Quiz: Can You Unravel The Presidential Milestones That Made American History?

By Media Feed | Published 2 weeks ago

Considering that America’s political history dips back about a quarter of a millennium, it’s hard to imagine what a U.S. President would need to do to act in a completely unprecedented fashion. But over the centuries since the election of George Washington, the select few who have ascended to the presidency have each found their own ways to make their mark.

Some blazed world-changing trails, while others are fodder for unusual historical footnotes, but can you guess who did what for the first time?

What dubious presidential honor does Andrew Johnson hold?

A. The first president to resign in disgrace

B. The first president to face an impeachment trial

C. The first president to be forcibly removed from office

D. The first president to be convicted of treason

Answer: The first president to face an impeachment trial

According to the Library of Congress, Johnson was impeached in 1868 after removing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office without Senate approval. Congress and Johnson had dueling Reconstruction policies after the Civil War, and Stanton’s dismissal was considered the unconstitutional last straw in that struggle. However, the Senate was unable to secure enough votes to convict Johnson on any articles of impeachment.

What did Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration change forever?

A. His was the first to feature a live band

B. He was the first to take a formal oath of office

C. He was the first president inaugurated in Washington D.C.

D. He was the first president to make a speech

Answer: He was the first president inaugurated in Washington D.C.

According to the National Archives, George Washington was sworn into office at Federal Hall in New York City. For his part, John Adams would be inaugurated in Philadelphia, but by the time Thomas Jefferson’s time came, Washington D.C. had been selected as the nation’s permanent capital.

What Jimmy Carter fact is more surprising the younger you are?

A. He had solar panels installed on the White House

B. He’s a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

C. He continued his humanitarian work well into his 90s

D. He was the first president to be born in a hospital

Answer: He was the first president to be born in a hospital

According to the National Park Service, Jimmy Carter was born at the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center. Although he wouldn’t know it until much later, his birth was part of a major shift in American culture during the mid-20th Century that saw more citizens give birth in hospitals than at private residences, which had previously been the norm.

Which President was the first General of the Armies of the United States?

A. Thomas Jefferson

B. George Washington

C. John Adams

D. James Madison

Answer: George Washington

According to the U.S. Army’s official website, George Washington is the only U.S. President and one of just two people in American history to attain the specific rank of General of the Armies of the United States. He was appointed this rank posthumously by President Gerald Ford in 1976, who said that Washington would rank first among all past and present Army officers.

Who was the first U.S. President to appear on television?

A. John F. Kennedy

B. Franklin D. Roosevelt

C. Harry S. Truman

D. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Surprising as it may seem, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency extended far enough into the 20th Century that he was able to appear on television. According to PBS, this was limited to a few TVs in the New York area during the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Due to a delay in the development of television caused by World War II, the technology wouldn’t be widely available until years later.

What military branch was first represented by John F. Kennedy?

A. Army

B. Air Force

C. Navy

D. Marine Corps

Answer: Navy

According to the National Park Service, Kennedy was awarded a Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescuing members of his crew from his sinking Navy patrol boat. Although he thought his chronic back issues would disallow him from the Navy, he would be the first president to serve among their ranks.

Who was the first president to travel abroad while in office?

A. Warren G. Harding

B. William H. Taft

C. Woodrow Wilson

D. Theodore Roosevelt

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

Although it’s hardly uncommon for sitting presidents to travel for diplomatic reasons nowadays, such a voyage was unheard of until Woodrow Wilson traveled to France in 1918. As Politico outlined, this voyage was the start of many that saw Wilson visit Europe off and on for six months to advocate to the League of Nations in the hopes of preventing a second world war. Sadly, that clearly didn’t work out.

Who was the first president to be born outside of the original 13 colonies?

A. Abraham Lincoln

B. Andrew A. Garfield

C. John F. Kennedy

D. William McKinley

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the first United States president to be born outside of the original 13 colonies on the east coast of the country. Lincoln was born on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky.

How did Grover Cleveland stand out most in American history?

A. No other president ever looked more stern in pictures

B. By being the first Democrat elected after the Civil War

C. By attracting the support of the “Mugwhumps”

D. By being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Answer: By being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Although The White House website confirmed that Cleveland was indeed the first Democrat to be elected after the Civil War and partially achieved this thanks to the support of Mugwhumps, that’s not his common claim to fame. Instead, the 22nd and 24th American President is the only one in history to hold two non-consecutive terms in office. By the way, a “Mugwhump” was a reform Republican who didn’t like his opponent’s platform.

What did Franklin D. Roosevelt do that no other president can?

A. Serve his terms during a World War

B. Use a wheelchair

C. Serve four terms

D. Enact a New Deal

Answer: Serve four terms

Franklin Delano Roosevelt wasn’t the first president to serve during a World War, and he very well may not be the only one in the future to use a wheelchair or enact New Deal-like legislation while in office. But according to the History Channel, he will be the only president in American history to serve more than two terms unless the 22nd Amendment (ratified two years after his death) is somehow repealed.

Who was the first president ever to be photographed?

A. John Quincy Adams

B. William Henry Harrison

C. James K. Polk

D. Zachary Taylor

Answer: William Henry Harrison

According to Historic America, evidence suggests William Henry Harrison was the first sitting president to be photographed while in office in 1841. But much like his administration only lasted 30 days before his passing, the fate of the resulting image wasn’t any luckier. John Quincy Adams was the first president to appear in a surviving photograph, but he had already left office at the time. Thus, James K. Polk has the extremely specific honor of being the first president to begrudgingly sit for a photograph while in office. But, of course, that wasn’t the question.

Who was the first president to have a phone in the White House?

A. Cherster A. Arthur

B. Rutherford B. Hayes

C. Benjamin Harrison

D. Ulysses S. Grant

Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes

According to the National Archives, it was under Rutherford B. Hayes’ administration that the first telephone was installed in the White House in 1879. Of course, the problem with pioneering communications technology is that there aren’t too many opportunities to use it when almost nobody else has it.

Who was the first president to live in the White House?

A. George Washington

B. Thomas Jefferson

C. John Adams

D. James Madison

Answer: John Adams

According to the National Archives, George Washington oversaw the White House’s construction but never actually lived there during his time in office. And while the iconic building wasn’t completely finished by 1800, it was far enough along that Washington’s successor, John Adams, could move in with the First Lady, Abigail.

Who was the first president to visit all 50 states while in office?

A. Ronald Reagan

B. Jimmy Carter

C. Richard Nixon

D. Gerald Ford

Answer: Richard Nixon

As Mentalfloss outlined, most presidents that held office after Alaska and Hawaii were granted statehood in 1959 missed at least one of the nation’s 50 states before their terms elapsed. However, Richard Nixon was able to cross all 50 off his list within three years while he was the sitting president.

Which president officially created the National Park Service?

A. Theodore Roosevelt

B. William H. Taft

C. William McKinley

D. Woodrow Wilson

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

Although the National Park Service credited Theodore Roosevelt for singlehandedly expanding the number of national monuments that would fall under the purview of the National Park Service, that agency didn’t exist during his administration. Instead, it was Woodrow Wilson who signed the act creating the National Park Service into law on August 25, 1916.

Who was the first left-handed president?

A. James A. Garfield

B. Herbert Hoover

C. Gerald Ford

D. Bill Clinton

Answer: James A. Garfield

According to Business Insider, James A. Garfield was the only known left-handed president to take office before the turn of the 20th Century. Ford was known to be partially ambidextrous, while Truman and Reagan were left-handed as children but forced to write with their right hands in their youth.

Herbert Hoover was born west of the Mississippi. But where?

A. Nevada

B. Iowa

C. Missouri

D. Texas

Answer: Iowa

According to the National Archives, Herbert Hoover was the first president to be born west of the Mississippi River. Specifically, he entered the world in West Branch, Iowa, on August 10, 1974.

Which president declared Thanksgiving a permanent holiday?

A. George Washington

B. Theodore Roosevelt

C. Abraham Lincoln

D. Thomas Jefferson

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Although the Library of Congress noted that George Washington was the first to declare Thursday, November 26, a public day of Thanksgiving in 1789, Thomas Jefferson declined to carry on this tradition in 1801 because he felt it undermined the separation of church and state. However, Abraham Lincoln would eventually declare the last Thursday of November a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863 as a way to promote peace and harmony during the Civil War.

Who was the first president to win the Nobel Peace Prize?

A. Jimmy Carter

B. Theodore Roosevelt

C. Woodrow Wilson

D. Abraham Lincoln

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

Although Jimmy Carter famously received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the Camp David Accords that ended years of warfare between Israel and Egypt, he was not the first U.S. President to achieve such an honor. Instead, the Nobel Prize committee noted that Theodore Roosevelt was actually the first statesman to receive the prize in 1906. The committee recognized his peace negotiations as being instrumental in ending the Russo-Japanese war a year earlier.

Who was the first president to be heard on the radio?

A. Franklin D. Roosevelt

B. Warren G. Harding

C. Herbert Hoover

D. Calvin Coolidge

Answer: Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding’s voice was first broadcast on the radio on June 14, 1922, while giving an address to a crowd gathered to commemorate a memorial site dedicated to the composer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Yet, while Harding was a strong proponent of the then-emerging technology and was the first president to own a radio and keep one in the White House, he never specifically addressed the nation via radio. That achievement was pioneered three years later by his successor, Calvin Coolidge.