor of a midwestern state secretly sent the GOP minority of his state legislature out of town to deny the Copperhead Democratic majority a quorum. He then ruled the state as a virtual dictator to the end of the Civil War.
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This moderate Republican shaved three times a day due to his heavy beard growth, and served as both governor of his large state and as one of its U.S. senators. (Two hints: He shared a last name with a President, and briefly considered a run for the White House himself).
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Bearer of a famous name, he headed the Pullman Co. at the time of its controversial strike.
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One of the early reactors gave rise to an acronym that is used to this day to describe shutting down a nuclear fission reactor. What is this acronym, and what words were used to develop the acronym?
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In the 1950’s the US Gov’t subsidized the construction of a small town in the vicinity of Los Alamos, at the request of the researchers there. What was the grim nickname for this town? And what was the maximum population of this town?
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This Watergate prosecutor was also a member of the 9/11 Commission?
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What important transportation innovation did Frank Sprague pioneer?
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Frustrated by the bungling of Gen. Charles Lee during this battle, George Washington lost his temper and swore so long and profanely that a witness said nearby trees shook. (A hint: This battle was also later the subject of another SDMB thread).
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The Great Western Trail, also called the Texas Trail, terminated at what famous Kansas cowtown?
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What cattle drive route led along the Pecos River from Texas through New Mexico, ultimately arriving at Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming?
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What cattle trail at one point crossed the Red River and Indian Territory to terminate at Abilene, Kansas?
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This was William McKinley’s best-known slogan.
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Despite some scandals in his past, Edwin Edwards ran again for governor of Louisiana against former Klan official David Duke, and won. What rhyming slogan did Edwards’s supporters popularize? (Incorrect guess: “Vote for the crook; it’s important,” which doesn’t rhyme).
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President Lincoln himself came under Confederate fire during Jubal Early’s attack against this fortification guarding Washington, D.C.
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Who said this after the Battle of Bunker Hill: “Another three such victories and we will have lost the colonies”?
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This SecAg from Idaho was famous for potatoes.
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The first SecVA?
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The second Cabinet Secretary to become President?
What is the significance of this date in American history?
484. March 9, 1862
Have at them!
Most of these are little more than guesses, but what the hell:
- Who was the first African American to fight for the Colonies in the Revolutionary War?
Crispus Attucks
81. What major league baseball player was taken on an All-Star team (which included Babe Ruth) tour of Japan prior to WWII because he was conversant in Japanese and was assigned to take pictures of various Japanese sites in Tokyo which were later used in bombing raids?
I know his first name, which was Mo, and that he was Jewish (or at least had a Jewish last name)
- What contemporary statesman did Lincoln quote and respond to in his famous 1860 Cooper Union speech?
Douglas
166. George Washington inherited his Mount Vernon estate from whom?
HIs brother. Lawrence?
- When was the last time there were no living ex-Presidents?
Hoover lasted a long time, so it had to be before that. When McKinley was shot?
- Who was the first President featured on a coin? (Incorrect guess:
Washington).
Jefferson?
286. Besides protecting the President and other VIPs, what are the Secret Service’s two other major responsibilities? (Anti-counterfeiting was one correct answer already given; what’s the other?)
Protection of some Federal buildings?
351. Flags of the Irish Brigade during the Civil War were distinctive because…?
They had a harp on them
367. What year was the first polio vaccine announced?
1951?
- Bearer of a famous name, he headed the Pullman Co. at the time of its controversial strike.
THis wouldn&t be a trick question, would it? Pullman.
- One of the early reactors gave rise to an acronym that is used to this day to describe shutting down a nuclear fission reactor. What is this acronym, and what words were used to develop the acronym?
SCRAM (no idea on the words that make this up)
- Frustrated by the bungling of Gen. Charles Lee during this battle, George Washington lost his temper and swore so long and profanely that a witness said nearby trees shook. (A hint: This battle was also later the subject of another SDMB thread).
Monmouth?
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I believe Lincoln, with the 1909 Lincoln “wheat sheaf” penny.
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The USS Reuben James
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A goat.
As far as that goes, you’re correct.
I’ve left a few more dangling questions than I’d intended. I’ll give them until midnight tonight, then post the answers.
I can knock this one off the list. That would have been from LBJ’s death in January 1973 until Nixon’s resignation in August 1974.
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Correct, it was his longtime rival Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.), who said in an earlier speed that the Framers better understood the question of Congress’s power to limit the spread of slavery than did those of 1860. Lincoln agreed, and then used a very careful historical analysis to show that a strong majority of the Framers, incl. the Southerners, believed Congress had the power to limit the spread of slavery - which was anathema to the Southern slaveholding elite of Lincoln’s day.
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Correct, his half-brother Lawrence.
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Incorrect (that falls under “protecting VIPs,” I’d say).
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I was expecting “they were green,” but you’re right, they had harps on them, too.
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Incorrect.
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Correct! What Exit? will be pleased.
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Correct.
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Incorrect.