JEOPARDY! Show #6451 – Monday, October 8, 2012
THE 1912 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
With his opponents dividing the vote, this Democratic challenger was elected
This incumbent president accepted the Republican nomination & did no campaigning; electoral votes: 8
Theodore Roosevelt used this metaphor when announcing his run, hence the button seen here
Eugene V. Debs garnered almost 1 million votes representing this left-leaning party
*Everyone wanted change even back then; the opposing campaign slogans were The ____ Freedom & The ____ Nationalism (same word)
2012 was a big year for Abraham Lincoln. He was featured in two movies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and that other one. But he did NOT invent Facebook. And secede from the Union? Lincoln has something to say about THAT.
The other guy who got a lot of play was Thomas Jefferson. There was Master of the Mountain: “The real truth about Thomas Jefferson. Forget Sally Hemings — a historian discovers the ugliest side of a founding father in his ledgers.” Jon Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, and previously, American Lion [Andrew Jackson] and Franklin and Winston, insists he’s not letting Jefferson off the hook.
The Meacham book was one of the Good Reads’ best history & biography, along with Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard: “A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln.” Also selected: The Passage of Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson #4) by Robert A. Caro.
In 2013, HBO will air a documentary about Bill Clinton, who is giving his full cooperation. It will be directed by Martin Scorsese.
As of early September 2012, Jimmy Carter became the U.S. president who lived the longest after leaving the office, overtaking Herbert Hoover. Navigate the length of retirement field on this Wikipedia page, and you’ll see that they are followed by Ford, J. Adams, Van Buren, Fillmore, GHW Bush, who just passed Truman, then after him, Nixon, and Madison, the first person this list who served two full terms (though Truman practically did). If I Google for the answer, John Adams often comes up as the answer. That was accurate until Hoover overtook him in 1958.
Carter, incidentally, is severing his ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, because of the church’s choice “to interpret holy teachings… to… subjugate women.”
America’s Greenest Presidents. The tease said the top two were Republicans, which made it very easy to pick. Carter was third.
The “Checkers” speech was the making of Richard Nixon. Speaking of the 37th President, Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras.” A Kickstarter campaign will help the documentarians “launch OUR NIXON out into the world.”
JFK campaign stamps and Vintage anti-JFK GOP Coloring Book from Early 60s. You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to conclude, as RFK, Jr. did, that the Warren Commission Report was “a shoddy piece of craftsmanship”.
There was a What’s Your White House IQ quiz in Parade magazine. The print version was better. It would ask “Which four presidents were assassinated?”, whereas the online version would make it multiple choice. I DO know the answer, BTW, without the prompts.
Girl discovers all US Presidents except one are related to a former king.
President Obama, again. Plus Obama and his predecessors.
This is a comedy bit: 26 Ways President Obama Has Completely Ruined The Country.
Hard Times – George H.W. Bush Campaign Song. During the 1992 election, Fresh Bush and the Invisible Man released this single.
National Review outraged that Obama called Holocaust ‘senseless violence’; he was essentially quoting Ronald Reagan.
The 2012 Chester A. Arthur Presidential Dollar was finally released after a lengthy delay. It was the first Presidential coin not minted for circulation and struck only in very limited quantities for collectors only. Still hate that; the next three are out now, Cleveland 1, B. Harrison, and Cleveland 2. More on Chester A. Arthur.
JEOPARDY! answers
Woodrow Wilson
William Howard Taft
Throwing his hat into the ring
The Socialists
New
The book describing the background to the killing of JFK sounds a good read Roger. Will see if I can order it here in UK. Our mobile library van visits today.
Is… is that Lincoln FB thing real? I know stupid travels far faster than smart, but…
Chris – it’s as real as FB.
Lincoln invented Faceboook, ha ha ha. Thanks for the history quiz.
I am proud of Jimmy Carter for quitting the Southern Baptists. That had to take a lot of soul-searching at his age… but that’s Carter for you. Forever young, in his own way, and always contemplative.
Thanks, Roger! Sorry I’ve been out of touch… depression. Ugh! SO very Mary Todd Lincoln, my whole deal. Amy
Your presidents were interesting fellows. No wonder that there are so many books written about them. An election is always a very exciting affair, more than those in my country, wherr we have to choose representatives of about 15 parties. Head of state is the Queen or King, who has no power, and can only advice.
Have a great weekend , Roger!