Twenty questions about American presidents: who's on the money, who served the shortest time, who was never elected and which two died on the same day. Every answer has the story behind it.
Lincoln took office in March 1861, after James Buchanan, the 15th, and was followed by Andrew Johnson, the 17th.
Question 2
Whose portrait is on the US one-dollar bill?
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George Washington
Washington has been on the $1 bill since 1869. Franklin, who was never president, is on the $100.
Question 3
Which president appears on the nickel?
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Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson has been on the five-cent coin since 1938, with his home, Monticello, on the back. Lincoln is on the penny.
Question 4
Who was the youngest person ever to become president?
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Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt was 42 when he took over after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Kennedy, at 43, was the youngest elected.
Question 5
Which president served the shortest time in office?
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William Henry Harrison
Harrison died 31 days after his inauguration in 1841. Garfield served about six and a half months.
Question 6
Which president was never elected either president or vice president?
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Gerald Ford
Ford was appointed vice president in 1973 and became president when Nixon resigned in 1974. He lost the 1976 election.
Question 7
Besides Washington and Lincoln, which two presidents are carved on Mount Rushmore?
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Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum chose them to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation. Carving ran from 1927 to 1941.
Question 8
Who was the first president to live in the White House?
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John Adams
Adams moved in in November 1800, before the building was finished. Washington chose the site but never lived there.
Question 9
Which president was a Hollywood film actor before entering politics?
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Ronald Reagan
Reagan appeared in more than 50 films and was president of the Screen Actors Guild before becoming governor of California.
Question 10
Which president later served as Chief Justice of the United States?
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William Howard Taft
Taft was president from 1909 to 1913 and Chief Justice from 1921 to 1930, the only person to hold both offices.
Question 11
Which two presidents died on the same day, July 4, 1826?
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John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
They died hours apart on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. James Monroe also died on a July 4, in 1831.
Question 12
Who was the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms?
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Grover Cleveland
Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president. Benjamin Harrison served in between. Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th, is the second.
Question 13
Which president delivered the Gettysburg Address?
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Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln spoke for about two minutes at the dedication of the military cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863.
Question 14
Who was the first president to be impeached by the House of Representatives?
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Andrew Johnson
The House impeached Johnson in 1868. The Senate fell one vote short of removing him. Nixon resigned before a House vote.
Question 15
Which president had been the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II?
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower led the D-Day invasion in 1944 and served two terms as president from 1953 to 1961.
Question 16
Which president signed the law that created the National Park Service in 1916?
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Woodrow Wilson
Theodore Roosevelt had protected huge areas of land earlier, but the Park Service itself was created under Wilson.
Question 17
As of 2025, who is the longest-lived US president?
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Jimmy Carter
Carter died on December 29, 2024, at 100, the first president to reach that age.
Question 18
How long is one presidential term?
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Four years
The Constitution sets a four-year term. The 22nd Amendment limits a president to two elected terms.
Question 19
Which president won the Nobel Peace Prize during his first year in office, 2009?
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Barack Obama
The other presidents awarded the prize are Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Wilson (1919) and Carter (2002, after leaving office).
Question 20
Which president was in office when Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959?
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower signed both statehood proclamations: Alaska in January 1959 and Hawaii in August 1959.
Key numbers
Questions
20
Format
Multiple choice, 4 options
Explanations
Every question
Answers
Hidden until you open them
Beyond the list of names
Most presidents trivia starts and ends with "who was the first president." This quiz goes further: the faces on the dollar bill, the nickel and Mount Rushmore; the shortest presidency (31 days); the only president who also led the Supreme Court; the two founders who died on the same Fourth of July. These are the facts about presidents that make good stories, not just answers.
Records worth knowing
The record questions are the ones people argue about. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president, but John F. Kennedy was the youngest elected. Grover Cleveland was the first to serve two non-consecutive terms; Donald Trump is the second. Gerald Ford is the only president never elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency. Where a record could still change, like the longest-lived president, the question is dated.
Money questions are reliable warm-ups: Washington is on the $1 bill, Jefferson on the nickel and Lincoln on the penny. They give everyone at the table an early point before the harder records.
Practicing the order
This quiz is about facts rather than sequence. To learn the order itself, use our guide to the presidents in order, which groups all 47 presidencies by era, then come back and test yourself here. More presidents questions are in the history trivia set.
Questions people ask
What are some fun facts about US presidents?
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826; William Howard Taft later became Chief Justice; and Gerald Ford was never elected president or vice president.
Who was the youngest US president?
Theodore Roosevelt, who was 42 when he took office in 1901. John F. Kennedy, at 43, was the youngest person elected president.
Which presidents are on Mount Rushmore?
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, carved between 1927 and 1941.