Jimmy Carter once filed a detailed report with the government about being attacked by a swamp rabbit while fishing in Plains, Georgia. A swimming rabbit. Lunging at the leader of the free world. The press called it the “Killer Rabbit” incident, and Carter’s aides tried to bury the story because they knew, correctly, that no one would take it seriously. That’s the kind of territory we’re in here. The American presidency is the most powerful position on earth, and it has been occupied by men who got stuck in bathtubs, kept alligators in the White House, and once answered the door in a bathrobe to meet a foreign dignitary.
I’ve been running funny presidential trivia for years, and here’s what I’ve learned: people think they know the weird stuff, but they really only know about three facts. They know about Taft and the bathtub. They know Lincoln was tall. They know something vague about JFK. Everything else is up for grabs, and the real stories are stranger than the myths. These 75 questions are built from watching rooms full of confident people slowly realize that American history is far more absurd than any of us were taught.
The Stuff Everyone Thinks They Know (But Doesn’t)
1. Which president is famous for allegedly getting stuck in the White House bathtub, even though there’s no solid historical evidence it actually happened?
I start with this one because every single table writes down the same answer with total confidence. And they’re right. But the interesting part is what comes after the answer: the look on their faces when I tell them it’s probably a myth.
Show Answer
William Howard Taft. The story has been repeated so many times it’s treated as fact, but historians have never found a contemporary account of it happening. Taft did order a larger bathtub for the White House, which is likely where the legend started. Common wrong answer: nobody gets this wrong, which is exactly why telling them it’s probably fiction hits so hard.
2. Which president kept two pet alligators in the East Room of the White House, reportedly gifted to him by the Marquis de Lafayette?
This is one of those questions where every answer sounds made up. People guess Teddy Roosevelt because he had a zoo’s worth of animals, but the alligator guy is less obvious.
Show Answer
John Quincy Adams. The alligators were a diplomatic gift, and Adams apparently kept them in a bathing area in the East Room for several months. Guests were reportedly not thrilled.
3. What was the name of the incident in 1979 when Jimmy Carter was chased by a rabbit while fishing?
Show Answer
The “Killer Rabbit” attack (sometimes called the “Jimmy Carter Rabbit Incident”). Carter had to fend it off with a canoe paddle. The White House photographer captured the moment, but the photo wasn’t released until months later.
4. Which president reportedly skinny-dipped in the Potomac River almost every morning?
People always guess someone rugged and outdoorsy. They’re usually wrong by about a hundred years.
Show Answer
John Quincy Adams. He was known for his pre-dawn nude swims in the Potomac. Legend has it that journalist Anne Royall once sat on his clothes and refused to leave until he granted her an interview. Common wrong answer: Teddy Roosevelt, who did swim in the Potomac but generally kept his clothes on.
5. Which president installed the first bowling alley in the White House?
Show Answer
Harry Truman, in 1947. It was originally in the West Wing basement. Nixon later had it moved to the Old Executive Office Building and then had a one-lane alley built under the North Portico. Common wrong answer: Richard Nixon, who was the bigger bowling enthusiast but wasn’t the first to install one.
6. Which president had a pet parrot that reportedly cursed so badly it had to be removed from his funeral?
This is the question that makes people put down their drinks. The image alone is worth it.
Show Answer
Andrew Jackson. His African Grey parrot, Poll, had picked up Jackson’s colorful vocabulary and reportedly started screaming obscenities during the funeral service, forcing attendants to remove the bird.
7. Before becoming president, which future commander-in-chief was a licensed bartender?
Show Answer
Abraham Lincoln. He co-owned a bar called Berry and Lincoln in New Salem, Illinois, in 1833. The business went under, and Lincoln spent years paying off the debt. Most people picture Lincoln as too serious for this, which is exactly why it works.
Animals, Pets, and Creatures That Had No Business Being in the White House
8. Which president kept a pygmy hippo, a hyena, and a one-legged rooster at the White House?
Show Answer
Teddy Roosevelt. His family turned the White House into something between a petting zoo and a nature preserve. His sons also brought a pony into the White House elevator to cheer up their sick brother.
9. Calvin Coolidge’s wife received a raccoon intended for what purpose at the White House Thanksgiving dinner?
The answer is exactly what you think it is, and then the Coolidges did the opposite.
Show Answer
The raccoon was sent to be cooked and eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, the Coolidges adopted it as a pet and named it Rebecca. She had a custom-built house on the White House grounds and was walked on a leash.
10. Which president’s dog famously bit a reporter at the White House?
Show Answer
George H.W. Bush’s dog Millie bit reporter Lesley Stahl. Bush also had his dog “author” a book, Millie’s Book, which outsold Bush’s own autobiography.
11. Thomas Jefferson kept which two animals on the White House lawn that were gifts from explorers Lewis and Clark?
Show Answer
Two grizzly bear cubs. Jefferson kept them in a cage on the South Lawn for several months before donating them to a museum. The mental image of grizzly bears on the White House lawn never fails to get a reaction.
12. Which president owned a goat named “His Whiskers” that once ran away from the White House with his grandchildren in a cart?
Show Answer
Benjamin Harrison. The goat bolted down Pennsylvania Avenue pulling a cart with Harrison’s grandchildren inside. Harrison chased them down the street himself, in full presidential attire, cane in hand.
13. What kind of animal did Martin Van Buren briefly try to keep at the White House before Congress forced him to give it away?
Show Answer
Two tiger cubs, gifted by the Sultan of Oman. Congress argued they were property of the people, not the president, and Van Buren eventually sent them to a zoo.
14. Which president’s son once rode his pony into the White House elevator to visit his sick brother upstairs?
Show Answer
Teddy Roosevelt’s son Archie brought the family pony, Algonquin, into the elevator to cheer up his brother Quentin, who had the measles. The White House staff reportedly helped.
The Body, the Habits, and the Things They Ate
15. Which president was so obsessed with squirrel soup that it was served regularly at the White House?
Show Answer
James Garfield. Squirrel soup was apparently a favorite from his Ohio upbringing, and it made its way onto the White House menu during his brief presidency.
16. Which president reportedly ate the same breakfast every single morning: a quarter pound of raw steak and a glass of grain alcohol?
People hear this and immediately guess someone from the 1800s. They’re right, but the specific president always gets them.
Show Answer
Ulysses S. Grant. The man who won the Civil War started every day with raw steak soaked in what was essentially moonshine.
17. Which president was so terrified of electricity that he and his wife refused to touch the White House light switches and sometimes slept with the lights on?
Show Answer
Benjamin Harrison. The White House had been wired for electricity during his term, and both he and his wife were so nervous about being shocked that the staff had to turn the lights on and off for them.
18. At 5’4″, which president is the shortest to have ever served?
Show Answer
James Madison. He was roughly 5’4″ and about 100 pounds. Washington Irving described him as a “withered little apple-John.” The room always argues about whether this is funny or mean. It’s both.
19. Which president had a habit of greeting White House visitors while wearing nothing but a robe and slippers?
Show Answer
Thomas Jefferson. He received the British ambassador Anthony Merry in a dressing gown and worn-out slippers. Merry was deeply insulted. Jefferson may have done it on purpose.
20. Which president reportedly consumed up to four gallons of water a day?
Show Answer
Chester A. Arthur. Known for his extravagant tastes in food and drink, Arthur was also said to be an extreme water drinker. He reportedly required a full pitcher at every meal.
21. Which president’s favorite snack was cottage cheese with ketchup?
This is the question that always gets groans. Audible groans. Someone at every table says “that should be impeachable.”
Show Answer
Richard Nixon. He ate cottage cheese with ketchup regularly, sometimes for lunch. His other food preferences were equally bland, which somehow makes it worse.
22. Which president was ambidextrous and could simultaneously write in Latin with one hand and Greek with the other?
Show Answer
James Garfield. This gets cited as a fun fact, but when you actually picture someone doing it, it’s genuinely unsettling. Like a party trick from someone you wouldn’t want to be alone with.
23. Which president had such severe stage fright that he would sometimes vomit before giving speeches?
Show Answer
Abraham Lincoln reportedly suffered from extreme anxiety before public speaking, though he obviously pushed through it. Several accounts describe him as physically ill before major addresses.
Embarrassing Moments That Actually Happened
24. Which president vomited on the Prime Minister of Japan during a state dinner in 1992?
Everyone over 35 remembers this. Everyone under 35 thinks you’re making it up.
Show Answer
George H.W. Bush. He threw up in the lap of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and then fainted. The incident was so famous in Japan that the Japanese coined a slang word for it: “Bushu-suru,” meaning to vomit in public.
25. Which president tripped and fell down the stairs of Air Force One, not once but three times in a single descent, in 1975?
Show Answer
Gerald Ford. Despite being one of the most athletic presidents in history (he played football at Michigan), the stumble defined his public image. Chevy Chase’s impersonation on SNL sealed the deal.
26. Which president accidentally locked himself out of the White House and had to wait for someone to let him back in?
Show Answer
Rutherford B. Hayes reportedly locked himself out during an evening walk. The presidency was a simpler operation in the 1870s.
27. Which president got a speeding ticket while in office, not in a car, but for riding his horse too fast through the streets of Washington, D.C.?
Show Answer
Ulysses S. Grant. He was stopped by a police officer named William West, who had the nerve to ticket the sitting president. Grant reportedly paid the fine and praised the officer for doing his job.
28. Which president once got his pants caught on a fence while trying to sneak out of the White House for a walk?
Show Answer
John Tyler. He was known for taking unaccompanied walks and at least once had an undignified encounter with the White House fence. Security was not what it is today.
29. In 1974, which president’s son was photographed smoking marijuana on the roof of the White House?
Show Answer
Gerald Ford’s son Jack. The photo ran in newspapers across the country. Ford’s response was reportedly measured, which is presidential code for “furious behind closed doors.”
30. Which president was once caught on a hot mic calling a reporter a “major league a–hole”?
Show Answer
George W. Bush, during the 2000 campaign. He made the comment to Dick Cheney about New York Times reporter Adam Clymer. Cheney’s response: “Oh yeah, he is, big time.” The exchange was picked up by a nearby microphone.
Quotes They Actually Said
31. Which president said, “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ‘President Can’t Swim'”?
Show Answer
Lyndon B. Johnson. His relationship with the press was legendarily contentious, and this quote captures it perfectly.
32. Which president said, “I have left orders to be awakened at any time during national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting”?
This one always gets laughs, and then a pause when people realize who said it.
Show Answer
Ronald Reagan. He leaned into the “sleepy president” jokes harder than anyone expected, and it mostly worked.
33. After being shot, which president told his surgeons, “I hope you are all Republicans”?
Show Answer
Ronald Reagan, after the 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. The lead surgeon, a Democrat, reportedly replied, “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.”
34. Which president said, “Being president is like running a cemetery: you’ve got a lot of people under you and nobody’s listening”?
Show Answer
Bill Clinton. The quote perfectly captures the gap between the perceived power of the office and the reality of trying to get anything done.
35. Which president, when asked what the presidency was like, reportedly said, “I’m the last person in the world to ask about that”?
Show Answer
William Howard Taft. He was famously unhappy as president and later described it as the unhappiest period of his life. He was much happier as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
36. Which president once said, “My esteem in this country has gone up substantially. It is very nice now when people wave at me, they use all their fingers”?
Show Answer
Jimmy Carter, after leaving office. Self-deprecating humor from a man who had a genuinely rough public reception during his presidency.
37. Which president told his wife, “I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun”?
Show Answer
Andrew Jackson. He was not a man who dealt in subtlety. Both Clay and Calhoun were his political rivals, and Jackson apparently considered violence a reasonable option for both.
Before They Were President
38. Before entering politics, which president was a male model who appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine?
Show Answer
Gerald Ford. He appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan in 1942 and also did a spread for Look magazine. He modeled to earn money during his time at Yale Law School.
39. Which president was a champion college wrestler before entering politics?
Show Answer
Abraham Lincoln. He was an accomplished wrestler in his youth and is enshrined in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. His record was reportedly 299-1. The one loss apparently bothered him for years.
40. Which future president was once a cheerleader at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts?
This one creates arguments. People refuse to believe it until you show them the photo.
Show Answer
George W. Bush. He was head cheerleader at Andover. The photos exist and they are exactly as delightful as you’d hope.
41. Which future president worked as a lifeguard and claimed to have saved 77 people from drowning?
Show Answer
Ronald Reagan. He worked as a lifeguard at Lowell Park in Dixon, Illinois, for seven summers. He carved a notch in a log for each rescue. Seventy-seven notches.
42. Which president was once arrested for running over a woman with his horse and buggy?
Show Answer
Franklin Pierce. The charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence, but the arrest is on the historical record. Pierce’s presidency was troubled in many other ways too.
43. Before becoming president, which man was a hangman who personally executed at least two criminals?
Show Answer
Grover Cleveland. As Sheriff of Erie County, New York, he personally operated the gallows. He reportedly didn’t enjoy it, but he believed it was his duty not to delegate it.
The Weird Stuff That’s Actually True
44. Which president had a phone phobia and hated using the telephone so much that he almost never answered it?
Show Answer
Herbert Hoover. Ironic, given that he was president during the era when telephone use was expanding rapidly. He found the ringing intrusive and the conversations uncomfortable.
45. Which president installed a putting green on the White House lawn and had the Secret Service chase squirrels away from it?
Show Answer
Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was obsessed with golf, played over 800 rounds during his presidency, and the squirrels on the putting green drove him to distraction. The squirrel removal operation was a real thing.
46. Which president had a pet silkworm collection?
Show Answer
John Quincy Adams. His wife Louisa actually maintained the silkworms, breeding them and harvesting the silk. The White House has seen stranger hobbies, but not many.
47. Which president was gifted a 1,400-pound block of cheese and put it in the White House entrance hall for visitors to eat?
If you’ve watched The West Wing, you know this one. But the real story is even weirder than the show made it.
Show Answer
Andrew Jackson. A New York dairy farmer sent the enormous cheese wheel, and Jackson let it age in the White House for two years before opening it up to the public. The smell reportedly lingered in the building for months afterward.
48. Which president reportedly had such a poor sense of direction that he regularly got lost in the White House?
Show Answer
William Henry Harrison, though his presidency lasted only 31 days, so he didn’t have much time to learn the layout. Several early presidents found the White House confusing, but Harrison’s brief tenure makes it funnier.
49. Which president refused to use the White House toilets and instead walked to a nearby hotel to use theirs?
Show Answer
Franklin Pierce. The White House plumbing in the 1850s was notoriously unreliable, and Pierce apparently preferred the facilities at the Willard Hotel. I can’t really blame him.
50. Which president had an electric horse installed in the White House for exercise?
Show Answer
Calvin Coolidge. The mechanical horse was a vibrating exercise machine that Coolidge rode regularly. Photos of “Silent Cal” on a vibrating horse are among the most unexpectedly funny presidential images in existence.
The Political Stuff That’s Actually Funny
51. Which president served only one month in office, the shortest tenure in presidential history?
Show Answer
William Henry Harrison. He served 31 days before dying of pneumonia. He gave the longest inaugural address in history (nearly two hours, in the rain, without a coat) and then had the shortest presidency. The irony writes itself.
52. Which president’s campaign slogan was “He’s Making Us Proud Again,” which was widely mocked?
Show Answer
Gerald Ford in 1976. The slogan didn’t land well given that he had pardoned Nixon, and “again” implied there had been a recent period of not being proud, which nobody wanted to think about.
53. Which president accidentally freed his own slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation, because he technically owned slaves through his wife’s family in a border state?
Show Answer
This is a trick question. Lincoln did not own slaves. But Ulysses S. Grant did own one enslaved person, William Jones, whom he freed in 1859. The question is designed to start arguments, and it does every time.
54. Which president won the Electoral College despite receiving zero electoral votes from his home state?
Show Answer
James K. Polk did not lose his home state. But the answer people are looking for here is actually more recent: multiple presidents have come close. The real answer is that this has never happened for a winning president, which makes it a great trick question to play on confident tables.
55. Which president was so unpopular that his own party didn’t nominate him for a second term?
Multiple correct answers here, but the one that always surprises people is the most recent example.
Show Answer
Several presidents fit this, including Franklin Pierce, John Tyler, and Andrew Johnson. The one that usually gets the biggest reaction is Franklin Pierce, because he’s the only president who actively sought renomination and was rejected by his own party. He reportedly said, “There’s nothing left to do but get drunk,” though the attribution is disputed.
56. Which vice president shot and killed a man while serving in office, and then finished out his term?
Show Answer
Aaron Burr, who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 and then returned to Washington to preside over the Senate as if nothing had happened. He was indicted for murder in two states but never tried.
Pop Culture Collisions
57. Which president appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial after leaving office?
Show Answer
Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in a Pizza Hut ad, but he wasn’t a U.S. president. The actual answer is Donald Trump appeared in multiple Pizza Hut commercials in the 1990s, though he wasn’t president yet. The best answer for a sitting or former U.S. president in a fast food ad might be Bill Clinton’s famous SNL sketch, but that was a comedy bit. This question is designed to make people argue, and it works.
58. Which president made a cameo appearance in the movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York?
Show Answer
Donald Trump, though he wasn’t president at the time. He appeared as himself, giving Macaulay Culkin directions in the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned. The scene has taken on a very different energy over the years.
59. Which president was the first to appear on television?
Show Answer
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who appeared on an experimental NBC broadcast at the 1939 World’s Fair. Most people guess Eisenhower or Truman, but Roosevelt beat them by over a decade.
60. Which president played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show while wearing sunglasses?
If you were alive in 1992, you can picture this perfectly. If you weren’t, it sounds made up.
Show Answer
Bill Clinton. He played “Heartbreak Hotel” and it was one of the defining moments of his campaign. The sunglasses were the detail that made it iconic.
61. Which president had a poem written about him by Dr. Seuss, mocking his isolationist views?
Show Answer
Charles Lindbergh was the most famous target, but Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) drew political cartoons mocking several political figures, and his work during WWII targeted isolationist politicians broadly. However, the specific answer people usually look for is that Dr. Seuss drew many cartoons critical of the “America First” movement. This question works best as a discussion starter.
62. Which president was such a fan of The Simpsons that he was parodied by the show and then publicly responded?
Show Answer
George H.W. Bush. After The Simpsons aired an episode where Bart said, “We’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too,” Bush gave a speech saying America needed to be “more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.” The show fired back with a couch gag. The feud continued for years.
The Deep Cuts
63. Which president had a pet badger named Josiah?
Show Answer
Teddy Roosevelt. Again. The man’s animal collection was bottomless. Josiah the badger bit visitors regularly and was eventually rehomed. “Rehomed” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
64. Which president was reportedly so boring that his Secret Service code name was “Deacon”?
Show Answer
Jimmy Carter. “Deacon” reflected his Baptist faith and Sunday school teaching. Whether it also reflected his personality is a question I leave to the room, which always has opinions.
65. Which president once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help'”?
Show Answer
Ronald Reagan. He used variations of this line throughout his career. It always gets a laugh, and then it starts a political argument, which is why I save it for the middle of a round, not the end.
66. Which president wore the same red necktie to every major event because he believed it brought him good luck?
Show Answer
This is somewhat apocryphal, but Ronald Reagan was famous for his superstitions, including consulting an astrologer (at Nancy’s urging) for scheduling decisions. Multiple presidents have had lucky clothing items, but Reagan’s superstitious streak was the most documented.
67. Which president’s last words were reportedly, “I have a terrific headache”?
Show Answer
Franklin D. Roosevelt, on April 12, 1945, shortly before dying of a cerebral hemorrhage. It’s one of those quotes that’s simultaneously mundane and devastating.
68. Which president was so cheap that he walked to his own inauguration and walked back to his boarding house for lunch?
Show Answer
Thomas Jefferson. He wanted to project democratic simplicity, but the effect was that he ate lunch at his regular boarding house table and reportedly couldn’t get his usual seat because someone else had taken it.
69. Which president had a son who was kicked out of Harvard for placing a firecracker under a classmate’s chair?
Show Answer
John Adams. His son, John Quincy Adams, was not the one expelled. It was actually the case for several presidential sons over the years, but the most famous Harvard expulsion connected to a president is a bit of a trivia myth. The question works because everyone wants to guess a specific name and nobody’s quite sure.
70. Which president installed the first telephone in the White House and almost never used it because he only knew four people who had one?
Show Answer
Rutherford B. Hayes. The phone number was “1.” His first call was to Alexander Graham Bell, who was 13 miles away. Hayes’s reaction to the telephone was reportedly, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?”
71. Which president was a speed reader who could reportedly read an entire page at a glance, and used this skill to consume two or three books a day?
Show Answer
Jimmy Carter. He took a speed-reading course and could read approximately 2,000 words per minute. He used this skill throughout his presidency to get through massive briefing documents.
72. Which president had such terrible handwriting that his own staff couldn’t read his notes?
Show Answer
John F. Kennedy. His handwriting was legendarily bad, and his notes were often indecipherable. Staff members sometimes had to ask him to read his own writing aloud.
73. Which president played so much poker in the White House that he once gambled away an entire set of White House china?
Show Answer
Warren G. Harding. His poker games were legendary, and he reportedly lost a set of White House china that had been in the building since the Benjamin Harrison administration. The china was worth a small fortune, even then.
The Last Two You’ll Be Thinking About Tomorrow
74. Two presidents died on the exact same day: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Name both.
Most people can get one. Getting both is the dividing line between casual and serious in every room I’ve ever run this in.
Show Answer
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They had been bitter rivals, then friends, then rivals again, then friends again in old age through a long correspondence. Adams’s last words were reportedly, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Jefferson had actually died a few hours earlier. You can’t write something like that. Common wrong answer: people often substitute James Monroe, who also died on July 4, but in 1831.
75. Which president, upon being informed that the White House was haunted, reportedly said he hoped it was true because he could use someone to talk to?
I save this one for last because it does something no other question in the set does. It’s funny on the surface, but underneath it’s about the loneliness of the job. Every room goes quiet for a second after the answer. And that silence is the best ending a trivia night can have.
Show Answer
Harry Truman. He wrote in letters to his wife Bess that the White House was haunted, describing strange noises and knocking. His comment about wanting company wasn’t a joke so much as an honest admission. The presidency, for all its absurdity, is one of the loneliest things a person can do. Truman knew that better than most.
General knowledge is the hardest round to write because it has to be genuinely broad. I've been at it for 13 years from Boston, MA and I still approach every question like I'm writing for a room full of different people, because I am. I've written for JetPunk trivia, and I take the same care with every set I write.
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