Presidential Trivia Answers (March 21 & 22)

Thanks for playing!

(1) QUESTION: The contemporary of one President wrote in his diary that the President “liked beer and drank but little else.” Which President?

ANSWER: James Garfield. Thomas Donaldson spent time at the White House during Rutherford B. Hayes’s term, and he noted that the ushers there “speak to me of the habits of the several Presidents they have served under. . . . Mr. Lincoln drank nothing. Mr. Johnson drank a good deal and not much wine. General Grant [drank] some, and Mr. Hayes nothing. Mr. Garfield liked to walk out and liked beer and drank but little else.”

(2) QUESTION: One First Lady publicly shared a recipe for her husband’s favorite beef stew. The group she shared the recipe with was reportedly “a bit taken aback at first because the recipe was for 60 portions.” Which President?

ANSWER: Dwight Eisenhower. The recipe was shared with the North Dakota Cow-Belles, an auxiliary of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association, but it was also later reprinted by the Associated Press.

(3) QUESTION: Which of our Presidents was the only one to be a licensed bartender?

ANSWER: Abraham Lincoln. His Illinois business, Berry and Lincoln, was co-owned with an old friend named William Berry. The combination store and drinking establishment held a tavern (liquor) license). According to Amy Cavanaugh, writing for the Chicagoist, Berry and Lincoln sold: “Half pints of French brandy for 25 cents, peach brandy for 18.75 cents, and apple brandy for 12 cents. Half pints of Holland gin cost 18.75 cents, while domestic gin was 12.5 cents. Wine cost 25 cents, rum was 18.75 cents, and whiskey was 12.5 cents.”