Presidential Trivia Answers

Thanks for playing!

For those who saw the presidential trivia questions earlier:

(1) QUESTION: Who were the first and last Presidents to have beards?

ANSWER: The first President to have a beard was Abraham Lincoln. The last was Benjamin Harrison. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln might not have had a beard but for an 11-year-old girl. During the fall of 1860, Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y. wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln, who was then running for President. Grace suggested that Lincoln might improve his appearance by growing a beard. She wrote: “I have got 4 brother’s and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you[.] you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband’s to vote for you and then you would be President.”

(2) QUESTION: How many Presidents with facial hair are featured on United States paper currency?

ANSWER: Three. Abraham Lincoln ($5), Ulysses S. Grant ($50), and Grover Cleveland ($1,000).

(3) QUESTION: Which Presidents were red-heads, either during their youth or as an adult? HT to @ Frank A. for the question idea!

ANSWER: A definitive list is harder to find than you might think, partly because some Presidents had reddish-brown or strawberry blonde hair, and people differ on whether to include them in the list.  I welcome debate in the comments. :)

Presidents who are typically on the list of definite red-heads:

• George Washington (his hair was usually powdered, so you don’t think of him that way)

• Thomas Jefferson

• Andrew Jackson (in his youth)

• Martin Van Buren (in his youth)

• Ulysses S. Grant (in his youth; reddish brown later)

• Calvin Coolidge

Presidents who are on the bubble:

• Rutherford B. Hayes (reddish-brown hair, but he had more red in his beard)

• William H. Taft (reddish-brown)

• Dwight Eisenhower (some say strawberry blonde, but he’d lost much of it by the time he was President)

• John F. Kennedy (yes, some will include him as having reddish-brown hair).