American History Trivia Questions

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Populist strongman Huey P Long ran this state as governor and remained its de facto governor, even while serving in the US Senate. What state was this?

       a. Florida
       b. Louisiana
       c. Texas
       d. Georgia


In the 1960s, who said this? "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

       a. Abbie Hoffman
       b. Martin Luther King Jr.
       c. John Kennedy
       d. Douglas MacArthur


The pirate Jean Lafitte set up his own "kingdom" in Barataria, near a city he'd later help save in exchange for a pardon during the War of 1812. Which city?

       a. New Orleans
       b. Boston
       c. Detroit
       d. Galveston


Whose second inaugural address urged healing "with malice toward none, with charity for all"?

       a. Abraham Lincoln
       b. Woodrow Wilson
       c. John Kennedy
       d. George Washington


What president was fatally shot in Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station while on his way to at a reunion at his alma mater, Williams College in Massachusetts?

       a. William McKinley
       b. WH Harrison
       c. James Garfield
       d. Zachary Taylor


Credit Mobilier overcharged which president's administration by millions for work it did building the Union Pacific?

       a. Warren Harding
       b. Ronald Reagan
       c. Ulysses Grant
       d. Andrew Jackson


Daniel Inouye, who lost an arm in WWII, became the first Japanese American member of Congress, representing which state?

       a. Washington
       b. Hawaii
       c. California
       d. Alaska


Not surprisingly, perhaps, who was the first vice-president who did not go on to become president?

       a. Benjamin Franklin
       b. Aaron Burr
       c. John Jay
       d. Alexander Hamilton


What president invented the dumbwaiter and a swivel chair?

       a. Herbert Hoover
       b. Thomas Jefferson
       c. Abraham Lincoln
       d. George Washington


While negotiating a treaty with Britain, what Supreme Court chief justice accidentally ended up being elected governor of New York?

       a. John Marshall
       b. John Jay
       c. Alexander Hamilton
       d. Aaron Burr


As secretary of the treasury, I helped launch the greenback. But on the Supreme Court, I declared that policy unconstitutional. Who am I?

       a. William Howard Taft
       b. Alexander Hamilton
       c. Salmon Chase
       d. John Jay


Senator Nancy Kassebaum from Kansas came from a political family. Her dad ran for president in 1936. Who was he?

       a. Adlai Stevenson
       b. Alf Landon
       c. Wendell Wilkie
       d. Thomas Dewey


In 1950, Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver rose to national prominence as chair of a special committee investigating what subject?

       a. Communist infiltration
       b. Organized crime
       c. Corruption of youth by comic books
       d. Civil rights


With only one viable political party, the Era of Good Feelings was so-called for its lack of partisan politics. Who was president back then?

       a. Andrew Jackson
       b. James Monroe
       c. Thomas Jefferson
       d. George W Bush


The P was for "Pierce", but what was Huey P Long's aquatic nickname?

       a. Kingfish
       b. Tuna
       c. Pelican
       d. Showboat




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