Monday, February 18, 2013

Your Turn

How many former Presidents can you name? According to a new study, the average person in America can only name 5 former US Presidents.

84 comments:

rll said...

Washington jefferson lincoln roosevelt x2 adams fillmore eisenhower truman kennedy carter nixon johnson bush x2 clinton obama hoover
And i'm English

FSP said...

...and these people are allowed to vote.

Kassandra said...

That is such a sad commentary (if it is a true statistic) on the state of our country if the average American can only name 5 presidents.

I'm 44 and i was able to name 11 right off the bat without thinking too hard.

Pogue Mahone said...

I'm Canadian and let's see who I can name: Washington, Lincoln, Nixon, Carter,Reagan, Clinton,Bush and Obama.

Nemesis said...

13 just off the top of my head. But the longer I think about it the more I get. I'm up to 15 now.

Anonymous said...

Just those who were president in my lifetime exceed five...FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. God, I've been alive a long time!

Kelly said...

14 off the top of my head. Dayum. People are scary anymore.

Susan said...

Good lord. And they keep cutting history from U.S. schools. All the schools focus on is standardized testing. It's TRAGIC.

spacecowboy78 said...

All of them. In order. Yes, I'm a freak.

sylmarillion said...

About 10...but I'm Dutch.

auntliddy said...

Yeah, i can name a slew. Ignorance if history has serious consequences. How do you if you're being lied to if you were never familiar with the facts? Between no knowledge of facts and the misinformation channel, there is little hope to make rational intelligent decision. It doesnt matter what side of an issue u decide, but at least base it on facts and history thats known to be true. Ok, off soapbox, lol

SusanB said...

About 35,not necessarily in order - I get a little confused between Jackson & Lincoln

prolixe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meanie Rhysie said...

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Adams 2, Andrew Jackson (related!), Van Buren, Polk, Lincoln, Johnson x2, Roosevelt...all the rest in my lifetime: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Dubya, Obama. Eisenhower...

Good for you, Spacecowboy!! I used to know them in order, too.

Sad, sad, sad it's only 5. :(

Anonymous said...

Washington
John Adams
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
J.Q. Adams
Jackson
Van Buren
W.H. Harrison
Tyler
Polk
Taylor
Fillmore
Pierce
Buchanan
Lincoln
A. Johnson
Grant
Hayes
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland
B. Harrison
Cleveland
McKinley
T. Roosevelt
Taft
Harding
Coolidge
Wilson
Hoover
FD Roosevelt
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
L. Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
GHW Bush
Clinton
GW Bush
Obama

SusanB said...

I mean which presidents come between Jackson and Lincoln.

Anonymous said...

I used to study the presidents in high school. Not so much these days.

Karen said...

washington, adams, jefferson, madison, monroe, quincy adams, jackson, van buren, tyler, cleveland, lincoln, johnson, grant, pierce, taft, mckinley, rooselvelt, wilson, coolidge, hoover, rooselvelt, truman, eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, nixon, ford, carter, reagan, bush, clinton, bush, obama

I'm forgetting a bunch in the middle (and many are mixed up). But 33 isn't bad!

Lucas said...
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Lucas said...

@FSP - exactly.

Meagan said...

Without thinking about it, I got 13; thinking about it, I got another 10. That leaves 20 of them who obviously didn't register during history class. Spacecowboy-- I'm impressed!!

Karen said...

@prolixe, Martin Van Buren (who no one ever cared about) is my five-times great grandfather.

rll said...

I know more US Presidents than UK PMs, probs because ours were all so dusty and dull

Anonymous said...

IIRC, Van Buren was the first president born after the US was created and whose first language was Dutch, not English.

Bon M said...

I suck at presidents but I got 27 in just a few minutes. At the very least, a person should be able to name the presidents in their lifetimes and the assassinated ones.

nevermindthat said...

All ot them it's called Google, plus I keep a list on my board at work.

Jeff B. said...

All of them. But being Canadian makes me fall outside the study...

@prolixe: I learned a mnemonic from an old lady years ago to remember the first 14 presidents in order: "When a joke made me a joker, Van had to poke the fiery poker." The first letter of each word is the first letter of the presidents' last names. Simple, but effective!

Nerdcrest out.

Jeff B. said...

All of them. But being Canadian makes me fall outside the study...

@prolixe: I learned a mnemonic from an old lady years ago to remember the first 14 presidents in order: "When a joke made me a joker, Van had to poke the fiery poker." The first letter of each word is the first letter of the presidents' last names. Simple, but effective!

Nerdcrest out.

JSierra said...

I got to 24 before I went to Google, looks like I need to brush up on my American history.

Karen for some reason Van Buren sticks out the most in my mind, he is always the first one I name and then I start chronologically for some reason.

Gayeld said...

Washington, Jefferson, J Adams, JQ Adams, Filmore, Lincoln, T Roosevelt, FD Roosevelt, Madison, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Regan, G bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama.

More than five off the top of my head.

childeroland said...

Without looking it up:

Washington
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Jefferson
Monroe
Buchanan
Madison
Lincoln
Hoover
A. Johnson
Van Buren
McKinley
B. Harrison
WH Harrison
Filmore
Polk
Wilson
LBJ
Jackson
Nixon
Eisenhower
Carter
Ford
Hayes
Cleavland
Pierce
Coolidge
JFK
T. Roosevelt
FDR
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler
Taft
Truman
Reagan
Bush I
Bush II
Clinton

My edumacation went good. :(

The Real Dragon said...

All I remember is the president I would have love to sleep with. CALL ME BILL CLINTON.

Pip said...

I can name a lot, though not in order of their term. Thank you, 6th grade social studies!

RustyJ said...

I can name 20 off the top of my head and I am Canadian. My 8th grader can name 10.

Cindy said...

It is a sad commentary on our education system -- and yet the cuts just keep coming.

Eventually we will have a nation of completely uninformed voters and we will go off blindly to hell in a handbasket.

Del Riser said...

Well over half fairly easily, in my day History was a big deal in school.
It's too bad kids or schools don't take it more seriously today. Great men have studied the lives and actions of men generations before them to learn. You can learn from the past and put it to use even in today's fast paced rat race.

Tru Leigh said...

Garfield's in my family tree.

Sara said...

All of them. In order. And no apologies for it.

ConcernedSoul said...

I'm Indian and I came up with 16.

Momster said...

Virtually all. I've got LBJ in my family tree, although I'm not terribly proud of it.

And the education system, just. oh. my. God. My youngest is a senior and I can't wait until he's out of the OK school system. Pathetic, and yet they're going to make more cuts to education. . .

Comma Chaser said...

Like SpaceCowboy I can name them all forward and backward. Pub trivia is a recreation of mine, so over time I picked it up.

The hard part for most is all of the presidents between Monroe and Lincoln.

Jason said...

I got 37. 5? Really? That seems entirely too low. There's the big three that everyone knows: Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy. That leaves two more, which I would guess would be Obama and GWB since they're the most recent? The average person in America can't name Clinton, or Reagan, or FDR?

I mean, Mt. Rushmore gives you four right there. Paper money gives you five, six if you count the $2 bill. I'm having a hard time buying 5. 10 is believable, and that's scary enough. It's like you have to go out of your way to not know at least twenty presidents if you live in the US.

123xyz said...

I came up with 22 right off the top of my head. Who are these people in this study? Then again I shake my head ever time I see one of those Jay walking segments, on jay Leno.

J.Love said...

Obama
Clinton
Bush, Jr
Bush, Sr
Carter
Nixon
Kennedy
Eisenhower
Truman
F.Roosevelt
Roosevelt
Adams
Jefferson
Washington
Cleveland
Arthur
Lincoln
Taft
Jackson
Tyler

Geebz said...

Even the stoners I know can name 10. I call bullisht on this and want to source of the study!

Angela said...

27, and I'm French.

Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Lincoln, Jackson (mixed up with Johnson, but still a president), Grant, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, GWB, Obama, Palin.

Oops, my mistake for the last one. I should give up on parallel universes fan fiction.

GoGo said...

STONER here -- I forgot 8 completely. Of the rest, I got most of them in the correct order -- I had most trouble with the Garfield-McKinley years.

auntliddy said...

Wont come down,eh? ( sorry, cldnt resist)

delete account said...

Taft, Madison, Washington, Jefferson, Clinton, Bush 1, Bush Jr, Roosevelt 1, FDR, JFK, LBJ, Reagan, Carter. Ford, Nixon, Hoover, Obama, Hayes, Garfield, Chester A Arthur, Buchanan, Dwight Eisenhower, Truman, Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Grant, Adams. Thats it Im dry! 27, if I counteed right.

delete account said...

Im a stone cold Married With Children fan--how the freak could I forget the greatest President of All, James Polk? :-D

HolidayinCambodia said...

All of them. Washington, Adams, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Harrison, Tyler, Pierce, Fillmore, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Arthur, Garfield, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama.

I missed Garfield when I ran through them on my fingers, but I caught him when I typed it here.

HolidayinCambodia said...

Oops. Missed Van Buren in this run through, too.

In high school, I knew all the VP's, and I knew the major party Presidential/Vice Presidential losers in every election. I was the captain of the local TV quiz show team. Geek.

ThatLady said...

I'm Irish and the few I can think of off the top of my head are.

Abraham Lincoln
George Bush
George Bush Jr
Bill Clinton
Ronald Reagan
JFK
William McKinley*
James K Polk*
Gerald Ford
Andrew Johnson
Woodrow Wilson
Jimmy Carter

*Thanks to Glee and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide

Henriette said...

I know I'm not doing these in order: Washington, Adams (father & son), Jefferson, Monroe, Wilson, Bush (father & son), Carter, Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Taft, Harding, T.Roosevelt,F.Roosevelt, Reagan, Clinton, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Truman, Jackson, Madison, Fillmore, Hoover, Cleveland, Garfield, Polk, Coolidge, Harrison, Hayes,Garfield, Arthur, Pierce, Buchanan, Tyler, Taylor, McKinley, and Obama.

I know most of them because so many San Francisco streets are named after them, and Harding died in my home town.

Henriette said...

Oh yeah Van Buren!

AndrewBW said...

Well, I'm pretty skeptical about polls about people's knowledge of some particular subject. Still, if it's true that people could only name five presidents, well, sheet, I've LIVED through more presidents than that!

doctressjulia said...

A whole load of white dudes, that's who. I'm too busy to list a bunch, but I can think of at least 12 off hand. Rutherford B Hayes, just because his name is so snazzy...

Tru Leigh said...

I pulled out my wallet and came up with Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Ben Franklin and Salmon P Chase.

Tru Leigh said...

I just found a $2.00 bill. Add Jefferson to my list.

YourNameHere said...

These are in no particular order just off the top of my head:

Lincoln
Washington
Adams
Jefferson
Taft
Pierce
Eisenhower
Nixon
Polk
Roosevelt
JFK
Wilson
Ford
McKinley
Harrison
Cleveland
Truman
Grant
Johnson
Carter
Reagan
Clinton
Bush
Bush 2

I know I missed a few but the reason why I knew most of them to begin with is because we would go to Washington DC every summer and we would play a game in the car ride to guess them all. Thanks ma & dad!

OneGirlRevolution said...

25 off of the top of my head, 38 with about 5 more minutes. I used to know them all...about 20 years ago.

prolixe said...

@Lew, bet that helped at testing time!!

This YouTube video is kind of like what my teacher did. It was all folksy and 70s and made us laugh at her, but damn, I aced that part of every history exam ever. IIRC, she put in a part after their name that had the number of years served (like "Kennedy almost 3") so you could do the math in your head to figure out which number they were.

Oh geez, now I need a nerdcrest out! :b

astrogirl said...

I got 10. I wonder if anyone could name 5 Aussie Prime Ministers...

car54 said...

Five? Seriously?

I probably can't do all of them, but I can sure as hell do better than 5. That's really sad.

car54 said...
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Basil said...

I'm Canadian and just off the top of my head I can name about 16 or so, which is a hell of a lot better than asking me who Canadian Prime Ministers were.

Pam said...

I got 11 and I'm Jamaican.

Roman Holiday said...
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Janet296 said...

I can name 28 and picture others whose name I have forgotten.

lalaland923 said...

Obama, G W Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Johnson, Nixon, Kennedy, Franklin D Roosevelt, Hoover, teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses S Grant, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Millard Fillmore, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Gerald Ford, William Mckinley, Howard Taft, Harrison, Madison, Rutherford B Hayes,

lalaland923 said...
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Goodnight said...

Wow, really? I'm Australian and I could think of 10 off the top of my head.

hotchacha said...

I had 11 without stopping to really think. More after that but I only count those initial 11. I'm Canadian. How many of our Prime Ministers can you name? Aaaand, GO!!

MadLyb said...

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Adams (the son?), Van Buren, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland (2x), Jackson, Garfield, Wilson, Taft, Hoover, Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama. And I'm stupid and have a short attention span, so I'm done. This is sad.

Jenny S said...

George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Buchanan, Fillmore, Polk, Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Obama.

JSierra said...

Canadian Prime Ministers:
Macdonald Mackenzie Abbott Thompson Bowell Tupper Laurier Borden Meighen William Mackenzie Pearson
Trudeau St Laurent Clark
Diefenbaker Turner Harper Campbell Chretien Martin

Australian:
Barton Deakin Watson Reid Menzies Fadden Curtin Forde Chifley Holt
McEwen McMahon Fraser Hawke Gillard
Rudd Howard Hughes Bruce Scullin Lyons Page Whitlam

Britian:
Balfour Campbell-Bannerman Asquith Lloyd George Law Baldwin MacDonald
Chamberlain Churchill Attlee Eden
Wilson Macmillan Heath Douglas-Home Callaghan Thatcher Major Blair Brown Cameron Salisbury Gladstone Roseberry Disraeli

Darkmyst said...

Washington
J Adams
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
JQ Adams
Polk
Fillmore
Grant
Arthur
A. Jackson
Lincoln
Cleveland
T Roosevelt
F Roosevelt
A Johnson
L Johnson
Kennedy
Truman
Eisenhower
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
GH Bush
Clinton
GW Bush
Obama

Fluffy White Clouds said...

All of them.

PugsterMom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PugsterMom said...

All of them but not in order.

~mara said...

washington, jefferson, adams, adams, taylor, harding, lincoln, kennedy, johnson, ford, carter, reagan, bush sr, bush, obama, taft, eisenhower, roosevelt, monroe ... could come up with more if I wanted to sit here all night. *And* I managed to miss out on having to memorize the presidents in elementary school so I don't have that to fall back on.

Wil said...

I just popped open my text editor and listed 36 off the top of my head and was shamed I couldn't remember the last ones AND that I only knew for certain I had from Obama to Hoover in the correct order was was totally uncertain after that! Off to Wiki to memorize in order along with dates!!

Yes .. I suck as an American. : (

Henriette said...

I know one Australian prime minister was McMahon, but that's because he's Julian McMahon's father.

Unknown said...

Washington, Jefferson, John Adams, John Q. Adams, Monroe, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Jackson, Fillmore, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harrison, Cleveland, Eisenhower, Truman, JFK, Nixon, LBJ, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama.

Dang it!! I know there'll be others that I'll go "Ohhh, yeah...."

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