Can you match the U.S. President to the years they served?
by Carolyn Fleming
Wiki Commons; Shutterstock by Lukas Gojda
Since the United States gained independence in 1776, many men (and no women) have held the highest office in the land. But do you know how many presidents we have had? Do you know which president was the first to live in the White House? Do you know when the first president took office? For the answers to these questions and more, quiz on!
1: During which years did Barack Obama serve?
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Barack Obama served as the 44th president from 2009 to 2017, with Vice President Joseph Biden. He was the first Black president of both the Harvard Law Review and the United States.
2: When did John F. Kennedy serve as president?
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John F. Kennedy was the youngest ever to take the oath of office, in 1961, at the age of 43. His short term as president is known by some as Camelot. On November 22, 1963, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Lyndon B. Johnson served out the remainder of his term.
3: During which years was George Washington president?
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Many people probably think that our first president took office in 1777, but not so fast! Washington was sworn in on April 30, 1789, and he chose to retire after his second term.
4: Do you know when Abraham Lincoln served as president?
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Abraham Lincoln, the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, served from 1861 to 1865. He was re-elected for a second term in 1864, but he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. Andrew Johnson served out the remainder of his term.
5: During which years did President Millard Fillmore serve?
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Millard Fillmore was sworn into office in 1850, following the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore was the last member of the Whig Party to hold the highest office. Because the Whigs were falling apart, he was not able to secure a nomination to serve a second term.
6: Remember Harry S. Truman? When did he serve?
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Harry S. Truman took office in 1945, following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the 1948 presidential election, the incumbent Truman defeated New York Governor Thomas Dewey, but the Chicago Tribune mistakenly printed the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman."
7: When did Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, serve?
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President Ronald Reagan served during a critical period of the Cold War. In 1987, referring to the Berlin Wall, he famously said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The wall came down in 1989.
8: When did John Adams serve as president?
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John Adams was the first vice president and the second president of the United States. Adams and his wife Abigail were the first to live in the White House, but only for about one year. He failed to be elected to a second term as president.
9: When was James Buchanan the U.S. president?
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James Buchanan, the 15th president, served from 1857 to 1861. As of 2020, he is our only president from Pennsylvania and our only bachelor president.
10: Do you remember when Richard M. Nixon was president?
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Richard Nixon was president from 1969 to 1974. He resigned during his second term due to the Watergate scandal, which involved illegal activities related to the 1972 election. Because Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, had already resigned for unrelated reasons, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford was nominated to finish Nixon's term.
11: Have you heard of Rutherford B. Hayes? When did he serve?
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Rutherford Birchard Hayes served as the 19th president from 1877 to 1881. He guided the end of Reconstruction following the Civil War. The first Siamese cat came to the U.S. as a gift to First Lady Lucy Hayes.
12: When did Benjamin Harrison serve as president?
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Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd president, served from 1889 to 1893. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison, served as our 9th president for only 32 days before his death in 1841.
13: When was FDR the president of the United States?
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president, served for more years than any other. He died early in his fourth term, in 1945. The Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1951, which states that no person can be elected to the office of president more than twice.
14: When was Woodrow Wilson the president?
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Woodrow Wilson served from 1913 to 1921 as the 28th president. He led the U.S. into World War I to "make the world safe for democracy."
15: When did George H.W. Bush serve as president?
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George H.W. Bush served from 1989 to 1993 as our 41st president. Don't confuse him with George W. Bush, his son, who was president from 2001 to 2009. The younger Bush was in office during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
16: When was John Quincy Adams president?
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John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, served from 1825 to 1829. He is the son of John Adams, the second president, who served from 1797 to 1801.
17: Do you know when James K. Polk was president?
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James K. Polk, the 11th president, served from 1845 to 1849. He was known as the "Napoleon of the Stump" because he was shorter than average, although eloquent.
18: William J. Clinton was president during what years?
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Bill Clinton served as president from 1993 to 2001. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, ran for president in 2016 but lost to Donald J. Trump, the 45th president.
19: When was Calvin Coolidge president?
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Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president, serving from 1923 to 1929. He took office following the death of President Warren G. Harding. Coolidge dedicated the Mount Rushmore site in 1927, which would eventually honor Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
20: When did James Monroe serve as president?
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James Monroe was the fifth president and the last Founding Father to hold that office. He served from 1817 to 1825. He famously wrote the Monroe Doctrine, and his first term as president was known as the Era of Good Feelings.
