Feb.14

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Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Reader Question of the Week: Trivial Pursuits

Here is the question we put before readers 2 weeks ago:

M.L. in Simpsonville, SC, asks: I teach U.S. History, and many of my students are on our school's academic team. I'd like to offer them a trivia challenge. May I ask if your erudite readership wishes to share some of their favorite unusual-but-fun History trivia questions (and answers) so I might make them up a packet as a review or bonus challenge?

We are going to break format a bit today, because it works better for this particular situation. So, to start, here are the readers who contributed to the quiz we put together:

We did take some liberties in rewriting some questions, in order to make the style and difficulty level as consistent as possible.

And now, here are the questions:

1. Three U.S. vice presidents have shared the same last name. What is that last name?
   
   
2. Within 10 billion, how many people have ever lived on planet Earth?
   
   
3. Marbury v. Madison (1803) was the first case in which the Supreme Court exercised judicial review to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional. What famous case marked the second time that happened?
   
   
4. What religious leader, who ran for President in 1844, was charged with treason against the states of Missouri and Illinois?
   
   
5. Nintendo was founded in what century?
   
   
6. Once known as Pig's Eye Landing, what Midwestern American city ultimately switched to a more respectable, religious-based name?
   
   
7. What nation is only 42nd in size by land area, and yet has the largest number of different time zones, with 12 (13, if Antarctica is included)?
   
   
8. Harry S. Truman and Ulysses S. Grant had the same middle name. What was it?
   
   
9. Insulin, the pacemaker, alkaline batteries, basketball and Hawaiian pizza were all invented by citizens of what nation?
   
   
10. What letter was the last to be added to the English alphabet?
    
    
11. Laika the dog is notable as the first animal to do what?
    
    
12. What board game was originally designed to show the evils of capitalism?
    
    
13. The author who wrote the children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is better known as the creator of what British character, featured in several dozen novels and an even larger number of movies?
    
    
14. Three people, from three different nations (though all of them customarily portrayed as bearded), have been the subject of more than 5,000 biographies (nobody else comes within 1,000 of that). Name any two of the three.
    
    
15. What was the first country to give women the right to vote in national elections?
    
    
16. What was the first U.S. state to give women the right to vote?
    
    
17. What duo taught Hap Arnold, the only American ever to be promoted to the rank of General of the Air Force, how to fly?
    
    
18. What state is home to all four largest cities in the U.S. by area?
    
    
19. When Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, was attending an NAACP luncheon to receive an award in 1967, the host asked her if she would mind meeting a fan in the audience. She agreed and mentioned that she was thinking of leaving the show. The fan immediately protested that it was very important that Americans saw an intelligent, capable Black woman in their living rooms once a week. If she left, the character could be replaced with an alien or a robot. He asked her to stay on the show, and she did. Who was the fan?
    
    
20. In what decade of the 20th century were Americans with disabilities guaranteed the right to enter public buildings and private businesses?
    
    
21. There are five universities that have produced a U.S. President and a Super-Bowl-winning quarterback. Name any two of those universities.
    
    
22. Two states joined the union on the same day, in November 1889, and the order of entry was such a controversy in those states that the President actually shuffled the paperwork before signing and hid the names of the states so that to this day, no one knows exactly which state is 39th and which is 40th. What states are they?
    
    
23. What movie, which is within shouting distance of its 100th anniversary, has been seen by more human beings than any other movie in film history (an estimated 2 billion viewers)?
    
    
24. What president told Chief Justice Earl Warren, before the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954): "These [Southerners] are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big, overgrown Negro."
    
    
25. The United States has won the most medals in the Summer Olympics, with 2,765. What nation has won the most medals in the Winter Olympics, with 406 (as of Feb. 14, 2026)?

We will have the answers tomorrow. Meanwhile, here is the question for next week:

F.S. in Cologne, Germany, asks: You have written that certain U.S. presidents are popular in different countries. On the other side, which U.S. presidents are particularly unpopular or hated outside of the United States? And in which countries are they unpopular?

Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Foreign Object-ions"!