Emily's Trivia Quiz: When I Get All Steamed Up, Hear Me Shout

I looooove America.  July 4th is my favorite holiday, baseball is my favorite sport, I eat a lot of hot dogs, I bake a mean apple pie, I used to carry around a copy of the Constitution, I get really excited when there are fireworks, and I'm probably going to run for some random political office in the future.  Since I love our country so much, it's been hard to pick just one topic to quiz you all on this week.  I mean, we already did presidents, I hit geography last week, so it would be rude to do states, and firework trivia just can't be that interesting (and played out since Independence Day already came and went).  So, I've decided to do focus on one fun part of American history, because what's July 4th (er 6th) without some fun Teapot Dome Scandal trivia??

1. In what state is the Teapot Dome?
a. Maryland
b. New Jersey
c. Colorado
d. Wyoming

d. Wyoming

2. During which president's term was the Teapot Dome Scandal?
a. Woodrow Wilson
b. Warren G. Harding
c. Calvin Coolidge
d. Ronald Reagan

b. Lauren's favorite president, Warren G. Harding

3. What is Teapot Dome?
a. A short and stout hill in Wyoming where groundhogs live
b. A bad real estate deal President Harding was involved in
c. Before Watergate, where political operatives spied
d. Oil fields located on public land reserved for emergency use by the U.S. Navy only when the regular oil supplies diminished.

d. Duh.  But I feel like b is pretty true too.

4. Which newspaper leaked the first taste of the scandal?
a. The Washington Post
b. The New York Times
c. The Wall Street Journal
d. The Teapot Times

c. The Times reported a secret arrangement where New Mexico Republican Senator Albert B. Fall (who was by then Secretary of the Interior) had leased the petroleum reserves to a private oil company without competitive bidding.  Dick Cheney, what?  P.S. that photo is legitimately Teapot Dome.  Bet that wasn't in your high school textbook.

5. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall has what dubious distinction?
a. He was the first Presidential Cabinet member to serve time in jail because of his actions while he was in office
b. He was a corrupt political appointee
c. His name was also a pun
d. He was a Republican who invested in oil

a.  But c is true too.   B and D are not really rare at all, bit they are also true.  They're just not dubious distinctions.  He was fined $100,000 and sentenced to a year in jail.  So Scooter Libby REALLY got off easy.  Even without inflation!

6.  Who of the following didn't really know about the scandal, even though he was kind of involved?
a. Calvin Coolidge
b. Warren G. Harding
c. Scooter Libby
d. Albert B. Fall

b. President Harding was not aware of the scandal.  Right before he died in 1923, he was beginning to learn of the problems that stemmed from his appointment of Albert Fall.  Mostly due to the Teapot Dome scandal, Harding’s administration is remembered as one of the most corrupt administrations to occupy the White House.

7. What was the nickname of Harding's unscrupulous cabinet?
a. The Teapot Troupe
b. The Crazy Cabinet
c. The Ohio Gang
d. 'Da Warren G. Posse

c. The Ohio Gang, even though most of them weren't from Ohio.  But Warren G. was from Ohio.

8. What did Warren G. do in the White House that was frowned upon?  Heavily.
a.  We're not really sure, but it had to do with interns
b. Sipped on some gin and juice
c. He had his mind on his money and his money on his mind
d. Insider trading

b. Apparently President Harding liked to drink alcohol.  Which is not really that big of a deal.  Unless you're the president during PROHIBITION.  Whoops.  He also had an extramarital affair or two.  Warren G. had the corruption of Nixon, the sexual infidelity of Clinton and the drunkness of Bush.  Awesome.

Now enjoy some, um, interesting music by a band who calls themselves The Teapot Dome Scandal.  I won't wait up when you buy the album.

I don't know about you, but I'm a fan of every band who starts their set with creepy children singing in Spanish.

Emily's Trivia Quiz runs Fridays at 9:00 a.m.

Comments

[D.C.]

This blog has very expansive coverage of our presidents, something I couldn't be more happy about.

[EmGusk]

are you being sarcastic d.c.? because that would make me sad.

[Lauren]

That Warren G. Will he EVER learn?

[D.C.]

I wasn't kidding! I love presidents and write about them whenever I can. I'm glad you do the same!

[MrNormal]

what kind of bullshit is this, talking about warren g harding and not even mentioning the RETURN TO NORMALCY?! Don't you like how normal everything is? I do. before Harding, everything was FUCKED UP. But he brought shit back down to earth and normalized the crap out of everything. The teapot dome ain't shit. Gettin drunk ain't shit. Nobody cares. Taking fucked up stuff and making it normal is the bomb diggity. Don't ever forget it.