14-02-2025
Presidents' Day is Feb. 17. Do you know your presidential history? Take this quiz.
As Americans gear up to celebrate Presidents' Day on Monday, Feb. 17, they will be participating in a tradition that has lasted nearly 150 years.
Presidents' Day traces its roots to an 1879 Act of Congress honoring the birthday of America's first Commander-in-Chief, George Washington.
Ironically, what became Presidents' Day was first celebrated under the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, a one-term president who refused to seek reelection to the office.
If you knew that, consider yourself a pro at presidential trivia.
Ready to test yourself some more? Try this six-question quiz about America's presidents, developed by the Bill of Rights Institute.
Editor's note: Take the survey below and the answers are below the quiz. The questions about best and worst presidents and the request for reader input were developed by The Tennessean. If the quiz below does not immediately appear, find it at this link.
Now let's see your results – and learn some interesting facts about America's presidents.
Answer 1: When George Washington was first inaugurated in 1789, he delivered an address that set a precedent for future presidents. While that speech was more than 1,400 words long, Washington was feeling less loquacious the second time around. His 135-word speech in 1793 is still the shortest inaugural address in U.S. history.
Answer 2: James Madison was on the field of battle when British troops routed American forces at Bladensburg, Maryland, in 1814, during the War of 1812. The British subsequently set several federal buildings in Washington, D.C. ablaze, including the White House. Madison and his wife, Dolley, fled – but Dolley ordered the portrait of George Washington saved, and it still hangs in the White House today.
Answer 3: Abraham Lincoln spent time working on boats in his youth, and was later inspired to develop a device that would use inflatable bladders to lift boats over shoals and other obstacles. Lincoln applied for and was granted a U.S. patent in 1849 – Patent No. 6469.
Answer 4: President Franklin D. Roosevelt initially named the presidential retreat in Maryland Shangri-La. But Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David after his grandson. David Eisenhower would unite two powerful political families when he married Julie Nixon in 1968.
Answer 5: Lyndon Johnson had a lifelong interest in education, and called it 'the only valid passport from poverty.' He enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1927, and spent a year teaching at a segregated Mexican-American school in Cotulla, Texas.
Answer 6: One of President George H.W. Bush's 58 combat missions during World War II included an attack on Japanese military installations in 1944. Despite his aircraft being hit and his engine catching fire, Bush completed the bombing run before bailing out of the aircraft. He was the only survivor from his plane.
Kirk Higgins is vice president, content, for the Bill of Rights Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization teaching civics and history.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Presidents' Day quiz: Test your knowledge of U.S. history | Opinion
