Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[Anita]

Jefferson.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Teddy Roosevelt?

[AussieMick]

Richard Nixon?

[RJNorton]

Logical guesses, Eva and Michael, but congrats to Anita! It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote those words in an 1807 letter to John Norvell. Novell was a newspaperman who had written Jefferson seeking Jefferson's opinion of how newspapers should be conducted. The quote I used was in Jefferson's critical reply.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.038_05...=2&st=text

[Eva Elisabeth]

Amazing he used the almost up-to-date wording "polluted vehicle" (now it's the "polluting vehicles" that concern...)

[RJNorton]

Please try to answer without googling.

Which President said this?

"I think I have a right to resent, to object to libelous statements about my dog."

[Steve]

FDR, there was some issue regarding his dog Fala that came up during his 1944 campaign. I got an FDR biography when I was younger for Christmas one year. I remember reading about some issue with Fala costing public money being brought up by the Dewey campaign and FDR replying with a retort that was similar to the quote.

[RJNorton]

You nailed it, Steve.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/th...fala/3769/

When I posted the question I thought some folks would think of Richard Nixon and the "Checkers speech." Vicki and I learned about the "Fala speech" while watching the PBS documentary on the Roosevelts. That documentary is highly recommended!

Here is a brief clip on the "Fala speech."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqt7b9veFo8

[Eva Elisabeth]

Who received this telegram, and what was the occasion?
   

[Steve]

Let's see the telegram was sent by Theodore Roosevelt, President from 1901-09. The ship's name is Hohenzolleron, so it must be a German prince. The prince's name starts with an "H". Kaiser Wilhelm II was the German monarch at the time but he had no sons with a name that starts with "H". He had one brother who's name starts with "H" who was also still alive when T. Roosevelt was President. Prince Henry.

According to the telegram, Prince Henry just arrived in the U.S. and he will visit the President the next day.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Steve! I thought that would need longer.
The reason of Prince Henry's visit was the launch of the yacht Meteor III, built by the Townsend-Downey Company (on Shooters Island, NY) for his brother, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Alice Roosevelt, the president's daughter, christened the boat. Thomas Alva Edison sent a cameraman who made one of the first news movies of the event. It's here:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ac6XJyXKh2k...c6XJyXKh2k
A result of the visit was the idea to organize class racing between American and German yachtsmen. The first races commenced at Marblehead (Boston) in 1906 and in Kiel (my hometown) in 1907.

[RJNorton]

This was a most interesting question. Recently Vicki and I watched the outstanding PBS miniseries on the Roosevelts, and I do not remember this being mentioned.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Roger - I think there are too many ship or other christianings or similar in a president's life to mention them all, and this event was certainly more exciting on this side of the pond.

[RJNorton]

Who is this man?

[RJNorton]

Hint #1: I thought to ask this question because of a recent post on this forum in another category (not trivia).