Quiz
Washington and His Cabinet
Presidential Myths Quiz
By Naina Mistry for the Discovery Channel
We cannot tell a lie: Not even the president of the United States is exempt from being the subject of myth and urban legend. Take this quiz and sink your wooden teeth into some choice tales about our chief executives!
1

The teddy bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt

a) True
b) False
2

As a young boy, George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and later confessed the deed to his father.
a) True
b) False
3

George Washington wore false teeth made from wood.
Washington Takes Command )

a) True
b) False
4

President Zachary Taylor died from eating cherries and milk.
Zachary Taylorbr />
a) True
b) False
5

President William Howard Taft was so large that a special bathtub had to be installed in the White House to accommodate him.
a) True
b) False
6

President George W. Bush waved excitedly at blind singer Stevie Wonder while he was performing at a March 2002 presidential gala.


a) True
b) False
7

Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope while traveling by train from Washington to Gettysburg.


a) True
b) False
8

Thousands of German citizens laughed when, during a 1963 speech at the Berlin Wall, President John F. Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner," which translates into English as, "I am a jelly doughnut."


a) True
b) False
9

Gerald Ford once worked as a fashion model.
)

a) True
b) False
10

President Harry Truman's middle name was simply the letter "S.
"
Harry S. Truman (Image credit: Culver Pictures)

a) True
b) False
























Here are my scores: How did you do?

1

Correct!
The correct answer: A True
Your answer: A True
Theodore Roosevelt (Image credit: THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE) The teddy bear was inspired by a 1902 political cartoon depicting then-president Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt sparing the life of a bear on a hunting expedition. The bear became a mascot for Roosevelt's re-election campaign, and sales of stuffed bear toys surged. A toymaker sent one to the president, asking if it could be named the "teddy bear" in his honor, and Roosevelt agreed. The rest is history.
2

Correct!
The correct answer: B False
Your answer: B False
George Washington (Image credit: Art Resource, NY) The story of young George Washington chopping down a cherry tree and then owning up to his misdeed with the words "I cannot tell a lie" was actually a tall tale. A parson by the name of Mason Locke Weems invented the incident while writing a biography published after Washington's death. Not much was known about the first president's childhood, so Weems filled in the blanks himself to humanize his subject. Much of his book was later debunked by other Washington biographers.
3

Incorrect
The correct answer: B False
Your answer: A True
Washington Takes Command (Image credit: Culver Pictures) George Washington had several sets of dentures, but none were wooden. After Washington became president, a dentist created a new set of dentures for him out of gold and hippopotamus ivory. They are on display at the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore.
4

Correct!
The correct answer: A True
Your answer: A True
Zachary Taylor (Image credit: Hulton Deutsch) The 12th president, Zachary Taylor, fell ill after eating cherries and milk at a blistering hot Fourth of July celebration in Washington, D.C. He died on July 9, 1850. However, this doesn't mean that cherries and milk are a deadly combination; most likely, one or the other was contaminated with cholera, typhoid or some kind of food-borne bacteria.
5

Correct!
The correct answer: A True
Your answer: A True
William Howard Taft (Image credit: Culver Pictures) Weighing more than 300 pounds, the 6-foot-2-inch William Taft was too big to fit into a standard bathtub, so he had a new tub custom-built. Four grown men posed (fully dressed) inside the tub for a photograph when it was ready.
6

Correct!
The correct answer: B False
Your answer: B False
George W. Bush (Image credit: Ron Edmonds/AP/Wide World Photos) After this story was reported in the Washington Post, it was widely circulated by e-mail and on the late-night talk show circuit. However, no one seated near the president at the event recalled George Bush waving at Stevie Wonder, and a careful review of the videotape revealed that he merely raised his palm and smiled in recognition at someone -- most likely the emcee, Kelsey Grammer.
7

Incorrect
The correct answer: B False
Your answer: A True
President Lincoln (Image credit: Archive Photos) Abraham Lincoln generally devoted a fair amount of time to his speeches, and the Gettysburg Address was no exception. He began working on it before he left Washington, D.C., (when he had more than just an envelope at his disposal to write on) and continued refining it after he arrived in Gettysburg, Pa., but the train ride would have been too bumpy for him to have written much at all.
8

Correct!
The correct answer: B False
Your answer: B False
John F. Kennedy (Image credit: John F. Kennedy Library) A professional interpreter had translated "I am a Berliner" into the German phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner" for John F. Kennedy so that he could express his affinity with the people of Berlin. While Berliner refers to a citizen of Berlin, it can also mean a particular type of jelly-filled pastry. A rumor soon circulated that Germans were chuckling about the president's blunder. What the urban legend fails to recognize, however, is that language can have figurative as well as literal meanings. With that in mind, it is unlikely that anyone present would have misinterpreted Kennedy's remark.
9

Incorrect
The correct answer: A True
Your answer: B False
Gerald R. Ford (Image credit: Hulton Getty Picture Collection ) Gerald Ford was introduced to modeling by a girlfriend, and they appeared together in Cosmopolitan and Look magazines in the early 1940s -- long before he became the 38th president. In 1948 Ford married future first lady Betty Bloomer Warren, who had also worked as a fashion model.
10

Correct!
The correct answer: A True
Your answer: A True
Harry S. Truman (Image credit: Culver Pictures) Unable to decide on a name for their new son, John and Martha Truman eventually settled on "Harry" after a maternal uncle. The middle initial S was chosen to honor both grandfathers, each of whom had a name starting with that letter. Although Truman often signed his name "Harry S. Truman" (with a period after the S), the letter didn't stand for anything in particular.
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