In the Words of the Presidents

In case you or your calendar publisher missed it, today is Presidents’ Day.  And in case you were wondering “what’s that all about?” I thought this little snippet from the History Channel’s website was helpful:

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

No matter what your party affiliation, every American ought to be able to concede that there isn’t a more stressful job than the presidency of the United States. As comedian Brian Regan has put it, there’s nothing like being awakened every morning to: “Problems. All kinds of problems!” And while they are often ambitious folk, these remarkable individuals give up 4 years (maybe 8, or even 12 if you’re FDR) of their lives (in the case of 4, literally), their privacy, and their public reputations to do their very best in leading our country. A lonely post in the best of times, few leave office without the indicators of the wear and tear the intensity of the presidency leaves.  Each one has left a unique legacy, a mark on American history. And each one deserves the gratitude and respect of the American people.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to mix the wisdom of our presidents with a little fun, and present to you ABB’s first ever Presidents’ Day trivia quiz! Below are fifteen quotations from our presidents, with four choices as to which president the quote originated from. Take a few minutes to take the quiz (without using Google for a reference!) and email your answers to the Printer at believersbroadside@gmail.com by March 6. The reader who gets the most questions correct will receive an inspiring book from ABB! The Printer will have one more question in store in case of a tie.

And so, without further adieu, I give you the Presidents of the United States of America, in their own words:

1) “My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”

    a)   Abraham Lincoln

    b)    John Quincy Adams

    c)   Harry Truman

      d)   George Washington

2) “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”

      

     a)      Franklin Delano Roosevelt

     b)   Zachary Taylor

           c)    Martin Van Buren

           d)    John Adams

3) “The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.”

a)      Thomas Jefferson

b)      William Jefferson Clinton

c)       Franklin Pierce

d)      Lyndon B. Johnson

4) “Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war which has no ideas behind it, is simply a brutality.”

      a)   John F. Kennedy

      b)   George. W. Bush   

      c)   James Garfield

      d)   Gerald Ford

5) “If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.”

a)      Donald Trump

b)      Theodore Roosevelt

c)       Andrew Jackson

d)      Chester Alan Arthur

6) “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”

a)      Herbert Hoover

b)      George H.W. Bush

c)       Dwight Eisenhower

d)      James Carter

7) “Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”

a)      John Tyler

b)      James Madison

c)       William Taft

d)      Ronald Reagan

8) “I believe also in the American opportunity which puts the starry sky above every boy’s head, and sets his foot upon a ladder which he may climb until his strength gives out.”

a)      Benjamin Harrison

b)      William Henry Harrison

c)       Franklin Delano Roosevelt

d)      Theodore Roosevelt

9) “The Secretary of Labor is in charge of finding you a job, the Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of taking half the money away from you, and the Attorney General is in charge of suing you for the other half.”

a)      James Monroe

b)      Ronald Reagan 

c)       Lyndon Johnson

d)      George W. Bush

10) “I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.”

a)      Abraham Lincoln

b)      Rutherford B. Hayes

c)       Calvin Coolidge

d)      Ulysses  Grant

11) “Whatever starts in California unfortunately has an inclination to spread.”

 a)      James Carter

 b)      Ronald Reagan

 c)       Barack Obama

 d)      Richard Nixon

 12) “Being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.”

  a)      Grover Cleveland

  b)      Harry Truman

  c)       William McKinley

  d)      Andrew Jackson

13) “I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm.”

  a)      Calvin Coolidge

  b)      James Buchanan

  c)       James Polk

  d)      Thomas Jefferson

14) “Stabilize America first, prosper America first, think of America first and exalt America first.”

 a)      Donald Trump

 b)      Warren Harding

 c)       John F. Kennedy

 d)      Martin Van Buren

15) “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”

a)      George Washington

b)      Millard Fillmore

c)       William McKinley

d)      Grover Cleveland

                   Photo Credit by Mobilus in Mobili in Creative Commons