Extra Credit Questions

[Anita]

Roger, is it fiction or non-fiction?

[RJNorton]

Anita, it is fiction, but it often uses scripts based on actual events going on in the USA and world.

[Steve]

Madam Secretary?

[Susan Higginbotham]

The West Wing?

[Mylye2222]

House of Cards?

[RJNorton]

That is a very logical guess, Susan, but kudos to Steve. (I am sorry, Emilie, it's not House of Cards - good try though.) It is Madam Secretary (who has now been elected to the Presidency). Vicki and I were watching on Sunday night, and I noticed the picture of Lincoln in the background very early in the show. In the show, President Elizabeth McCord is being investigated by the House for possible impeachment (where did this idea come from?). Even her daughter and husband are called to testify. What seems most surprising to me is that the ranking member often yields his time to the committee chairman. Devin Nunes must be shocked if he watches the show.

[Mylye2222]

That is a very logical guess, Susan, but kudos to Steve. (I am sorry, Emilie, it's not House of Cards - good try though.) It is Madam Secretary (who has now been elected to the Presidency). Vicki and I were watching on Sunday night, and I noticed the picture of Lincoln in the background very early in the show. In the show, President Elizabeth McCord is being investigated by the House for possible impeachment (where did this idea come from?). Even her daughter and husband are called to testify. What seems most surprising to me is that the ranking member often yields his time to the committee chairman. Devin Nunes must be shocked if he watches the show.

I don't watch this series. So in that fiction a fictional HRC faces impeachment!

[L Verge]

Abraham Lincoln had a distant family member who served in the administration of another U.S. President. Who was the President? What was the earlier Lincoln's first name? What position did he hold?

[Susan Higginbotham]

I'm going to say the president was Jefferson, and the first name was Levi, his Attorney General (methinks we have read the same book).

[L Verge]

I'm going to say the president was Jefferson, and the first name was Levi, his Attorney General (methinks we have read the same book).

Sorry for the late response, but not another is needed. Susan is absolutely correct, and we certainly have read the same book -- Jefferson's White House: Monticello on the Potomac. I have read about 75 pages and love it. I'm becoming quite a fan of James D. Conroy.

[Susan Higginbotham]

It's a great book. I'm about halfway through it. He brings Jefferson to life more than most authors I've read. I'm reading it on Kindle but will probably buy the hardback as well for ease of reference.

[L Verge]

Susan, please respond if we reach a point of no return answer.

Since we're on the subject of Thomas Jefferson, he had a favorite pet named "Jack." What was Jack (species), and what had Jefferson trained him to do?

P.S. Not related specifically to question, but one of the historic house museums in our agency is a magnificent mansion built in the early-1800s by a baron from Belgium who had fled the Reign of Terror on the European continent. His daughter, Rosalie, married one of the Maryland Calvert gentry descended from the Lords Baltimore, and they inherited the mansion when daddy decided to go back to Belgium. They were heavily involved in the early republic and its politics and often entertained Washington society. Rosalie's letters home to her parents were found about forty years ago and translated into English for publication. One gets the distinct impression that Rosalie's "royalty" shone through in her assessment of "little Tommy Jefferson" (her words) and his desire to stave off signs of America forming a monarchy as well as a central government that would defeat republicanism/democracy.

P.P.S. One of Rosalie Calvert's daughters (Julia) married Dr. Richard Stuart of Virginia and her family was staying at their summer home in the Northern Neck of Virginia (Cleydael, as in one of her family's castles in Belgium) when JWB and Herold were brought to them - and rejected...

Now, back to "Jack."

[RJNorton]

Since we're on the subject of Thomas Jefferson, he had a favorite pet named "Jack." What was Jack (species), and what had Jefferson trained him to do?

I'll guess he was a parrot, and Jefferson trained him to say something nasty about the Federalists.

[David Lockmiller]

Since we're on the subject of Thomas Jefferson, he had a favorite pet named "Jack." What was Jack (species), and what had Jefferson trained him to do?

I'll guess he was a parrot, and Jefferson trained him to say something nasty about the Federalists.

Roger, that's good "Sherlock Holmes" deductive reasoning. I agree with your conclusion and analysis.

[L Verge]

You are both soooo close. Jack was a bird, but not a parrot and could not talk. Jefferson appreciated his other form of communication.