ONE: In the morning of January 20, Barack Obama raised his right hand and placed his left hand on Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural Bible, as he recited the traditional oath. How many presidents preceded Obama?

TWO: Joe Biden was sworn in as vice president by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, while John Roberts the chief justice of the apex court took the oath from Obama. Justice Stevens thus became the 14th chief justice to swear in a president. Now the question: who was sworn in first, the president or the vice president?

THREE: In the US there is the tradition of referring to a former president as president. For instance, anyone making a speech will address Bill Clinton as President Clinton. By the way, perhaps the most revered American president in history remains Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Which year was that?

FOUR: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Ninety-eight years later, another popular US president John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Two other presidents met the same fate. Can you name them?

FIVE: Operation Desert Storm, also called the first Iraq War in common parlance, was launched by George Bush senior and the full scale invasion of the oil rich country was engineered by his son, much to the condemnation of many countries in the world. Name the president whose government backed a coup against the government of Iraq, headed by Gen Abdel Karim Kassem?

SIX: The two Bushes (if one may use the word) were not the only father and son to hold the Presidential position in the US; there was one more such instance, when John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams became presidents of the country. The son was the sixth president of the country, while the father was the second. What post did John Adams hold during the reign of George Washington, the first President of the US?

SEVEN: The need for steady leadership during World War II (1939 to 1945) made it possible for the man in White House to break the tradition of holding the position for not more than two terms. He contested and won four successive elections between 1932 and 1944. Name the president.

EIGHT: Bill Clinton was the third youngest to hold the office for two terms. Roosevelt was the first and John F Kennedy was the second. What important position did Clinton hold before contesting for the position of the president?

NINE: President Nixon, whose contribution towards world peace included establishing detente with the USSR, initiating rapprochement with China, and bringing the Vietnam War to its conclusion, met an ignominious end, when he resigned for fear of being impeached. His crime was the attempt to cover up the Watergate Scandal. Name the President under whom Richard Nixon served as Vice President from 1953 to 1961.

TEN: Back to Obama, which three former presidents attended the new president’s oath taking ceremony, apart from George W Bush?

 

ANSWERS
 

(1) 43 (2) Vice president (3) 1863 (4) James Garfield and William McKinley (5) John F. Kennedy (6) He was the vice president (7) F.D. Roosevelt (8) Governor of Arkansas (9) Dwight D Eisenhower (10) President Carter, President George H W Bush and President Clinton.

— Compiled by A.N.